Beating The Competition By Changing The Rules by Elance-oDesk
Speaker: Rich Pearson, Senior Vice President - Categories and Geographies, Elance-oDesk
The way we work is evolving rapidly. Set-time, set-place boundaries simply no longer make sense. Companies have been innovating their IT infrastructure and shifting resources to the cloud, but it’s time to think bigger. Thanks to a Connected Era with unprecedented Internet access and rapid tech innovation, they can now access talent in the cloud as well. There are more than 5 billion people over the age of 16 on this planet, but we typically work within our limited professional networks. That leaves a vast talent pool that has previously been unknown to us. It’s only now becoming possible to identify this talent, as connectivity helps people around the world find each other online.
In this presentation (originally given at ArabNet Digital Summit 2014), Elance-oDesk SVP of Categories & Geographies Rich Pearson discusses how work is changing, what it takes to attract top talent today, and why we need to reinvent the way we think of work to remain competitive. He also touches on the fastest-growing region for hiring on Elance-oDesk, the Middle East, and how this region is rapidly adopting this innovative way of working.
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I wanted to share a story with you about a man named Vivek
- Born in india
Sporting background was cricket and soccer
Daughter asked him to coach bbal
Noticed that all the teams played the same way (score, run back and wait)
The first 3 games, they did the same as all the other teams. They lost because they were smaller, less skilled, less experience
Decides to teach them cover the whole court, run, no balls, scramble, fitness
Result = destroyed the competition
Coach and parents and parents moan
He says it’s fair. By change rules, new skills gain competitve edge
My talk today is about how you can change the way you hire into a strategic advantage for your department or company
Elance odesk is located in silicon Valley
We compete for talent with many of the largest tech companies in the world
Not to mention the thousands of startups all looking to build the next Google
The problems of this type of competition
Three reasons
Paying more
Takes too much time
-can’t find necessary talent, lower standards
Enormous black hole sucking up all the talent in SV
Today we have about 300 full-time employees and nearly 500 freelancers in over 50 different countries. This is the future.
We’ve opened our eyes and looked beyond SV – to access the best talent on demand
We’ve looked to freelancers in different countries
We now have 500 freelancers in 50 different countries
They are front end engineers, designers, writers, customer service agents
We treat them as part of our team, include them in all meetings
Show slide
Why is this trend accelerating? There are a few different dynamics at play.
How are we access the best talent that is tied to the best skills on demand.
The face of the workforce has changed
There is a freelancer movement
This new generation not tied to a company, but to the best skills
They want Employable vs Employed, income security vs job security
It doesn’t resemble the old ways in which people like my dad worked 30 years for the same company
Freelancers work on projects a few weeks to several months, honing their skills at all times
Go fast
We have two separate marketplaces elance.com, odesk.com
Freelancers will earn nearly a billion dollars this year on our platforms
What’s happening in the UAE
25k businesses hiring
Desingers, mobile app developers, back end engineers, writers and customer service agents
Growing over 50% a year
But we’re not done
By the end of the year, 25k businesses hiring on Elance, steady if not spectacular growth
By the end of the year, 25k businesses hiring on Elance, steady if not spectacular growth
To help support the companies hiring on Elance, we’ve hired a local representative
Training seminars
Carry you feedback to Silicon Valley To make sure our product meets your needs
Walied is an Intrapreneur turned entrepreneur after years of experience in E-business innovation, corporate strategy & startup management .