I found this interesting article on ODesk’s newsletter: I wanted to link to it, but I couldn’t find any links on the newsletter. So sign up for Odesk’s newsletter if you like this stuff. I did.
A remote contractor has to go the extra mile to gain the trust of a prospective employer. You don’t get to interview face-to-face. You’ll be doing your work from a great distance, and employers new to oDesk may not yet have developed full confidence in our trust-building transparency tools. While oDesk gives you a lot of ways to prove yourself up front – our skills tests, your online portfolio – a prospective employer may ask for more. And, sometimes, what they ask for will amount to doing “free work.” While contractors may feel uncomfortable with this arrangement, they often do it without protest, because they don’t want to lose the opportunity for what promises to be a good job. …