The Most Ridiculous Job Posting of the Day Award
January 21, 2010 by Lorna Doone Brewer
Filed under Fun Stuff
So, I’ve spent a little time today hitting the Guru.com job listings, and I am kind of grossed out. When my partner and I first started our business, we relied on that particular tool a lot to secure work. Mostly, it was because we didn’t know where else to look. Since we’ve been in business, we’ve developed some great client relationships that started on Guru, so let me get that out of the way up front.
On the other hand, there are some really, really stupid postings there. Like this one:
Hello Fellow Writers!*
I represent a company which launch and manage various websites. I Need GOOD AN, COMMITTED WRITER/S who value Quality and have respect for Deadline!**
This project is for 30 articles (500 words) and is a trial project, more projects will come for the right writer/s.
If you can’t write well in perfect English and can’t deliver at least 1-2 articles daily (more the better…without compromising with the quality), please excuse us!
Regular work for good quality writers who LOVE what they do…
Some of these articles will be posted to EzineArticles.com, and some will be published to our websites. so they will have to pass all copyscape.com testing and their strict editorial guidelines. I want these articles to have consistency with Keywords not exceeding 1 in 100 words. Definitely no keyword stuffing! Articles must read naturally and have quality information so the reader gets value out of the article. That’s why the native writers will be preferred. I will own 100% exclusive rights to all articles after payment.
All articles will be proof read by me checked/published by my editor before approval. If there are any problems with them you will have to edit the articles.***
Articles must contain proper grammar and spelling in the US English language, if articles do not read fluently with proper grammar and spelling you will have to rewrite them.
Payment terms
We want quality and quality comes with a price.**** Our rate for new writers is $1 per 100 words.***** However, the rate can increase I see you submit articles on TIME and your articles don’t have any grammar or spelling mistake. I want writers for LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP.
I am looking for a long term business relationship; I will have plenty of work in the future.
Please bid for 30 articles of 500 words
Please bid with samples
Best of Luck!*****
*Let me start critiquing this little gem by saying that I didn’t even know I had a problem with the salutation until I had read the whole thing. At that point, however, I was a little concerned about exactly what it takes to qualify as a “writer.” Apparently, you don’t need to know how to punctuate or to use any of the basic rules of grammar.
**Ooh, I have respect for Deadline! But, only when it’s capitalized. I also only value Quality when the upper case is used.
***Just a thought: Maybe the author of this particular piece isn’t the best candidate to be proofreading other people’s work.
****Yes, yes it does.
*****This is so not the price.
******No, really. Best of luck to you, dude.
This is too funny rotfl.
Oh for goodness sakes.
I would say based on the quality of the writing in the post it may be a legit job. It sure reads like they can use a writer — and fast!
I admit, a number of sentences (I’m hesitant to even use the word “sentence” to describe anything in that mess) had me laughing as I read through it. But, when I got the part about the pay rate of $1 for 100 words… well, that is when the laughing got so bad I had to put my coffee cup down or possibly risk another keyboard.
Thanks for the Friday giggles.
Aside from the ridiculousness of it, it is pretty clear that this is a non-native speaker of English. All of the markings are there (I’ve read enough non-speaker papers to pick one out of a lineup). So the fact that the speaker is non-native is a good reason for needing someone who is at least better at it than he is. As for the pay, well, that discussion is like beating the proverbial dead horse.
My fear is that someone out there will say “yes,” and wind up being asked to work 40 hours for $50… and to rewrite based on this person’s problemmatic English. Scary.
Lisa
“I didn’t even know I had a problem with the salutation until I had read the whole thing.”
Maybe….just maybe the person is a writer. Perhaps even a very good writer; a writer who isn’t proficient in English but could write circles around you in Mandarin Chinese or something.
Just a thought.
Taflebaster: That was my first thought actually, but unfortunately when the writing is being done for English readers you need to ensure English is the first language of the writer or the end result is… exactly what we see in the blog post. A big huge mess that is absolutely ridiculous.
From the writing style, concern for native English and pricing I’d say this ad is targeted at writers in India. They can make a good living getting $3/hr.
For all those who felt this was probably written by a non-native speaker, I agree. In fact, I sort of suspect that it was written by two separate people. And, as someone who has lived in a foreign country, I have absolute admiration for anyone who can speak, let alone write in, more than one language. On the other hand, there’s no denying that this ad, when directed at most of us who read this blog, is hi-lar-i-ous.
…priceless gem…ah, the pleasure of churning out hundreds and hundreds of words to make enough money to pay for a cup of coffee….dear one who posted this ad; best of luck to YOU!