by Francis
(December 11, 2012)
If you are reading this blog post, that means that you can follow along in real time as I hire a virtual assistant to do job research for me. I already shared my thoughts about the first applicant, Melisa from Indonesia, in another blog post.
Now let’s have a look at Ashley from the Philippines. First of all, every time I hire someone to do an outsourced job for me; I have in mind that we have a section of case studies showcasing different profiles of virtual assistants from all over the world.
My goal is really to have case studies from providers from different countries. So, this applicant coming from the Philippines is somehow a disadvantage for her. Ashley doesn’t know it yet but I’m looking forward to have as international of a team as I can possibly have. But, perhaps we should have a closer look at her skills first.
So the first thing I usually look at when deciding if I hire someone is her hourly rate. Ashley’s hourly rate is $2.50 per hour. This is not too much to ask even for a research job. It all depends on the location of the provider.
Unfortunately, my budget is extremely tight and there’s not much room for me to be overly generous especially if the research takes much time. So probably this price tag already is a no go area.
But let’s have a closer look at her profile first. All qualifications are matched on the job description. She has the work experience and she has the feedback – excellent feedback, by the way.
Also, I see that she has several other projects at the same time still in progress. If I wanted to hire her almost full time, I would know that she already has other contracts with other people. If you are in a similar position when hiring, you should look out for that.
One detail that disgruntled me was;
– first, she didn’t answer the test question within the job position. This means she did not read the job description closely enough.
– Another really small detail confirms this. She writes, “This letter is to express my interest in discussing the research expert position posted here on oDesk.“
The rest of the letter could apply to any other job opening and after the research expert, there are two spaces. I strongly think that this is a copy pasted cover letter where only the position has been changed. Therefore, this applicant will not be a good choice.
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Comments for Screening Applicants for This Job: Melisa Gets Competition from Ashley from the Philippines
| Aug 21, 2014 | not much but will do just fine by: Jomvie As an online provider from the Philippines, $2.50 is not really that much, especially if the job is demanding—it can’t pay half of the hard work. But if the job is just purely research and does not involve too much strenuous activity, then, that rate will do just fine. |
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