'Net Features : web workers

Bright Outlook for Online Workers

Linc Wonham — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 22:00:00 GMT

Online employment platform Elance has released the results from its annual survey on small business hiring trends. The survey reveals the job outlook is bright for people working online as a multitude of businesses continue to adopt online hiring as a core strategy to remain agile in today’s economic climate.

Small and medium-sized businesses also show that adaptability and efficiency are key motivating factors for hiring online professionals with 73-percent of businesses citing the flexibility to scale up and down quickly as a key benefit and 60 percent indicating faster time to hire vs. traditional hiring approaches yielding huge time savings.

Below are some of the key findings from the survey:

Businesses Gain More Mileage with Hybrid Hiring Models
Growing numbers of companies are planning to scale up their online hiring after reaping the benefits of a flexible, on-demand team of experts. Eighty-three percent of businesses plan to hire at least 50 percent of their workers online in the next 12 months, and nearly half of all businesses plan to make 90 percent of their hires online. Only 10 percent of respondents plan to hire 90 percent onsite and 10 percent online in the next year, showing strong business interest in expanding internal teams with professionals in the cloud.

Online workers play a key role to businesses with 87 percent of survey respondents indicating that online contractors are a vital part of their business. Several key drivers that motivate businesses to hire online include cost savings (85 percent), flexibility to scale up and down (73 percent) and faster time to hire (60 percent). In fact, 94 percent experienced at least a 25-percent time savings by hiring online while 76 percent have cut their times by 50 percent or more. In addition, 89 percent of respondents have realized a significantly reduced time for project cycles while 66 percent sliced half or more off project completion times.

Experience Trumps Age and Cost in Online Hiring
While cost is commonly assumed as the number one reason companies hire online, businesses indicated that the top criteria for hiring online is experience shown through feedback/ratings (64 percent) and work samples/portfolio (63 percent). Only 30 percent of respondents cited cost as the top consideration for hiring online.

The survey also revealed that a degree from a top university is not an automatic edge for online professionals, with only 1% of businesses indicating that as a top hiring consideration. Further defying long held assumptions, none of the businesses cited age as the most important criteria for hiring online and 2 percent cited location.

Forecast Sunny for Hiring in the Cloud
With much of the country focused on job growth and hiring trends, the news from the traditional employment sector has brought little comfort. The survey revealed that 64 percent of businesses have not hired any new full-time equivalent employees in the past 12 months, and only 15 percent plan to hire a full-time employee or employees in the next 12 months.

In contrast, the outlook for online hiring shows promise: 84 percent of respondents made at least two online hires over the past year, and 75 percent of businesses plan on increasing or maintaining the level of spend on hiring online professionals over the next 12 months.

It’s Not Who You Know, But What You Do
Having a presence on the web is no longer just nice to have, but an essential business strategy. While businesses are tapping into online talent for literally hundreds of unique skills and talents, many are finding value in professionals who can contribute to the development, design and content germane to doing business online. Survey respondents cited Web Programmers/Developers (73 percent), Graphic Designer/Multimedia Experts (63 percent) and Writer/Blogger/Content Creators (39 percent) as the most valuable online professionals to their business in the last 12 months.

Working on Their Own Terms
Multitasking extends beyond the digital age as the survey revealed many professionals are moonlighting as entrepreneurs. Thirty-six percent of business respondents say they are starting or operating a business while working full or part-time traditional onsite jobs, while 57 percent of respondents own their own business as their full time job.

About the Study
Elance conducted this survey from August 16 to August 19, 2011. More than 300 U.S.-based Elance businesses participated in the online survey. Visit Elance for more information on the survey and to view results.

Demand for Web Workers Continues to Rise

Linc Wonham — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:35:00 GMT

Online employment platform Elance has released its quarterly report, revealing record-setting hiring by small businesses in the fourth quarter of 2010. Increased hiring across all categories during what is traditionally a slow quarter further indicates that innovation and growth in the online employment marketplace will continue to rise throughout 2011.

The report also reveals that hybrid organization will be a growing trend in 2011, with companies adopting staffing models that include both onsite and online workers. Elance employers are posting more than 40,000 new jobs each month, and online workers have earned over $340 million on the platform. The surge in hiring aligns with recent findings by the Aberdeen Group that show contingent workers are expected to rise to 25 percent of the workforce in 2011, as employers and individuals seek greater flexibility in an increasingly dynamic marketplace.

Other notable hiring trends include the following:

IT is King
Signs of increased optimism about 2011 are seen at the end of 2010 as online employment shows record growth during a time typically associated with seasonal slowdown. Businesses posted more than 105,000 jobs in Q4 2010, showing an impressive 38-percent increase over the same quarter last year. Spend grew 11 percent quarter-over-quarter and 44 percent over the same quarter last year as online workers earned more than $27 million in Q4. Creative, marketing and operations sectors all experienced substantial growth. The king of Q4, however, was IT as spend on technology-related work outpaced other categories.

