Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Let the Buyer (or Freelance Employer) Beware! Part 2

Now, I was actually in contact with the next employer. But, as you probably know if you have been following me for any length of time, I am not a salesman. My work sells itself. If you don't like my work, don't hire me.

Now, for this particular job, I was listed in the top three on Guru. I was pretty sure I had underbid the top two, though because I offer long- and short- rates. My long-term rates (if you let me work your project into my schedule) are cheap. My short term rates are probably average for Guru (low for the professional world).

So, I waited... and waited... I needed the job ASAP to consider it a long-term job and still get it done on the employer's deadline. And, then the job went to someone else. This person claimed to have an MBA in English, but he has only had one other job on Guru and no feedback. Now, I initially thought, wow, he beats me. But then I decided to give it the bologna sausage (B.S.) test. Why? Because he claimed to be an award winning editor - while editing his college newspaper and working on his Masters.

The more in investigated, the more my suspicions rose - first he lists his GPA. In order to remain in any Master's program, you must get A's and B's, therefore listing your GPA is slightly redundant. Second, when I checked out the newspaper, he was not listed as editor-in-chief during any of the years he said he worked on it. Third, the award he said he received earning his Masters, is only given to juniors and seniors (read undergraduates).

He says he graduated in 2011. Presumably, this means he was a senior (cough, cough - assuming perhaps he was doing an accelerated program that gave him his B.A. and M.A. at once) in 2011. Now, he did not receive the award in 2011. I was able to find the name of the person who did. I was also able to find archives for the student newspaper where he worked - His name did not appear on any of the articles from 2006 until the present. The person who won in 2011 had several articles attributed to her.

So, I went back and looked at his profile again, and it suddenly became glaringly obvious that he did not even arrange the paragraphs in a logical order. He jumped from his graduation backward and forward to present day. He also repeated himself - perhaps he neglected to edit.

Freelancers (self-publishing authors/ traditional publishing authors)- don't lie. Someone like me who is a little more heartless could expose you. I could have named names in both my examples, but that is not my intent. Be honest - eventually you will lose if you aren't. I quickly rose above example #1 in rank and have never been close to him since. There is a reason. No matter how cheap nor how much he mixes sausage with bologna, my work will always stand above his because I am honest.

Employers - please check out the "facts" listed on freelancer profiles. I cannot tell you how many people post complaints about freelancers on the Answers page at Guru. Just within the past week, one company discovered that the freelancer they hired not only gave them a bad website design, but also had plagiarized their own website design from another site. All it takes is a little research to save you much lost time and money.

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