Good Fit available to all freelancers

[Md Rahatur R]

I used to be a "good fit" when I was new and inexperience. Now that I have worked on multiple projects and hours under my belt I am no more "good fit" for most of the jobs!

You have "Star ratings", Then you have "job success" and then there is "Good fit". Ways to distract clients!

It is verymuch possible that some one with 5 stars and 60% job success is a "good fit".
And another person with 4.5 stars and 100% job success but not a "Good fit".

Now who do the client hires? Who will be the actual good fit?

[Olga Q]

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@Md. Rahatur R wrote:

You have "Star ratings", Then you have "job success" and then there is "Good fit". Ways to distract clients!

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Totally agree on this. I think that probably, in the end, clients will just turn to written feedback.

[David G]

I have yet to see any job that is designated as a good fit. I looked at approximately ten to fifteen different editing jobs with a range of budgets and not one stated it was a good fit.

Now, I beleive I am a good fit (skillwise) for every job I looked at. Sometimes the budget was a bit lower than I would want to work for but even editing jobs that were willing to pay for experts did not show the good fit button.

How exactly is this good fit calculated. If it looks at my past jobs, about 90 percent of them have been editing and a few have been for writing (only if I'm really interested). My job success score is 100% and yet I can't seem to find any jobs that are a good fit.

This tells me something isn't working right.

Given that oDesk now highlights applications from people who have been deemed a good fit for a job, this really needs to be looked at. I can't believe that I am not a good fit for any editing job on this site.

[Garnor M]

Hi David,

Thanks for the reply. I've gone back with the team to confirm the Good Fit badge is turned on for all freelancers. I'll share your feedback with the team and we'll do more digging to confirm there aren't any issues, but from the testing we've done, we are seeing the badge across all freelancers.

[Donna M]

Well, I have been able to only find a few in tele-marketing that I am a fit for other than that not much. Yes I do sales and telemarketing but have done other jobs as well.

The one thing I find insulting is that somehow I was not a good match for a customer service manager. I guess my previous experience in a real world  (verifiable)  job as District Manager with a territory that had on average sales volume of 6 Million per year, 30 employees under me and over 100 various multi-unit retail & grocery stores in my district doesn’t really count  as I am not good fit for a part-time customer service manager on oDesk.

The only thing I seem to be a good fit for is telemarketing? So is that my future at oDesk because your algorithm has decided to pigeon hole me into that role?

So what is that algorithm? How does Good Fit determine what I am a good fit for?

Is it based on your last few jobs on oDesk or just your last completed job? Is it based on your rate of pay, longevity of jobs? ......is it all of these and more and if so how is each part weighed in the algorithm?

As oDesk should know most freelancers are multi-talented and can do many different types of jobs. For instance I do sales, customer service, administrative and yes I can also do some writing and WordPress sites although I don't do those here.

So if Good Fit is only calculating your last job on oDesk to determine a fit is that really considered a Good Fit?

Although I am not looking at the moment,  that customer service manager job on oDesk that I am not a good fit for, sadly my application would go to the bottom and that client may miss out on myself and others (that are also deemed as not a Good Fit) that are more than capable of doing the job and have had past experience in doing so.

So does that really help the freelancer or the client?

[John K]

Donna,

This may sound odd but I'm relieved that I'm not the only one who feels insulted by what the algorithm considers a 'Good Fit'.

[Darrin O]

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@John K wrote:

This may sound odd but I'm relieved that I'm not the only one who feels insulted by what the algorithm considers a 'Good Fit'.

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How I wish I could be insulted.  As with so many other "features", I also seem to not be a Good Fit for anything because I came to oDesk with a ton of experience and the clients I found here want to keep working with me.  Not even a single one of my Recommended list is a Good Fit.  Please, oDesk, hire someone who can create a coherent architecture for your system.

[John K]

Darrin,

I've personally never found the 'Recommended' list to be of any value whatsoever. Almost every time I've been hired at oDesk, it was when I applied within a few hours of when the job was posted. My experience with the 'Recommended' list is that it doesn't contain anything that isn't days old, so chances are a lot of freelancers have already been interviewed, or it's a job where the client never hires anyone. But maybe things are different in your niche.

[Darrin O]

John

It's the same in my niche, too, but my point had to do with the consistency of the matches oDesk produces.  That is to say, a sane system would be expected to have a large overlap in features like Recommended and Good Fit.  That's clearly not the case here, and it remains baffling why no one at the helm seems to notice these sorts of things.

And as far as job search strategies, I almost never apply to anything immediately after it is posted.  There are just too many flaky clients around here to burn my meager 10 applications on everything that pops up.  I'm also usually looking for more substantial projects rather than the ones where a quick hire of any one of the 100 applicants will do just as well.

Or, put another way, I wonder what percentage of Good Fit matches are for jobs that pay less than $10/hour vs. jobs that pay over $100/hour.  It would be very telling of the types of clients oDesk attracts to know where things are on that spectrum.  All I know is that I've seen absolutely nothing labeled as a Good Fit.

[David G]

I've just checked five more editing jobs and none of them are a good fit.

Maybe the algorithym just doesn't know I'm an editor even though editing jobs are the main jobs I've been doing here. I've listed editing, copyediting and proofreading in my skills list. I'm not sure what more I need to do.

Maybe I could write the words "editor, copyeditior and proofreader" a hundred times in my profile.