Looking For Work option? Thread

I love the concept of the "Help Wanted," option for modders. But, I think the addition of a "Looking for Work," option wouldn't hurt either. There are a lot of fields not really covered in the "Help Wanted," options and modders are forced to get creative when asking for what they need. I think a "Looking for Work," option added to profiles would not only help modders searching for that special someone, but also allow people to display their portfolios and talent.

A skinner "Looking for Work," might throw up a detailed description of what they are looking for in terms of work, what they've worked on in the past, what they work with (In terms of programs), and possibly throw up a website with some examples of their work. The same could be said for mappers, coders (Examples of what they've coded might be a little tough to display), web designers/masters, texture artists, and even writers!

thats a pretty good idea

no one uses the help wanted section really, and its too buried on the front page for most people to notice. first try making it a bit more glorified before adding to it.

I think T-Stock has a point there Carni. The Help-Wanted is too hidden but adding informations to your profile about work you like to do and your skills in a form that leaders can search for it is way easier and would not be overlooked that quickly.

Maybe a way where you can enter information about your skillz, then Mod leaders coulkd search for people or look at a list.

Dragonlord wrote: I think T-Stock has a point there Carni. The Help-Wanted is too hidden but adding informations to your profile about work you like to do and your skills in a form that leaders can search for it is way easier and would not be overlooked that quickly.

Instead of echoing Dragon I'm just gonna say that I agree completely.

Mebey a system where you can tag your account as being available for work, in a specific catagory
and this shows in a listing?

Have you tried posting that you have a skill and are willing to offer it to a needy team? I can't remember a single 'I have skills and want to join a team' thread that didn't end in a feeding frenzy. Quite simply, there is no need for a 'help offered' section. One forum post will result in more offers than you'll ever need

In all honesty, I don't know if many modders check these forums. Those who use the "Help Wanted," option leave it at that and hope someone answers it. I have no doubt that a talented skinner/modeller/mapper/etc... who posts their work on these forums is grabbed as quickly as possible, but a "Looking for Work," option attached to the main user profile would (In my opinion, I don't have anything to back these claims really):

A) Make it significantly more convenient for modders to look for a certain position
B) Allow much more work to be shone by the person looking for work (Limitations on posts vs. A gallery of images/videos + detailed work)
C) Make networking amongst the talent and mod teams extremely easier
D) Get mods done a lot quicker (Convenient search for desired talent = Filled team = More work done quicker = Finished mod)

The problem is that this assumes there is a huge pool of bored modders twiddling their thumbs and waiting for something to do. That is definitely not the case. The problem isn't finding homes for talented modders - the problem is that the talented modders have already found homes for themselves, and there are more ideas & teams than talented team members. IMHO, the only thing a 'looking for work' option would achieve is it would move the feeding frenzy off the forums and into private messages generated by the 'looking for work' entry. It's a good solution, but for the wrong problem

i think this idea puts moddb in the line of fire with legalities. when money is involved it just gets too complex. rather just make a work forum here, its just too bad theres barely anyone on this forum.

It would be a better setup if you could specify in your Help Wanted some settings that detail what skills are available/required and at what level, but that's not what we have (that way you could, for instance, do a Search for Help Wanted for teams wanting, say, and Intermediate level mapper, or an Expert texturer).

Advertising the fact that you're looking for a project to join is just asking to be piled under by a storm of e-mails from every Tom, Dick, and Harry who thinks he has an idea. Some people still do it, but it's definitely not one of the better ways to find a team to work for; I find that the currently established custom of posting media / current work does a much more efficient job of placing the right people with the right teams without a ton of spam. It's not perfect, but it does work.

@icemage: no ones going to ask for a newbie skinner every one will go for the best they can get so that wont work...

TKAzA wrote: Mebey a system where you can tag your account as being available for work, in a specific catagory
and this shows in a listing?

Maybe even a small space for a summarised resume. I like where this is going.

--

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Carni wrote: i think this idea puts moddb in the line of fire with legalities. when money is involved it just gets too complex. rather just make a work forum here, its just too bad theres barely anyone on this forum.

I don't get this one. Which kind of trouble with legalities? I know that when money comes across the street the trouble starts but modding is in the first place not about money so I don't get where moddb could end up in a pinch with this one.