'Net Features : odesk

Online Freelance Jobs to Double in 2012

Linc Wonham — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:00:00 GMT

While global economies continue to struggle with job creation, online work thrived this year with 650,000 new jobs posted and cumulative earnings set to surpass $500 million, according to Elance’s just-released 2011 Online Employment Review.

The number of businesses hiring on Elance's online employment platform and the number of online professionals working on Elance grew more than 120 percent, the report says, and earnings for online professionals rose in more than 100 countries around the world. In the U.S., earnings rose in 43 out of 50 states, including some of the hardest-hit regions for unemployment such as Michigan, Nevada and South Carolina.

Other key data from the report includes the following:

Online Hiring
Businesses are developing innovative workforce models that blend full-time and part-time, local and remote, employed and contracted workers. The practice of hiring and managing talent online is spreading and 83 percent of small businesses surveyed by Elance plan to hire up to 50 percent of their workers as online contractors in the next 12 months.

More people are pursuing independent careers and using online platforms like Elance to reinvent their careers. The 2011 Elance survey of online freelance professionals indicated that nearly 1 in 3 workers began freelancing to be their own boss and work on the type of projects they love. The top benefits of online work cited include the ability to control their own schedule (90 percent), follow their passion (87 percent) and eliminate the commute (85 percent).

Hot Skills in Demand
The number of businesses seeking to hire online workers doubled in 2011. An analysis of the jobs posted on Elance this year highlights the following skills:

•    Software development skills such as HTML5 (+238 percent), Mobile (+137 percent), WordPress (+100 percent), Facebook (+66 percent) and Twitter (+47 percent)
•    Creative skills like Graphic Design (+176 percent) and Content Writing (+72 percent)
•    Marketing skills such as Internet Marketing (+132 percent), Marketing Communications (+53 percent) and Telemarketing (52 percent)
•    Administrative skills, including Transcription (+114 percent), Administrative Support (+87 percent) and Data Entry (+69 percent)
•    Consulting skills ranging from Product Manufacturing (+186 percent), Architectural Design (+185 percent), Financial Analysis (+140 percent) and Legal (+86 percent) to Business Strategy (+76 percent)

Predictions for 2012
In 2012, the market for online contingent work is set to double as more businesses across the globe hire and manage workers online for the first time, says the report. Below are four trends that Elance's research shows may shape the world of work in 2012:

•    The rise of the global, virtual workplace. Companies will increasingly tap into the online workforce across geographic boundaries to support key business initiatives. More professionals will build independent careers by working with multiple clients all over the world. Online contractors will collaborate with each other remotely, across geographies and time zones. Technological advancements enabling better online collaboration, telepresence, skills assessment and identity verification, will make significant contributions to the new virtual workplace.

• Professional services become America’s next great export. The global demand for U.S. talent has increased steadily over the past year and is set to grow even faster as online platforms like Elance and oDesk break down global barriers and open up opportunities for collaboration. In 2011, U.S.-based contractors exported their services to more than 140 countries, and global hiring of U.S. professionals saw a significant increase in more than 60 countries.

• Increased adoption of the contingent workforce elevates the importance of compliance. To tap the power of a flexible workforce, companies around the world will turn to online employment platforms to facilitate compliance with their internal controls and evolving government regulations.

•    Promising online careers for 2012. Online hiring for specialized skills will continue to expand in 2012. Promising online careers for 2012 include the following:

o    Software Developer
o    Visual Designer
o    User Experience Designer
o    Digital Marketer
o    Technical Writer
o    Web Researcher
o    Data Analyst
o    Content Moderator
o    Accountant
o    Distributed Workforce Manager

Online Workers in High Demand

Linc Wonham — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:30:00 GMT

While the overall employment picture remains relatively bleak as the U.S. heads into the Labor Day weekend, two separate reports reveal significant growth in the online work marketplace. Specifically, demand for mobile developers has never been higher.

According to the August report from online employment platform oDesk, demand for mobile development skills is up 131 percent year over year, and employers spent $20 million hiring online during the month – an increase of 95 percent over the same period a year ago.

The hottest growth was reported in jobs posted for Android SDK, iPhone and Windows Mobile. Overall, a record 100,000-plus jobs were posted in the technology sector.

The growth in demand for mobile applications is thanks to the growing reliance on the smartphone for business and personal use, as well as the excitement around new product announcements – such as Apple’s anticipated iPhone 5 later this month – and cross-business deals like the Microsoft-Nokia partnership and the recent Google acquisition of Motorola. The oDesk Online Employment Report indicates that mobile application development was the eighth most requested category of work last month, with demand for Android SDK and Windows Mobile skills leading the category in new job growth.

“The continued innovation and development in mobile devices and systems has led to a surge in online employment opportunities for people with these skills,” says Gary Swart, oDesk CEO. “Businesses are going mobile, and talented developers from the on-demand online workforce are building the apps that will take them there.”

A different report from SimplyHired.com revealed that nationwide job openings increased for the second consecutive month, up 4.5 percent month-over-month and 16.5 percent year-over-year. Openings were previously up 6.5 percent month-over-month and 17 percent year-over-year.

“As expected, job openings continue to remain positive and stable this month due to the start of the fall season,” says Gautam Godhwani, CEO of SimplyHired.com. “We anticipate modest continued job growth through the end of the year from seasonal hiring.”

Hottest Summer Jobs Will Be in Development, Writing

Linc Wonham — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:40:00 GMT

Development positions with in-demand technologies such as Facebook API and Android SDK continue to enjoy the largest growth with no signs of slowing, according to the May Online Employment Report recently released by oDesk.

Also experiencing dramatic increases were a variety of online writing jobs, with technical writing positions up 1,758 percent since last year and blogging jobs up 974 percent. The summer months are an excellent time for employers to leverage on-demand talent online and tap into contractors with needed skills, while also presenting increased opportunities for freelance workers to build and develop relationships with new employers.

Despite the national unemployment rate recently edging up to 9 percent, oDesk experienced a record number of job postings on its site for the month of May. That figure was a 7-percent increase from the previous month, and has grown 81 percent since 2010.

Employers spent over $17 million in May while contractors worked over 1.6 million hours on oDesk.

Online Workforce Expanding, Especially in Mobile and Social

Linc Wonham — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:46:00 GMT

A recent blog post that caught the attention of readers included a summary of the annual report from online employment platform Elance. Another Web employment marketplace, oDesk, has released its own year-end report with similarly positive views of both the year in review and the year ahead.

The report from oDesk says that employers spent $115 million on online work in 2010 and that job opportunities doubled from 2009 to approximately 602,000. Mobile was the best bet for job-seekers, and positions involving Android expertise shot up 680 percent from 2009 while iPhone-related jobs increased by 152 percent. Social media was not surprisingly the next hottest jobs category, and the hottest regions for online contractors were the Philippines, India and the United States.

For 2011, oDesk predicts that online work will continue to double year-over-year while local employment will not rebound to pre-recession levels. The report also predicted that more than 500,000 employers will hire cloud-based workforces for the first time, including 25 percent of the companies that make up the Fortune 500.

The number of people looking to make online work their primary source of income in 2011 will double, according to oDesk, and the hiring of online workers by companies outside of the U.S. will explode in the next year, the report says. U.S. spending on online work, meanwhile, will grow more slowly in 2011, representing 65 percent of the worldwide total.