Anyone who’s new to hiring contractors on sites like Elance, oDesk and Guru, finds himself or herself often wondering what exactly they’re supposed to be looking for.
This is a great question. Each of these sites, as well as other less popular ones, have great options to help clients and business owners evaluate their potential contractors.
However, it’s still possible to pick the wrong guy. What do you do to make sure this doesn’t happen? There are a few tactics to keep in mind when hiring your virtual professional.
Research Thoroughly
The most popular contractor sites have several methods of evaluation. You can see past reviews of the contractor, as well as how many jobs they’ve taken on the site. You also have access to a portfolio they’ve submitted, and you can see their test scores if they’ve taken any. Make sure you look at these.
You also want to go above and beyond, and check out the contractor’s website if at all possible. This will give you a good idea of their brand, and give you the opportunity to see if it matches that of yours. Don’t just look at the reviews, but take a look at the details of the past jobs they’ve worked, and see if any are at all like yours, and then check the reviews for those specific jobs. This micro-researching technique will help you not have to micromanage later.
Use A Rating System
The competition’s heavy for almost any job posted, and you may find yourself sifting through 40+ proposals for any given job you promote on a contracting site. Use a rating system to help you quickly weed out those who aren’t good enough.
The system you create is up to you. You can develop a point system, or you can use an easier, checklist type system that’s all in your head, and will help you quickly run through the proposals. Whoever has the most checks stays.
Keep Your Options Open
Never put all of your eggs in one basket. Don’t be afraid to hire two or three of your top perceived contractors to figure out which one works best for you. This especially works if you ever find yourself wanting to hire a business. Most businesses themselves outsource, and you may find the quality you receive to be different from the quality other ratings have you looking forward to.
Be sure to hire more than one person and give them small tasks to test them out and see what you’re working with.
Now, go post your job and make sure you use all of these strategies when choosing your perfect virtual professional to handle some of your business needs.
Thanks for the post! I’m trying to get my outsourced team together, so this is really helpful. The idea to check things carefully and hire a few people at first is a good one. Thanks for the great information!
Justin recently posted..What’s The Ultimate Power in Your Small Business?