Categorizing Your Job

Many employers don't know what they want. This is often evident in the vague or meandering requests they post. Some freelancers may ask questions or bid on these because if they think they can figure it out after a conversation with the employer. However, lately I have been seeing a lot of mis-categorized posts. This presents a big problem because most freelancers do not skim every category when looking for work. 

Guru has the following categories: 

Programming & Development

Design & Art

Writing & Translation

Administrative & Secretarial

Business & Finance

Sales & Marketing

Engineering & Architecture

Legal

Education & Training

Other

Programming and Development has to do with computer programming. If you need a website developed or coding adjusted, this is where the job should go. Still, people will post "Create a Website for Me" jobs in Writing & Translation. If you want website content (i.e. the written words that go on the website), Writing & Translation would be the right spot, but if you want the overall layout and the coding that goes into that layout, you should stick with a developer. Along the same lines, some people put website design jobs in the Design & Art category--which is not really what they need. 

Design & Art is for imagery. If you need something photoshopped, you would not send it to a computer programmer, it needs to go to a visual designer. A book cover design should be posted here and not in Writing & Translation. A business logo would also be here--not in the Business & Finance section. 

Writing & Translation is for writing, rewriting, editing, formatting documents, and obviously having things translated. One person wanted a copyrighted document rewritten and posted it in "legal" because he wanted it done legally. Legal is for legal advice--not fixing plagiarism or lifting someone else's work and recreating it so it isn't plagiarized. Every freelancing author should know how to do this legally. However, trying to hire a lawyer or paralegal to fix plagiarism will not work because that isn't their specialty, unless they also specialize in writing. The irony is that I charge a lot more for fixing plagiarism than I do for say, editing something. I'm sure some people think they can get a better deal by lifting something and changing it-and it's true there is AI that rewrites things for you, but I have never tested that and I am not sure how good it is. Grant writing also falls here. 

Administrative & Secretarial also seems to get a lot of Writing & Translating jobs. In general, secretaries, HR people, assistants, medical coding, customer service, clerks, data entry, receptionists, administrators, etc. fit in this category. These are unskilled writers to some extent. For example, they may write a letter, write a memo, or enter data that has already been written. You would not ask them to write your business story or a press release because their writing skills are probably not up to the task. You also would not ask for a business plan here. That would go in Business & Finance.

Business & Finance is for accounting jobs, auditors, analysts, management, fundraisers, market research analysis, logistics, financial advisors, event planners, and logisticians. Estimators might be found here or in Engineering & Architectural (if you are looking for construction estimates--supply chain estimates for other industries would only be here). These people help others run businesses. 

Sales & Marketing should be self-explanatory. If you want to market your book, these people should be able to help you. Yes, a book marketer might be also found in Writing & Translation, but if a person does marketing, presumably they will also check under this heading. Sales consultants would also be here. 

Engineering & Architecture would be product designers and creators. This is where you could get 3D images and CAD drawings for your product or building. You could consult these people on patent papers, but you should also talk with someone in legal once the item is created. 

Legal is for legal advice. You plagiarized someone, and they are taking you to court. What is the quickest way out of this? If you need a contract written up or a will, this is where you could find freelancers who specialize in that work. 

Education & Training is for people looking for tutors for school--although I don't know why you would go to Guru for that. Wyzant has a much better selection. It is also for people who want to develop a training course. Creating training videos could go here or in Other. Library technicians, teachers, guidance counsellors, executive coaches, fitness trainers, life coaches, people who can teach you how to use MS Word or how to code in JAVA. This is where you would find freelancers who want to teach.

Other is unfortunately a category that contains all sorts of jobs and usually many of these would be better classified in one of the above categories. If you are looking for actors, video editors, clothing manufacturing, established live-streamers who can present your product, researchers, app testers, temporary event staff, chemist, etc. Basically anything that doesn't fit in any of the above categories, except people post a mishmash of jobs that do. 

Posting your job in the wrong category means the right freelancer may not see it. For example, I do design as well as writing and translation and I do video editing, so I check Other and Design & Art frequently, but I do not check Administrative & Secretarial. That means if you posted your book editing job there, I will never see it. Further, the people who will see it and bid on it, are probably not qualified to do so.