Mobile Continues to Fly; Android on Top
Demand for experts in mobile technologies continues to grow at an impressive pace with demand for iPad programmers growing 15 percent quarter-over-quarter, and iPhone programmers growing 10 percent. However, Android developers experienced even higher growth in Q4 thanks to a 20-percent rise in demand quarter-over-quarter. Demand for iOS and Android programmers is unlikely to slow down anytime soon, as Verizon and other carriers start selling Apple products, and a flurry of new Android devices announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show hit the market.

WordPress: The Undisputed Champ of Content
WordPress appears to have moved from top contender among open-source platforms for online content such as Drupal and Joomla! to the top choice. Over the course of 2010, demand for WordPress experts rose an impressive 15 percent quarter-over-quarter, moving up three highly coveted spots to No. 2, trailing only behind PHP programmers. This marks the first time that any content management system has moved into the top three skills in demand by businesses, solidifying it as the undisputed champ of content, for now.

Online Marketing: The Fastest Growing Segment
Demand for online marketing contractors and consultants is accelerating and is up 74 percent year-over-year, indicating that businesses are making heavy investments in online branding, media and customer acquisition strategies like social media marketing, affiliate marketing and search engine marketing, In Q4, social media marketing saw 20-percent growth and moved to No. 26 on the top 100 skills list, as more marketing dollars are being deployed across social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Facebook: Growing Demand, Getting Hotter
The demand for Facebook programmers grew 23 percent in Q4, moving up 11 positions on the top 100 skills list. Facebook experts are increasingly sought after as more businesses seek Facebook App development, Fan Page creation and Facebook Connect integrations.

HTML5 Explodes, Flash Holds Steady
With a huge 48-percent growth quarter-over-quarter, demand for HTML5 programmers continues to skyrocket as businesses look to not only revamp existing websites, but also create a presence on increasingly popular tablet and mobile devices. On the other hand, despite showing no significant growth in Q4, Flash continues to hold steady as a sought-after skill, indicating that businesses are not dropping the proprietary technology anytime soon.

Texas: The New Online Employment Hot Spot
In Q4 2010, Texas had more cities in the top 10 for online employment than any other state, and tied California for the most cities in the top 30. Dallas maintained its position at No. 4, Amarillo, a hot spot for writing talent, moved up a spot to No. 7, and Austin jumped up eight spots to No. 9. Other Q4 shakeups include Los Angeles moving up to the No. 2 position, Portland, Oregon moving up to No. 3, and San Francisco moving down to No. 5, while New York remains the No. 1 city based on contractor earnings.

Visit Elance to view the full Online Employment Report.

Summer Reading for Web Workers (2010)

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:45:00 GMT

The quantity of information on the Web can often seem overwhelming. The emails, feeds, and social comments just keep coming - and they just won't stop. Sometimes, particularly in the summer months, it's often helpful to head to the pool, pour yourself a nice cold drink and enjoy a good and meaningful book. But wait, you're a Web professional! You are compelling to stay connected at all times, right? Website Magazine has selected seven recently released industry-related books for you to consider reviewing this summer as you lounge by the pool. From copy writing and persuasion to entrepreneurship and marketing, Website Magazine Summer Reading List for Web Workers is one not to miss.

	Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh discusses his experiences in entrepreneurship, the importance of customer service and taking business risks. While the book has been accused of being filled with a bit too much hype, others argue that it's a powerful and inspirational read.

	The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing, and Creating Content for the Digital World Yahoo!'s recently released style guide provides a detailed reference to essential Web style writing elements. Ideal for writers, editors, bloggers, and marketers, many of the most essential topics are covered including the basics of grammar and punctuation and the guide even manages to offer up several ways for improving writing.

	The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion A provocative and insightful look at the power of today's knowledge flow. If you want to meet the challenges of working and living in the 21st century, this book should be your guide as it provides a meaningful framework and context to approach the future for anyone interested in surviving and enjoying it.

	Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers Provides a toolkit for "inventors, explorers, and change agents" who want to use design thinking to navigate successfully in complex and uncertain knowledge and information spaces. Filled with techniques to engage your team and help everyone collaborate effectively.

	Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age Reveals how technology is changing people from consumers to collaborators. Author Clay Shirky, who teaches at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, forecasts the changes we will enjoy as new digital tech puts our untapped resources of talent and goodwill to use.

	The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself Master marketer John Jantsch outlines the necessary steps to achieving marketing success without a huge budget. Discover how to get others to start talking about you company and driving new business to you door. Plenty of real-life examples make this a must-have for your personal marketing library.

	Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation Lust, power, mystique and trust are just some of the triggers that can help marketers improve relationships with customers and colleagues. Author Sally Hogshead expertly delves into the notion of fascination, providing practical examples along the way.