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Outsourcing:
Many workers / companies compete for the job by bidding. The employer hires one, who then does
the work.
Recommended for:
- Employers who have the technical ability
and time to interview the workers well.
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Non design projects like programming, writing,
virtual assistants, etc..
How it works:

Employer posts a project.
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Employer interviews bidders
and selects a worker.
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Worker works for employer
and gets the job done.
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View
step-by-step
details.
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View advantages and disadvantages ...
Advantages:
- Simplest and quickest.
- Most familiar to anyone who has done traditional hiring.
- Most affordable (cheapest).
Disadvantages:
-
Interviewing: Requires the employer to have the
ability and time to interview well,
which not everyone can do (especially when
hiring a person working in a field outside
of one's own expertise).
Note: if this describes an employer, then they should
consider a different sourcing type (or hire a
'Sherpa'
to do the interviewing for them).
-
Certain project types: Does not work well for certain
project types (like design) where the employer can't
predict in advance how well the person will do.
For example: in design projects, samples of previous
work in portfolios are easily faked, making
interviewing no better than guess work.
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Crowdsourcing:
No bidding or interviewing required. Many contestants compete by
doing the work. The employer awards a prize to the best one.
Recommended for:
-
Employers who want to choose the best
candidate but don't
have the technical ability or time to do it.
- Short projects that take a contestant
two days or
less to do.
(Note: For larger projects, see
"trialsourcing" instead).
-
All categories of work, but especially suited to
short design projects
like logos, websites, business cards, t-shirts,
brochures, architecture,
etc.
How it works:

Employer posts a contest
and prize.
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All participants do work
and send it to employer.
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Employer picks the best one
and awards the prize.
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View
step-by-step
details.
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Unique features:
Our crowdsourcing has
features that no other competitor currently offers, including:
- PerfectPricing™: Ensures the prize is never too high or too low.
- Crowdsource every type of project.
- Crowdsource every sized project (with either
crowdsourcing or trialsourcing).
- And more ...
Click here for
more details on the above.
View
advantages and disadvantages ...
Advantages:
- Skips interviewing: Lets the employer see
exactly how the person performs "on the job".
- Best option to interviewing:
Is the only way to truly qualify workers
in fields where the employer cannot predict in
advance how well a person will do
(like design).
Disadvantages;
-
More expensive: With outsourcing the employer pays
the least,
because they only have to pay a single person
who knows they have won the job already. With
crowdsourcing they have to pay a larger prize
amount that will encourage many people to do the
work for free in the hopes of being the one who
wins the prize.
-
Best suited for smaller sized/scope projects:
Crowdsourcing works best on small sized projects that
take a week or so for the worker to complete. Longer
running contests are usually too expensive to
justify. (Note: if this is an employer's case, then
they should see
"trialsourcing" below for a better solution).
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Trialsourcing:
Trialsourcing combines the strengths
of crowdsourcing (the ability to
find the best worker via an
"on-the-job trial")
with the strengths of outsourcing (dramatically lower
cost). Unlike crowdsourcing,
it can be used on larger projects which
run longer than two days.
We are proud to have invented trialsourcing,
and it's also a
vWorker exclusive feature.
Recommended for:
- Employers who want to choose the best candidate but don't have the technical ability or time to do it.
-
Larger projects (more than two days)
How it works:

Employer splits project into two parts
and posts trial contest
and prize.
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All participants do trial
and send it to employer.
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Employer picks the best one
and awards the prize.
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Worker works for employer
and gets the rest of
the job done.
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View
step-by-step
details.
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Click here for an example...
Let's say the employer's project is to have
someone program
"the next Facebook" for them. They'd rather not pick
outsourcing because they're not certain they'll pick the
best programmer. But they also can't pick
crowdsourcing because
the site will take a year to develop, and would be
too expensive.
So they choose trialsourcing and split the project into
two portions.
The crowdsourcing portion is for a programmer to create
a website
that does just the profile page and a wall page (the bare
minimum
functionality in Facebook for the employer
to be able to judge their abilities). Many programmers
do the project
and they easily identify the best one.
Then they complete the 2nd portion of the project
using outsourcing, which is much cheaper.
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