Employment Archives - Page 9 of 12 - The Voice of Job Seekers

Reasons Job Seekers Use Freelancer.com (and You Should Too!)

Editor’s note: Freelancer.com is a fast growing site not only for entrepreneur but for the job seeker too who is looking to earn money while unemployed. Another reason is for any careerist who wishes to improve and polish new skills. The site has 7 million members and over $1 billion worth of work posted on the site. It has been a platform for freelancers to kick start their own businesses well as providing young entrepreneurs with a cost- and time-efficient system for their enterprise. This interview is with Freelancer.com’s Adam Byrne, International Director.

1) How was this idea conceived? What need did you see at the beginning that was not currently on the market?

Freelancer.com was started by our CEO Matt Barrie, when he bought and rebranded the website getafreelancer.com in 2009. Matt had just left his previous startup, and was looking for The Next Big Thing. While attempting to get some basic tasks done online, he realised that one day, buying services on the internet would be just as big as buying goods on the internet. Matt wanted to be the guy that built it.

2) How did you decide to set yourselves apart from all other job
sites at the beginning?

Our primary focus is helping and empowering SME’s and entrepreneurs all around the world. Unlike many other outsourcing and crowdsourcing marketplaces which are focused primarily in a single region, Freelancer.com is a truly global marketplace. Our site can be viewed in 15 languages (of which we provide support in 6), we transact in nearly 20 currencies, and we have 7.5 million members from every country and region in the world – including places like Antarctica and Vatican City!

3) What were some of the challenges and obstacles at the beginning?

Marketplace businesses are notoriously difficult to set up, as you need to build up both sides of the market at the same time, which becomes a chicken-and-egg type problem.

4) Were there technical implementations or strategies that worked better than others?

At Freelancer.com, we try to hire the best team we can. People are our greatest resource, and we’ve found this to be the secret to our success.

5) Please take us through the process of a job seeker or anyone of signing up for the service. How does this service work for job seekers looking for extra work or as a job to help them find full-time employment?

It’s really very simple. You just have to sign up for a free account, verify your email address, create your profile page, and start bidding on projects that match your skills. We have a good number of users who were able to use the site as a main source of income, so yes, this can definitely be a platform for extra income as well. Many of our successful Freelancers go on to employ other Freelancers to help them build their business!

6) What do job seekers say they like about the service? What don’t they like?

For a job seeker, the most fundamental requirement of any freelance marketplace is sufficient volume of work – and with around 4,000 new jobs posted daily, Freelancer.com satisfies this requirement. Additionally, safe and reliable third-party payment methods are also essential – and Freelancer.com provides these through its Milestone Payment System (similar to escrow). The most common complaint we receive is when the project is done offsite using third-party communication and payment platforms – typically freelancers or employers who request this do so to avoid the inbuilt protections in our Milestone Payment System, and are likely to attempt a scam. We are unable to provide protection to projects that are done off-site.

7) Should job seekers really have a reason to be concerned about what they dislike in the website?

Freelancer.com provides 24x7x365 email support for all users, in 6 different languages (english, spanish, german, french, dutch and filipino) – so any concerns are easily and quickly addressed.

8) What are most popular postings or requests to date?

The majority of our projects are in software/web development, data entry, financial services, writing, translation and design-related work (logos, websites, etc). That said, we also have an amazing variety of jobs on the platform – anything from Astrophysics and Architecture to Tax Law and Wedding Planning!

9) Are there testimonies that you’ve or that have been published
about the service? Could you share a couple of them with us?

Aisha Stefan, Malaysia

Aisha’s husband lost his job, and she took to the
only site she knew that could help her provide for the needs of her family
while her husband looked for another job – Freelancer.com. “I
started out with small tasks due to my limited capabilities and skills;
consequently, I took up tougher tasks to improve my experience and skills,” she
explained.

Eventually, Aisha’s husband found a new job. Aisha
continued working as a freelancer in the site and it has allowed her
to become more self-reliant.

“I am able to manage my own money, purchase
personal and my daughters’ basic needs, and even have a surplus for emergencies
and urgent matters without being overly dependent on my husband’s income.”

Speaking from experience, she counsels, “Once you have enough positive, excellent
feedback, the possibilities of future engagement would be close to endless. You
can be hired permanently by some to contribute to their ongoing or recurring
projects. The word-of-mouth endorsement is priceless to the opportunities that
may arise.”

