Eric Nagel

Eric Nagel

CTO, PHP Programmer, Affiliate Marketer & IT Consultant

Read the Directions

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I recently posted a job opening on oDesk (designer / developer job), and put a simple instruction in there. In the middle of the job description, I wrote:

Also, you must tell me what 4+3 is, so I know you’ve read this entire description.

It’s so easy now to weed out those applicants who just paste their cover letter without any regard as to what the job entails. oDesk even has a reason for rejection, which goes like: “Applicant ignored instructions in job description”. I used that a LOT when rejecting applicants for this job.

If you can’t follow this simple instruction, how do I expect you to follow instructions on real tasks that I assign you?

Comments
  • Rebecky
    Posted October 24, 2008 10:22 am 0Likes

    LOL! That’s awesome!! I must show that to my HR manager!

  • Sam
    Posted October 28, 2008 12:33 am 0Likes

    Very clever!

  • Jonathan Radande
    Posted November 21, 2008 9:01 pm 0Likes

    Eric,

    That is a nice idea. I will implement this the next time i elance something!

    Captcha for outsourcing!

  • Neil
    Posted March 18, 2011 3:28 am 0Likes

    What a great way to eliminate the time wasters

  • pankaj
    Posted November 15, 2011 11:13 am 0Likes

    Caught them on wrong foot

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