If a "freelancer" option is introduced at some point in the future (which I suspect might be similar to the "gigs" board on Craigslist) I think the basic expectation/approach would be that the person posting the job would be looking to hire someone in his/her close proximity for a specific one-time, fixed price piece of work. It would be nothing like websites that request (or demand) money to see comments that may or may not be relevant to the particular OP's situation. To illustrate, if somebody was looking for help with setting up a home network, or building a new PC, or adding new functionality to their website, etc, etc, realistically that kind of work would be well suited for a local freelancer, as it's generally not the kind of work that can be successfully resolved from a distance.

To say it another way, I think it's reasonable to assume that someone posting a freelancer job would be interested in finding someone local who can actually perform the advertised work, rather than to go back and forth via a series of posts trying to figure things out themselves. To illustrate, suppose you had a website, and wanted to add an RSS feed to it, or maybe add mashups to it using Ajax. Now, you either could take the time to learn how to do those things yourself, or alternatively you could just hire someone for several hours of their time over the weekend to add that functionality to your site. Either approach is valid, but for folks who'd rather just get things done as quickly as possible, it may make more sense to hire a lcoal freelancer.

Overall I think the purpose of the LQ Marketplace is simply to put interested hiring managers in touch with qualified candidates. I do not think it would be a "you need to pay for answers" type of thing. Naturally, I think it's safe to say that the functionality behind the LQ Marketplace will be influenced by user demand, but as Jeremy described, I could never imagine LQ adopting a "pay to play" approach with the LQ community.

Just my 2 cents, as usual

That's great!

OK, I just want to say that the jobs board is a good intiative. As usual, it takes a while for new forums to take off but I have a feeling this one will take longer.

I was looking at one or two of the profiles looked for, and I said "heck, with one of those guys I'd set up on my own". It's there I felt that the forum might not provide an outlet for entrepreneurial types. I think the LQ readership is characterised by inventiveness and resourcefulness which are all components of the entrepreneur.

I don't think there are many HR people reading it right now, so there may be a bit of a dearth of job adverts right now. THat may change of course.

Leaving the entrepreneur bit aside, the standard, conventional and traditional job description is really flawed. This is because it (usually) passes through several people.

First off, the tech manager (aka future direct boss) summarises the skills he needs. With luck, it's a recently vacated position and he's clear on what he wants. However, very many positions are new and the future boss usually sticks in a few extra talents he'd like to have.

This description then might need further approval, and might get one or two changes, then HR edits it to suit their criteria (or, mood) and then PR gets it, because a job description is also an advertisement for the company, so an extra spin gets added.

Anyhow, the end result is that they are looking for a mini-Einstein, or (see my distro) a mini-Pat.

This section is a great idea.
I have a humble suggestion:
A potential employer can brows a candidates posts here and get a good idea of someones abilities and nature. After reading a response from an employer who was very happy with 6 members who had contacted him, would it be possible for the employer to recommend them, possibly something in the personal info in the left of the posts?
Cheers
stan.

It's certainly OK for an employer to give feedback in the thread itself, but we currently have no plans for anything beyond that.

--jeremy