– Aisha Stefan, Malaysia. During the time when
Aisha’s husband didn’t have a job, she found a means of income to support her
family through Freelancer.com.

Hilary Umeoka, Nigeria

Hilary works as a full-time freelance writer on Freelancer.com. When the
workload is heavy, he hires additional writers also on the site. “I post
writing projects without setting any barriers, which allows me to get writers
from several countries,” he shares. “I simply pay my writers from my
earnings on the site.”

And Freelancer.com
makes it easy for him to do just that. The Dashboard, he says,
allows him to get a full glimpse of his activities, while the Finance menu
helps him calculate his earnings. If things don’t turn out as expected, he can
rely on the Dispute Resolution
System to recover his due from a
disappearing client.

More than three years down the road, Hilary
appreciates the site even more. “Freelancer.com
is proactive—it grows with tremendous speed. I like the fact that the Support
Desk responds to my inquiries with great speed and that the site introduces
better changes on a regular basis.”

* You can also check out our testimonials page for more of what our users had to say.

10) Is there a limit to the services people can request? What are examples of unusual requests (e.g. lion tamer for a circus) posted?

There’s no limit to the number of projects an employer can post on the site, and we’ve seen projects in literally anything – from Kinetic Catalytic Conversion modelling to Chinese rap songs! I quickly searched some of the new projects just then, and found one looking for an engineer to design an organic dog poo composter! Literally anything can be done on Freelancer.com

11) What part does Twitter, Facebook, and other networking sites play in spreading the work and making Freelancer.com a viable option for job seekers?

In addition to posting updates and announcements on social media, we also make it easy for employers or freelancers to share their new project amongst their friends.

12) Do you feel that job seekers of all ages are using the service? Any one demographic of job seekers using the service?

Freelancer.com’s 7.5 million users come from a huge variety of places – we have users in over 240 countries and regions, including the Antarctic and Vatican City. A wide age range of freelancers use the site – from teenagers to elderly people in nursing homes!

13) Recently, you added phone verification to add security. Has that enhanced the user experience positively or negatively?

We find that increasing transparency and honesty on our platform has a positive effect on the quality of work done in the marketplace. Phone verification helps us determine that everyone on the platform is there for legitimate reasons, and is who they say they are.

14) On either side of the employer or freelancer, what if there is quality lacking in the assignment or the work?

Freelancer.com provides a messaging system where employers and freelancers can properly communicate with each other while working on a project – communication is essential for the success of a project. Beyond this, provided you conduct all dealing on our site, and dont use third-party communications, our Milestone Payment System comes with a dispute resolution and arbitration service. So if the employer attempts to avoid payment, or if the Freelancer’s quality of work is lacking, you will be protected – provided you use the Milestone Payment System and stay on-site.

Adam Byrnes is the International Director at Freelancer.ph and is responsible for expanding Freelancer across the world. He leads teams in press relations, marketing and translation.

Prior to joining Freelancer.ph, Adam worked as a physics researcher in the field of quantum optics, where he co-authored a number of academic papers in major physics journals. He has also worked in information technology for Macquarie Group, one of Australia’s largest investment banks, and Aalborg Industries.

Adam holds a first-class honours degree in Electrical Engineering and Advanced Physics from the University of Sydney.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Do you impress potential employers?

Do you impress potential employers? Nobody will hire you to just give you a chance. It doesn’t matter if you are hard-working and dedicated unless you own the skills and applied knowledge needed for the employers’ position. A lasting impression is sustainable if there is a pattern of project completion or successful business accomplishments.

Employers want the job done in spite of obstacles, personality conflicts, and bad hair days. The blog, America’s Job Exchange’s article, “What Do Employers Want?” stated, “A good employee gets the job done. A great employee gets the job done in spite of everything – including when priorities and schedules shift.”

What does it take for a job seeker to impress? Among having a great resume, cover letter, an impressive portfolio among other things, here are some important attributes needed:

1. Impress employers with wide range of collaborations and projects

Presently, the workplace excels when employees create and embellish their projects and deepen existing expertise along the way. Job seekers who show creative solutions while partnering departments and businesses establish core competencies attractive to future employers. Even more impressive is offering a range of diverse work relationships across various global cultures.

