oDesk review by Inspector Jones

I recommend oDesk for businesses of all sizes who have work that needs to be done. They are the largest provider of freelance crowdsourced services worldwide (by annual freelancer earnings).

oDesk is a marketplace for freelance work. They have over 3 million freelancers registered, with expertise in Writing/authoring, Data Entry & Research, Customer Service, Translation / Localization, Software Development, and Content Moderation.

Before you choose oDesk, here are the key things you need to know.

First, it’s fast. You can post a job, receive applications, and appoint an applicant all within a few hours. It’s very easy to scale up, bringing on new staff very quickly. It’s also very easy to scale down, and you are able to reduce hours or stop work as you please.

Second, good visibility of work. When you hire hourly contractors, the oDesk software logs their mouse and keyboard activity, as well as regular screenshots, approximately every 10 minutes. You have full access to review all of their work progress and activity, as a guarantee that the hours were done.

Third, the market size is a real strength. Because of its size, it’s very likely that you’ll find the workers you’re looking for on oDesk, in a short space of time. The freelancers are very active - don’t be surprised if you find skilled candidates within minutes of posting a new job.