A Royal Rip-Off - The #PeoplePerHour Story
Blame it on the age - with more time at hand, a nest that has become empty and fear of inability to earn as age advances, I started looking for writing projects online. Not a newbie to this, as I have successfully done online, off line and part time projects before. The money is good if you know how to target the right websites. Or the right projects. I know as I had made more than USD500 with Appen Global, before the project ended.
In fact, this round it started with an ad by a resume writing company in Singapore. Did my pitch, passed their tests at couple of levels and flunked the third level - badly! Ego was bruised as I have been a recruiter myself last 30 years and I failed resume writing test!
Then, it occurred to me that perhaps, I should look at doing online projects. Sometime last year, almost at year end I had used the services of a graphic designer through Workana.com. It was a good experience, as it opened me up to the world that I did not know existed - freelancing or working from home as some call it. I had paid quite a substantial money to the designer I hired, then again I also realised that the facebook mentality also existed there, at Workana and everywhere. The guy I hired was an Indian national from Bangalore, but his online name was one that belonged to a famous cricketer, Andrew something. Much later he told me that his name was Yash. That was cheating at its core. But he delivered the job well. I paid but I suspect he could not get the money - he used false name, remember?
With that experience under my belt, I started applying to work with those online sites which accommodated freelancers. My first stop was UpWork, an Australian site. Failed first time submission, failed second time and I deleted my account. That was okay. They didn't ask for payment for processing my application. Though I did not know why my application was rejected, I did not feel anything about not succeeding. But the royal rip off was with PeoplePerHour. I submitted my application, as I had done at other websites. They had two tracks - the regular one, free service, which takes around 7 days for them to revert, and the Fast Track, a paid service for them to vet my application within 24 hours. Though initially I opted for the regular submission, I decided that I did not want to wait - I paid the USD13 for the FastTrack service. Within the next one hour my application was rejected twice, with the request to update my name and location, which I had done a few times over. My name was genuine ( a check at Google would have confirmed it!); my IP address would have confirmed my location. When my application was rejected for the third time, I deleted my account. Of course, I voiced my dissatisfaction before doing so. It was a rip off- daylight robbery. If PeoplePerHour had told me the first time itself that I was not suitable for their site, I would not have felt this bad. They didn't, it was like as if they wanted to make that USD13 seem legit by rejecting three times, although they did not have any intention of accepting me as a free lancer in the first place - just a Royal Rip Off! It was much later I realised that to bid for any project at PeoplePerHour, a registered free lancer must have Credit Points and guess how you can get these points? No candy for the right answer! Yes, you need to buy credit points to be able to bid and they are not cheap either. Smart rip off! I have come across some other websites which charge a commission on your earning, which I think is a more just system. Not rip off from the beginning. Talk about making free money!
I am wiser now, no more paying to join any so called freelancing websites. The world is huge. I will try my luck elsewhere and as one former Boss used to say, hit a target as many times, at least one time the hit would be on target. I have freelanced before, and I know opportunities are in abundance out there with Internet of Things taking over our lives. It's a matter of hitting the target.
In fact, this round it started with an ad by a resume writing company in Singapore. Did my pitch, passed their tests at couple of levels and flunked the third level - badly! Ego was bruised as I have been a recruiter myself last 30 years and I failed resume writing test!
Then, it occurred to me that perhaps, I should look at doing online projects. Sometime last year, almost at year end I had used the services of a graphic designer through Workana.com. It was a good experience, as it opened me up to the world that I did not know existed - freelancing or working from home as some call it. I had paid quite a substantial money to the designer I hired, then again I also realised that the facebook mentality also existed there, at Workana and everywhere. The guy I hired was an Indian national from Bangalore, but his online name was one that belonged to a famous cricketer, Andrew something. Much later he told me that his name was Yash. That was cheating at its core. But he delivered the job well. I paid but I suspect he could not get the money - he used false name, remember?
With that experience under my belt, I started applying to work with those online sites which accommodated freelancers. My first stop was UpWork, an Australian site. Failed first time submission, failed second time and I deleted my account. That was okay. They didn't ask for payment for processing my application. Though I did not know why my application was rejected, I did not feel anything about not succeeding. But the royal rip off was with PeoplePerHour. I submitted my application, as I had done at other websites. They had two tracks - the regular one, free service, which takes around 7 days for them to revert, and the Fast Track, a paid service for them to vet my application within 24 hours. Though initially I opted for the regular submission, I decided that I did not want to wait - I paid the USD13 for the FastTrack service. Within the next one hour my application was rejected twice, with the request to update my name and location, which I had done a few times over. My name was genuine ( a check at Google would have confirmed it!); my IP address would have confirmed my location. When my application was rejected for the third time, I deleted my account. Of course, I voiced my dissatisfaction before doing so. It was a rip off- daylight robbery. If PeoplePerHour had told me the first time itself that I was not suitable for their site, I would not have felt this bad. They didn't, it was like as if they wanted to make that USD13 seem legit by rejecting three times, although they did not have any intention of accepting me as a free lancer in the first place - just a Royal Rip Off! It was much later I realised that to bid for any project at PeoplePerHour, a registered free lancer must have Credit Points and guess how you can get these points? No candy for the right answer! Yes, you need to buy credit points to be able to bid and they are not cheap either. Smart rip off! I have come across some other websites which charge a commission on your earning, which I think is a more just system. Not rip off from the beginning. Talk about making free money!
I am wiser now, no more paying to join any so called freelancing websites. The world is huge. I will try my luck elsewhere and as one former Boss used to say, hit a target as many times, at least one time the hit would be on target. I have freelanced before, and I know opportunities are in abundance out there with Internet of Things taking over our lives. It's a matter of hitting the target.
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