2.Impress employers with quick and perpetual learners

Job seekers who quickly absorb lots of content in a short amount of time shows you quickly create value from ideas. This often comes from lots of reading and writing in your niche, and finding new ways to apply new learning and theory. Job candidates acutely aware of his or her learning style thrive from taking something from nothing.

3. Impress employers with soft skills

Everyone has virtues that he or she excels in that employers find attractive. Do not discount attributes and virtues such as, patience, tact, and customer service. Interviews are tests exposing weaknesses such as patience, or handling conflict. Other soft skills such as communication, courtesy, flexibility, integrity, and interpersonal skills are still gold and stands out in a crowded field of candidates.

4. Impress employers with initiatives saving cost and time

You have heard numbers on your résumé catch the eye of the reader and demonstrates your accomplishments. Employers want to see step-by-step actions that made project goals attainable. Furthermore, explaining clearly project strength and weaknesses are a plus demonstrating your understanding of how your steps impacted cost/time results.

5. Impress employers with observations and evaluations

While interviewing candidates when I was a manager, we gave a short explanation of how our department worked. After the explanation we asked the candidate learned from the explanation. Whether or not the candidate learned from our spiel, we can successfully assess the candidate’s ability to assimilate blocks of information given in short period. This told us a lot about the candidates learning ability and whether he or she was the right fit for our call center area.

What do you think impresses employers? Please share in the comments section below.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

3 Things to Remember If You’re Unemployed Like I Was

Editor’s note: Drew Tewell is our contributor today. Since I met Drew Tewell, we talked daily or have exchanged ideas through our common social channels. His latest book is The Dream Job Program: Get the job you want.

“Tough times never last, but tough people do”

Robert Schuller

Being unemployed is not easy. I can say this from experience. I have only been at my current job for three weeks.

Today I want to share with you three things to remember if you’re unemployed.

1. You will find another job

This is very important. When you are unemployed, things can seem hopeless. But you must not lose hope.

In my search for another job, one of the things I did was to focus my job search. What I mean by this is that I picked one position, employment recruiter, to go after.

Having a focus for your job search will help to concentrate all your efforts and make them more effective. Meaning, you will find a job faster.

2. This is only temporary

Even though it may feel like you have been out of work forever, and even though there may be no end in sight, this to shall pass.

Another tip to help you find a job faster is to schedule your job search. I spent some time in the morning, before my son woke up, and some time in the afternoon, while my son was taking a nap, looking for work.

Having a schedule and sticking to it will help keep your job search a priority among all the other things you have going on in your life.

3. Your dream job is waiting
If you currently find yourself unemployed, why not take some time to discover and land your dream job.

And when I say dream job, I am not talking about getting your one and only “dream job”. The fact of matter is that you will probably have many more jobs spanning over your entire work life. What I am talking about is you getting the job you want at this age and stage in your professional life.

My final tip is actually the first thing you should do if you want to find a better job than you had before and that is to figure out what you want in your next job.

Years ago, after being fired from a job I didn’t like, I took some time to figure out what I wanted in my next job. I wrote down 3 things:

I wanted a job where I could help people.
I wanted a job where I could make more money.
I wanted a job where I could work with young people (I previously had a positive experience working with and mentoring youth).

I ended up targeting organizations that worked with young people and calling them directly. One of the organizations that I contacted had an opening that they were looking to fill immediately. I ended up landing a job helping people, making more money, and working with young people! In addition, this is where I started helping people with their work and careers, which is what I still do.

If I had not taken the time to figure out what I wanted in my next job, I may have never found that opportunity.

So if you are unemployed, be encouraged and remember:

You will find another job.
This is only temporary.
Your dream job is waiting.

Consider putting into practice the tips I mentioned. And before you know it, you will be talking to the right person at the right time who is hiring for the job you want.

Question: What advice would you give someone who is currently unemployed?

The Dream Job Program by Drew Tewell

If you are currently unemployed, or you just don’t like your job, and you would like to discover and land your dream job, go to dreamjobprogram.com.Enter your email address and you’ll get a FREE copy of my book, The Dream Job Program: Get the job you want (which sells on Amazon).This is the same material that I took my coaching clients through. The only difference is they paid me hundreds of dollars for it.