| I've been an oDesk freelancer for the last few months so I'll explain what appeals to me about a client / job. My hourly rate makes me an outlier on the site however, so this is less applicable if you're after cheap and good. The easiest way to find good developers is have them come to you, and the best to way do that is to have a good job ad. * Tag the ad with the appropriate tech * Add a high level description of what the job is. Not just technically, but what is being made too. Also, whether it's as part of a team or completely autonomous. * Include links, to a company website if you are one, or to your own website / twitter / github / etc if you have them. * Post hourly jobs only. Fixed price jobs may be appropriate sometimes, but only if they're fully specced out to avoid scope creep. * oDesk allows you to specify the experience level you want (Entry Level - $, Intermediate - $$, Expert - $$$), treat this more as how much you're willing to pay rather than the real experience level. Ideally, they should correlate, but they often don't. Tagging the ad with the tech is important, I have a filtered view on the job feed to remove all that isn't relevant to me. I see only ~10-15 new jobs per week and may apply for one or two of them. If your ad is tagged and it's something that I'm interested in then I'll see it. Next, filtering out the less good / less interested freelancers by making the job application process a little more difficult. Many freelancers spam out applications without even reading the ad contents, you want to exclude them. * I've seen some ads that ask freelancers to include a certain word in their application so the client can filter based on that. * Even better (IMO), and the best way to find good hires, is to include a couple of your own questions in the application. oDesk allows you to set these in addition or instead of the standard cover letter approach. It will filter out a lot of freelancers that are solely spamming out applications and don't have time for anything that doesn't fit the standard template. Those that get through, you can filter them on their answers. Once you have a few freelancers that you're considering hiring, send them a bit of extra information on the job, maybe discuss it a little, set up a Skype meeting. Don't go overboard here, it should be a short-ish process, not a free consultation. Then, hire someone. If it doesn't work out, we're easy to fire. -- An additional note on the job ad (from experience), be honest in it about rates etc. Don't tick the "expert" box if you're looking for someone at $cheap/hr. If you're a startup that's looking to pay in equity that state that up front instead of after going through all of the above. |