[vingogly]

Since there is lot of cheating on the internet what I think these types of sites are comparatively more safe.

Note that on Guru, Elance, and RentACoder, freelancers rate their employers... so you can immediately see if any projects posted by an employer have gone into arbitration because they've treated a freelancer unfairly. Or if an employer is posting his/her first project and is therefore an unknown quantity. If you make sure the employer puts the project money in escrow at project start, you have assurance that the employer really has the funds to pay you. The best freelancing sites therefore provide protection for the freelancer as well as the employer!

Vasily

[dierdre]

I have also been looking for the similar thing adn finally ended on one site Guru.com – Find freelancers at the world's largest online service marketplace. . Its a free lancing site where yo can register and if you are expert in some field you can quote for the work. I haven't tried it yet but still in the process ot studying it and find it a bit sensible. There may be some other similar sites also. Most of the sites ask for money.

Thank you for your response,I got to check out the site, it looks "intimidating" though LOL because you have to really specialize in something. I'm still in the process of studying the site as well, I'm concentrating on the writing/translation section.

[dierdre]

Note that on Guru, Elance, and RentACoder, freelancers rate their employers ... so you can immediately see if any projects posted by an employer have gone into arbitration because they've treated a freelancer unfairly. Or if an employer is posting his/her first project and is therefore an unknown quantity. If you make sure the employer puts the project money in escrow at project start, you have assurance that the employer really has the funds to pay you. The best freelancing sites therefore provide protection for the freelancer as well as the employer!

Vasily

Thank you for your helpful response, do they require resumes? Because I'm not a graduate yet. And what does escrow mean?

[vingogly]

You don't strictly speaking have to have a resume but you're selling one or more skills and need to be able to demonstrate you have experience that's relevant for the project you're bidding on. This is typically done on these boards by posting a resume listing experience and providing samples of work (a portfolio). So if you're a freelance writer you'd provide writing samples, if you're a web site designer links to sites you've designed, etc.

What sort of projects can you bid on? Everything from writing resumes and cover letters to designing web sites and ghostwriting or translating books, ranging from a few dollars to thousands of dollars. The more specific and high-level the skills, the more the project will pay. Here are some examples from RentACoder:

Post blog comments, 30-50 per week at 30 cents per comment
Write business plan & feasibility studies, under $100
Write article for realtor website, under $100
Write content for four web pages for consulting practice, $500
Create expandable online marketing application, over $5000
JAVA/SQL financial software development, over $5000

So as you can see, there's a wide variety of projects on these boards with the "juiciest" going to those with very specific skills. When the employer hires someone for a project for (say) $500, the money is paid into what's called an "escrow account". Both the employer and the freelancer can see that the money's there for the project (it's a sign of good faith). If the project is successfully completed, the employer releases the money from escrow. If the project is not completed, the employer requests return of the money from escrow.

Vasily

[dierdre]

Oh OK, thanks for your response, since I'm a neophyte with no specific skills or experience, its really hard to get chosen, I sometimes bid at getafreelancer.com and still, no such luck, LOL I have bidden on 4-5 projects. I think the job that I could apply in is proofreading, the easiest of them all, but the competition is tough, LOL

[vingogly]

You're right, it's really difficult breaking in... even if you do have the experience! Elance.com has the best support for its members in my opinion, and it's worth getting the free account just to read the forums & post questions. A good suggestion I've seen is: bid for the small projects and bid low at first, which will help you build a reputation. The better projects on Elance and Guru can only be bid by someone with a paying membership.

There are other options for freelancing out there... but again, starting with no specific skills it will be difficult getting started. Here are a few freelance sites that appear to be professional but I haven't any personal experience with them (I do have a Helium membership, but haven't done anything there yet):

ContractedWork
ODesk
Helium

There's also a growing market for virtual office assistants; you can make a career of this and get certified. Here are some links:

Virtual Office Temps
VANetworking
International Virtual Assistants Association
Wikipedia entry on Virtual Assistants
Virtual Assistant Certification

I took a teleconference training class and all administrative tasks for the school were handled by a virtual assistant. The Wikipedia article says there are 40-50 thousand worldwide. Again, you need office skills to be able to do this work but it may be worth looking into.

Vasily