Worst-Paid Jobs Ever?
It’s a subject that is dear to the heart of most freelancers, and one of the most hotly-debated: how much you get paid for your work. It’s also impossible to come to any kind of resolution – at one end there are people who complain because their clientèle is less willing to pay their $100+/hr fees; at the other there are people who are writing for a pittance because they can’t even get into those $5-per-post jobs.
Instead of going into all that, here are three job ads I saw recently, to make you feel happy no matter how much you’re getting paid for your work!
First, we have this incredibly generous offer from someone with their own web site (that I should perhaps have left in). I assume that the decimal is misused:
“I have a blog that i need articles writing for also blogging. You must be able to write to a high degree, please view blog on the website [removed] the writing must make sence for it to be posted. It you beleive you can deliver this please reply with your WPM and rate per hour. I will pay up to 0.89 cent per hour. If interested please tell me how many hours a week you can do.”
Next, we have a frightening offer for long-term writers. Note that it’s original content only and must be delivered in short order! Quite how long one is expected to survive on this kind of money is beyond me:
“We Need Article Writers On a Long Term Basis. We require people to write articles from (400+) words.
Payments 10 cents / Article
Hours To deliver – 5 Articles (12h)
-10 Articles (24h)
Must Pass 100% Copyscape
We will provide bonuses and stuff
Must me able to write on any topic
Will Get good feedback”
And finally, we have this offer, which is marginally better – but takes the cake for the sheer magnitude of the demand!
Write any topic about bingo , online bingo , free bingo ,uk bingo ….No restrict.
400 words pre articles .
200 articles needed .
$0.3 per articles
I can pay $60 for the 200 articles
And yes, these are REAL job offers, posted on freelance job sites. Next time you feel undervalued and underpaid, remember: it could be a whole lot worse!
(For a far better view of setting your rates as a writer, Deb’s posted some great advice. Definitely worth a read.)
What’s the worst offer you’ve seen?
ugh. These are just awful.
The counterpart is, sadly, the gigs that are “supposed” to pay a bit better (but still not enough). And then, after the job is completed your invoices go unpaid. It happens to every freelancer. Which doesn’t make it feel any less horrible.
And in a moment of incredible timing, the one who wanted 200 articles at $0.30 each… just posted another request – for 300 at the same price!!
Tomorrow I have a meeting regarding website development. Now I know what to ask for. A dollar and a floppy disc.
OMG are these people serious? Write to a high degree for 89 cents per hour??? I can only swear to a high degree if I get paid that amount of money…
These Elance kind of websites at some point are really damaging all industries on the other hand maybe some people only can put the butter on the bread with them.
I don’t think it is fair to say that ‘Elance kind of websites’ are damaging the freelance writing industry. While I have seen many low paying jobs on some freelance bidding sites, Elance itself has provided me with exceptionally well-paying jobs and overall a good customer experience after 2 years of solid use. I am a full-time freelance writer, and Elance is one facet of my client search on a daily basis.
I would say that in my experience, ultra-lowball jobs make up less than 10% of the freelance writing work posted on Elance.
Szabi: “These Elance kind of websites at some point are really damaging all industries” – I disagree with this for a huge number of reasons: the same ones I frequently quote when talking about accepting lower wages (mostly that it’s a global economy).
Benjamin: Agreed (didn’t see your comment ’til after I’d typed the above para – it was awaiting approval). It has to be said that of the sites I watch for work, Elance is by far the best. Both oDesk and GAF have a much higher percentage of crap. Better chance of repeat work on Elance, too, in my experience.
In this case, of course, the pay is utterly ridiculous and insulting, but then they’re three examples out of well over a thousand job postings – they’re very much oddities, not the norm!! As for whether they’re serious, well… the 89 cents one was posted three times in a row, if I remember correctly, when it expired without any accepted bids. Obviously VERY serious. And not being picked up. At all.
Hello Guys,
Sorry, my stats are probably a bit outdated and they are related to the graphic design sector. I looked around on Elance about a year or more ago and it was full of 5-10-20 dollars logo projects and 100 dollar websites and also everything I read about it was pure complaints.
I will have a look again. It’s good to hear that there are some decent jobs there.
Try to keep in mind that there are plenty of people in the world who make less than 89 cents per hour. We might see it as inhumane, and certainly it makes it seem as appealing as vomit for lunch, but the truth is that there is a huge chunk of people around the world who’d love to be making 89 cents per hour.
That’s very true, Steven- and one of the reasons I refuse to put people down for taking a $1-per-article job. Everything is relative. We’re very lucky to be able to work online – and to be able to pay for the connection, for that matter!
Hello Guys,
I agree with both of you but I honestly do not think that posting ridiculous 89 cents jobs on Elance will help poor people who live in really bad situation. I think it does more harm than benefit (and sorry for my earlier statement with this I am not going to judge Elance itself). It’s like those scam charities where the poor people of the rich countries give money to the rich people of the poor countries.
Yes, everything is relative. But there is nowhere in the world where skilled, educated labor should be costing less than a dollar an hour.
It’s quite sad that unskilled, uneducated labor can still be had so cheaply in this world and that there are so many people who live off a less than a couple of dollars a day. Actually, sad doesn’t quite cut it. Disgraceful. But you can’t say that because the latter exists the former should be willing to work for less than they’re truly worth.
That’s crazy – really! I have been an Elance provider for over 10 years and I can honestly say that I have had a ton of great projects and never come across any ads like the ones in your article. I have seen some lower budgets than I was willing to deal with and clients that seemed unreasonable but I simply chose not to submit a proposal on those jobs. To date, I have completed over 800 projects on Elance and I think that my success lies on the fact that I steer clear of low paying projects and always do my best. Instead, I know my worth and am very selective with whom I conduct business. After all, my writing talents are just that – talents and skills that I are in high demand and if I market right, I can win those higher paying gigs and accolades from clients that know the true value of talent.