Hiring on oDesk: let's share experiences?

Discussions
#21

I’ve rehired contractors after initially rejecting them. The way you phrase the rejection is important. I basically say something like:

The decision was very close, but that we’ve decided to move ahead with a different contractor. However, we’ll consider you in the future when there’s another job opening.

And if your Mr. D doesn’t work out, you can go to your second choice and say something like “We have a developer position available. We think you’d make a great fit. Are you available to begin working?”.

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#22

Thanks, I used it verbatim :slight_smile: I hope you do not mind.

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#23

No problem. Let us know how it goes.

#24

Fascinating play-by-play, thanks so much for sharing. In my business I’ve hired a number of oDesk workers to complete html email related tasks. Normally adding Mailchimp Tags to an email or turning a PSD into a template.

One of the things I’ve noticed about the workers I’ve hired (albeit are on the low pay scale $7-10/hour) is that they almost always overstate their ability to handle a task, which could be deadlines or skills needed.

HTML email isn’t a complex technical task, but it does require some very specific knowledge about how various email clients render the content differently e.g. Outlook renders all three digit hex codes black so it needs the full six.

For whatever reason, the people I’ve hired are from Northern India and Pakistan and I’ve had some interesting cultural communication break downs with them. In one case they were arguing with me via Skype about a font stack in an email that I had to change (they’d reversed the order and spelled font wrong, so instead of Helvetica, Arial, Sans-Serif it was san serif, Arial, Helvetica), but they told me that they’d made the change, when I’d just done it. I was trying to figure out if I’d confused them in my task, they were trying to save face for having an error. At the end I left frustrated, not happy.

I also had a guy go dark on me in the midst of a Skype chat and blow through a deadline because of a family celebration that lasted a few days. He came back later and was very apologetic, but I didn’t use him on my most recent project because of it.

Overall - they do work for me when I don’t have the time or knowledge to complete it.

My projects tend to be small, so I do a flat rate price based on what I’d like to pay. Then it’s up to them to get it done for that price. Personally, I’d rather pay the amount I’ve expected to pay and leave money on the table vs get a huge bill for work that wasn’t worth it.

I’ve also heard that if cultural differences are an issue, a few people recommended hiring out of Eastern Europe. Some of the communication norms are closer to what you and I might expect. The rates are certainly higher, but so is the clarity of their English.

I’d be curious if anyone has used oDesk to hire a VA? I’ve heard people that do, but it seems like a time intensive process just to do the basic vetting.

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#25

That could be non-oDesk-specific though. Until my 40ties I was always underestimated my efforts for any given task or project. The folks on oDesk could be just young :smile:

Yes, I agree. My hire is actually from the Eastern Europe, and the level of mutual understanding is way higher than with me-vs-Indian or me-vs-Philippino.

Clarity of English though… well, not so sure. Perhaps the closer to centre of EU, the better becomes the English, but I do not have much experience. My current hire’s English is OK, but my past Philippino contractor was speaking a better one.

#26

Overstating ability can also have a lot to do with culture. For example, it’s common for people in India to say yes and promise things because they don’t want to disappoint the person by saying no. It’s worth learning a bit more about the culture that you might hire from so that you can communicate better.

Just something worth considering since it is so easy for us to get lost in our own work culture.

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#27

Fair enough. I’ve actually not used anyone from Eastern Europe. They haven’t applied for any jobs I’ve posted.

#28

Not a bad idea. Any good resources to learn that?

#29

Most of what I have learned regarding the cultural differences stems from my own experience. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any good fast resources. I suggest googling with COUNTRY_NAME work culture. It will give you a good starting point and you’ll start to see some common beliefs from one article to the next.

I just tried India work culture and got some good responses. I also tried Indian yes culture which gave more information about that specific difference in cultures. Here’s an example article regarding India.

The Indian “yes” comes from the desire to please, not the impulse to deceive. But when Yanks are looking for an honest yea or nay and they get an unequivocal yes—which is not followed by results—they often do feel deceived. - See more at: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/Bridge-Cultural-Differences-for-Better-Business-in-India/#sthash.rvJDC8g6.dpuf

#30

I had a lady on Skype ask me about this. I’m not entirely sure if this is the same thing she talked about, but she told me that the people that she works with are dealing in services like a website, and software development. She introduced herself as Christina from weblogics.

#31

Usually, first applicants are those ‘desperated’ (in the good sense of the term) for some good ratings that can help to rank them better in workforce on demand search engines like oDesk. That explains a lot that they always try to work as much as time as they can grab from your ‘pocket’. As soon as they start collecting great feedback, and therefore they rank better for certain keywords/skills, they start caring less about being the first applicants. That’s when they set their sights in getting more income doing the same in less time.

I know about it because I worked +1200 hours in oDesk in 2012. Criterias like ‘worked time last week’ or ‘last active’ are definitely some of the most important factors if your new in the platform. Or at least it used to be like this in 2011-2012.

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#32

Appreciate you sharing your experiences @malditojavi. Given the amount of hours you’ve spent on the platform - what tips would you have to get the best possible work product from someone you hire on oDesk for the fairest price?

I hire a few projects a quarter on oDesk and I’d like to get better at it. Sometimes they go smoothly, other times they get sideways really quick. I’m sure it’s me - but I’d still like to do a better job at hiring.

Thanks!

#33

@rfctr Thanks for the detailed notes on your experience. I really enjoyed reading them.

I’m a software developer and have hired several contractors on oDesk for non-developer jobs. I just have a hard time letting go of development, but your experience is making me consider going for it to move things along with a few projects.

#34

Interesting write-up. Loved the beard trick! I shall consider to do the same! :smiley:

(I believe in English the “contractor” term is the one who does the work; the one who gives the work then should be “contractee”? Reading about contractor in your post was constantly confusing me.)

Probably. But in this case they had to compete against each other during the test task, and the fastest guy won. “Hit the ground running” is what is expected from the contractors.

I believe this just comes with age.

In past I was trying to delegate some coding work to others, and found out that a) it is very hard to explain what I want and b) I can do the same work faster.

Not so nowadays. The folks who were junior developers 10 years ago, when I did my first attempts at delegating, they now are solid senior developers, and they are better at understanding my requests.

I probably became better at explaining things, too.

All in all, what couldn’t have worked then, works now.