I Couldn't Believe He Did This...

Good lord, recruiting is hard.

Thing is I'm not really "recruiting" at the moment. Just looking for a freelancer to help me out on a bit of work here and there.

So I'm using Upwork, a website so full of freelancers there aren't enough sticks to shake at them.

But the trouble is, when you have an abundance of choice, especially with workers, you often find that there's a lot of dross.

I've tolerated quite a lot in the past but I'm older and grumpier, and I'm not tolerating any crap from anyone.

In particular, this person I just declined.

Let me walk you through the process I have...

First, I put the job up, with specific instructions that MUST be carried over into the cover letter (to make sure they read it properly and can follow instructions).

Second, I wait. Wait for all the applications to come flooding in.... and instantly decline most of them, because they don't follow the simple one line instruction (at the start of the job description).

Third, I wait some more... and then start talking to the applicants.

I sent one a message a few days back, with a detailed process on how I wanted to work, including an outline of a job that I required them to say yes to and then we could get underway.

I got a message back saying "I'll come back to you soon" ... and that was it.

24 hours later, someone got added to the room.

Odd, I thought.... but then I assumed this was some company/agency/whatever and they'd added another team member. I was going to decline the application at this point anyway (I want to work with an individual, not an agency) but...

...it got worse.

That person messaged....

"Good evening M****, This is K****, you have not completed our current project and are including me on another project that you are working on with Ben. Could you please finish up our project today for we have an upcoming release date approaching soon."

And then that person left the "room".

Safe to say that candidate was declined faster than you can say "client confidentiality".

I'm just glad I hadn't included any login details or anything in my previous message, but it's pretty shocking, right?

The thing I find daft, the person I was looking to hire still had the best part of 24 hours between the above happening and me getting onto the website to hit decline.

And still they didn't message.

Still, I shan't give up my search nor will I waiver on my insistence for the highest quality person possible.

(The sad thing is, what I want done isn't hard, but it is hard finding someone competent).

Now all this talk about websites makes me want to go do some more health checks... (I've got a ton to do by the end of this week!) - have you had yours yet?

Have you even read about it?

If not....

Read about it here.