Gary Swart is CEO of oDesk and in this interview he shares insight into specifics about oDesk and the future of online talent workplaces. Learn how to hire online talent.
Bryan Haines: First of all, maybe you can explain what oDesk is.
Gary Swart: oDesk is the world’s largest, most comprehensive and fastest-growing online workplace.
With a thriving online workforce available on-demand, oDesk enables businesses to post a job for free, field applications in hours and rapidly hire the best person for the job, regardless of where in the world they happen to be.
Those looking for work are no longer tethered by geography: All you need is your talent, a computer and an Internet connection to find opportunities on oDesk.
oDesk doesn’t just connect businesses and independent professionals. Our patent-pending technology creates a virtual workplace, offering real-time visibility into work as it happens, and making the payment process quick and hassle-free.
More money is earned on oDesk each month than on any other online workplace in the world.
Bryan Haines: What type of work can oDesk workers do?
Gary Swart: Workers on oDesk can choose from roughly 75 categories of work, ranging from technical software and web development to administrative roles and business services positions to creative work, such as graphic design, video production and illustration. They can also apply to jobs ranging from a limited-term assignment that can be completed in a few hours to an extended engagement lasting multiple months.
Virtually any work that can be done at a computer can be done on oDesk.
Bryan Haines: What type of activity/volume do you see on a daily basis? (transactions, new postings, dollar value)
Gary Swart: On average, businesses post roughly 3,600 new jobs each day on oDesk. Workers bill nearly 75,000 hours every day through our online workplace--that’s equivalent to more than 9,300 full-time employees! Overall, online workers have earned a record-setting $225M on oDesk during 2011.
Bryan Haines: What growth have you seen in online work since oDesk began in 2003?
Gary Swart: Online work has had a phenomenal growth in past few years. We officially opened our doors as an online workplace in 2005, and our business has doubled in size every year for the past 5 years. We are now larger than all other online work marketplaces combined, and continue to grow almost twice as fast as anyone else in the space.
During that time, we’ve also seen an increase in the types of work being sought online. Originally, technical work and developers were the core representatives of the online workforce, but in the past few years, we’ve seen rapid growth in demand for business services, sales and marketing professionals and creative talent.
I should also point out that recent trends have been driven growth in online work. In both the recession and the more recent recovery economy, companies are trying to do more with less and people are looking for ways to make money and continue to build their careers.
Add in the growth of the Internet -- in global reach, extended bandwidth and the proliferation of web-based applications -- and you can see how oDesk was uniquely positioned to capitalize on all of these trends.
Bryan Haines: Where do you see oDesk in 5 years time? What about the overall future of work?
Gary Swart: We have only scratched the surface of this "Work 3.0" world. As online work continues to grow by 70 percent year-over-year, it will revolutionize the way businesses think about hiring and structuring their companies, allowing them to augment their staff with an on-demand team of experts whenever they choose.
In Work 3.0, employers have access to the best talent in the world, on demand. Businesses can focus on getting the job done, limiting the effort put into full-time compensation packages, long hiring cycles or expensive overhead. The next few years will see a surge in innovation, as businesses of all size adopt blended online workers and local staff to save money, help grow their business, and access the best talent, regardless of location.
Meanwhile, Work 3.0 enables workers to work where they want, when they want, on the jobs they choose. They can engage with businesses all over the world, instead of just the limited opportunities within commuting distance.
Work 3.0 Workers Can:
- set their own rates
- choose their working hours, and
- apply for the work that most interests them
Over the next few years, we’ll see more and more workers customizing their own careers and building their own businesses in this way.
While Work 3.0 has already revolutionized the way in which many people work and businesses operate, this is just the beginning. I believe Work 3.0 will revolutionize the world of work, turning virtual workforces into common staples of successful business operations.
Online work is on track to become a seamless, integrated part of everyday business life — and the possibilities are endless.
Bryan Haines: How does oDesk differentiate itself from the other outsourcing portals?
Gary Swart: Most of these marketplaces focus on making money off an initial match between an employer and a worker. This approach typically lends itself to a small project that is short term, fixed price and requiring clients to scope their work in onerous detail. These projects are well suited to the bid-to-win marketplace model, although many high-quality independent professionals complain that the “race to the bottom” of bidding is not a meaningful way to work online.
In addition, the traditional online work marketplace models have suffered from disintermediation -- essentially being removed from the client-worker relationship -- because there has not been ongoing value provided after the match. As a result, these marketplaces charge membership fees and matching fees, which requires both employers and contractors to pay regardless of whether or not they ultimately derive any value from the service.
oDesk, by comparison, helps to facilitate a good match between employer and worker, but then focuses on delivering visibility and accountability after the initial connection. Rather than charge a membership or match fee, oDesk takes a percentage of the payment for services rendered. Essentially, oDesk does not make any money until the worker does - putting the focus on quality work and building successful employer-contractor relationships. And, using its patent-pending team technology, which includes the ability to see screenshots of the work as it happens, oDesk is the only company that guarantees contractors are reliably working for each hour billed -- while also guaranteeing them prompt, time-based payment.
Bryan Haines: To what extent does oDesk make use of online talent?
Gary Swart: We have been able to accomplish an amazing amount of work by “eating our own cooking”. Our own staff consists of more than three contractors for every full-time employee. These contractors include a stay-at-home mom in Tennessee managing our support team in the U.S. and the Philippines, a QA manager in NYC managing a team in Russia, and all of our development resources globally distributed but managed from our founder’s home in Greece. We have been able to gain remarkable leverage from our remote resources relative to maintaining a fully-loaded headcount here in the Bay Area.
I will tell you that - while this way of working does come with the benefits of accessing the best workers regardless of where they live - it also brings the challenges associated with communication, time zones, and cultural differences. We have been able to make it work with clear and constant communication, and by focusing passionately on integrating remote contractors with our Silicon Valley team. We will share more details on the secret of our success with online work in coming months.
Gary Swart is CEO of oDesk and in this interview he shares insight into specifics about oDesk and the future of online talent workplaces. Learn how to hire online talent.
