Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is now a $150 billion industry, growing at 6% per year according to a report. Online workplaces and freelance market places have completely changed the recruitment dynamics around the world. Pakistan, being one of the most important emerging markets from Asia, has colossal talent and substantial contributions to the freelance industry.
However, the need for a local platform like oDesk or Elance has always been felt and there is an interesting new service which might fill this void. It is called Rozgar Pakistan and it is using the model of well established freelance services.
To get started with the service, you sign up as either a “Freelancer” or an “Employer”.
Freelancers On Rozgar Pakistan
Freelancers can post their services which Rozgar Pakistan calls “GIGs.” You can set rates for different services, list your skills and expertise and choose related categories. Once approved, your offered GIGs will appear in their respective categories where Employers can view them, contact you and negotiate terms and rates before kicking off the deal.
Freelancer accounts can be linked with “Companies”. Company name and description will appear with the credentials of the freelancer in a GIG. Freelancers can also “Add Services” by specifying the exact details about the offered GIG. Once you publish the service, you will be notified via SMS that your GIG is live now.
Employers On Rozgar Pakistan
Employers can sift through different categories of Rozgar Pakistan and search offered services from different freelancers. There is a diverse range of categories like WordPress, Web Development, Virtual Assistant, Blogging, Apps etc.
Payment System and Fee
Rozgar Pakistan uses an “Escrow Funding” mode. An employer can fund the escrow at the start of the job. The service claims that the funds are released at the choice of employer, when the job is completed. The service also claims that payments are 100% secure. Freelancers can receive money in PKR in their accounts via Wire Transfer payment method.
What is surprising for me is that the company deducts $8 per wire transfer. That does not include 3.75% deduction from each package that is finalized. So let’s say you have done a deal of $100. At the end, you will get around $88 in hand. That is more than what should be charged for a local service.
Disputes
Disputes can be filed in case of problems between freelancers and employers. Rozgar Pakistan will ask the freelancer to produce the proof for the dispute. All disputes are solved within 4 days after filing according to the service.
Problems With Rozgar Pakistan Platform
The website lacks portfolio management and clarity. Almost all the freelancer profiles I saw had no rating. Most of them were incomplete profiles, having no or very little information. But we are hoping that this will change with time as more data will be populated along the days to come.
One of the major flaws of Rozgar Pakistan is the one sided recruitment model. If I am an employer and want to put a job description with an offer on my own terms, Rozgar Pakistan seems to have no option to take care of this. An employer will have to sift through all the services painstakingly, negotiate and ask for specific details to match their requirements. However, this is something that is promised in future updates.
Another very confusing thing is that Rogzar Pakistan states that buyers will have to use “PayPal” service to buy any GIG. Yep, PayPal isn’t yet available in Pakistan. The whole concept for a local service goes out of the window if you are alienating local buyers. We hope this is fixed fast otherwise the venture is doomed to fail.
Verdict
Rozgar Pakistan is a step in the right direction. Pakistan badly needs recruitment ventures like these in order to integrate open marketplace trends of the world. Local freelance hubs are a nascent market and Rozgar Pakistan has the chance to be get a foothold in the field but they have plenty of issues to sort out before that happens. You can visit the site here.
More scary than useful. If by any chance this does kick off, I expect it to destroy the skill economy as new freelancers would opt to do work on very lower rates with no focus on building clients and providing quality services. Not to mention the issue where the whole service is used by brokers who buy cheap and sell high on other platforms.
PS: Not taking anything away from the founders though as I am sure they had their heads and hearts in the right place. Good luck folks!
Also must mention that I am the local rep for Elance-oDesk in Pakistan!
Thanks for mentioning Local Rep for eance-oDesk in Pakistan,
we will love it if you feel proud to have a Pakistani product in market.
Wait, it was just the first step of stair, more to built to reach on top.
i am sure with the passage of time you will want to represent this in global market as well ….. i am sure :)
*Cough* Fiverr * Cough*
Just another fiverr clone, their homepage description says “Pakistani freelance marketplace which connects freelancers with GLOBAL employers”, so it’s not for local buyers, why would intl buyer find freelancers on this website, when they already have access to them using oDesk/Elance/Fiverr etc
Thank you for putting this UP. Few months down the road if all Pakistani Freelancers are on this platform, then I guess every critic would be looking at it from a different perspective and their stance would definitely change. I reckon it is high-time to have something like this for Pakistan.
Thank you for putting this UP. Few months down the road if all Pakistani Freelancers are on this platform, then I guess every critic would be looking at it from a different perspective and their stance would definitely change. I reckon it is high-time to have something like this for Pakistan.
Congratulations! to team Rozgar Pakistan. Great Innitiative for Pakistani talent. The more the better.
Global outsourcing is an emerging trend and a Pakistan forum / is the need of the hour. Goodluck!
Such a bold and must needed step – This is the time we believe in our selves and our local Pakistani freelance market to stand out and symbolize themselves. Working in the international market places like Guru , Elance etc for past 3- 4 years I have personally faced being considered a part of Indian, Indonesian , Bangladesh etc freelance team and there I felt the need of our own identity. We should encourage such Entrepreneurship which is providing work from a part time highly skilled web developer to a home based mother with graphical or writing skills.
I am sure the site owners have something big in mind than just focusing on building up their database with users. Being in the freelance market place, I know Rozgar Pakistan will confront alot of challenges but step-by-step I hope you guys make a difference.
The idea behind Rozgar Pakistan seems to be a profitable initiative for our talented freelancers to show their work to the world and even for our own local buyers to find something nearby.
We need to have trust in ourselves first to outshine others :) Good Luck Rozgar Team – and Congrats on such a great inventiveness.
Such a bold and must needed step – This is the time we believe in our selves and our local Pakistani freelance market to stand out and symbolize themselves. Working in the international market places like Guru , Elance etc for past 3- 4 years I have personally faced being considered a part of Indian, Indonesian , Bangladesh etc freelance team and there I felt the need of our own identity. We should encourage such Entrepreneurship which is providing work from a part time highly skilled web developer to a home based mother with graphical or writing skills.
I am sure the site owners have something big in mind than just focusing on building up their database with users. Being in the freelance market place, I know Rozgar Pakistan will confront alot of challenges but step-by-step I hope you guys make a difference.
The idea behind Rozgar Pakistan seems to be a profitable initiative for our talented freelancers to show their work to the world and even for our own local buyers to find something nearby.
We need to have trust in ourselves first to outshine others :) Good Luck Rozgar Team – and Congrats on such a great inventiveness.
Can i earn money without doing anything?
:D :p
Pakistani site.. and using USD for rates. Ye to LOL ho gya..
This is a wonderful Initiative but who are going to be the buyers here? If Pakistani buyers them I am sorry to say it will be a waste because Pakistani buyers don’t bother to pay the rates a freelancer can get from international websites…
This is a wonderful Initiative but who are going to be the buyers here?
If Pakistani buyers them I am sorry to say it will be a waste because
Pakistani buyers don’t bother to pay the rates a freelancer can get from
international websites….