🖐️Opportunities

A provider can decline or express interest in opportunities.

This page is specific to how providers interact with opportunities; there is also a general overview of this concept.

Once a provider's account is active with a partner they should start receiving new opportunities by email.

Providers can either decline an opportunity or express a interest. If an interest is expressed, the partner and/or requestor will be notified immediately and either assign or decline your offer.

Providers can view their opportunities at: https://app.octoo.com/opportunities.

How are providers selected for new opportunities?

The broadcast system at Octoo is unique and powerful: it generally sends out one email at a time to providers in an ordered list based different criteria and filters. Sometimes large email blasts are needed for last minute requests, however, the goal of Octoo is to send as few emails as possible and reach the right provider for the job the first time.

No one likes getting too many emails—that's why we aim to contact providers when they are available, qualified, a good fit, and the consumer will be excited to have them.

Why did my colleague get an email about a job and I didn't?

Because we do not send out blast emails to everyone, there are a number of different reasons why you may not have received an email about a job and someone else did. Our broadcast lists are ranked and sorted based on a number of factors including: customer/consumer preferences, qualifications, history with the customer, distance to the job, availability, provider's distance preferences, how often providers respond to our emails, and more.

When a new request is made, a list of considered providers is generated and we start contacting the person on the top of the list. Depending on how far in the future the request is, we will wait minutes or hours for this provider to respond. If they decline the request (or enough time passes) then we move on to the next provider. This continues until the job is filled or we reach the end of the list.

Providers cannot see these requests until their position in the list is reached. This is why you may not yet see a job that your colleague received an email about based on your position in the list.

This system is designed to center the consumer's needs and preferences while also respecting the provider's time and availability.

How do I view the terms of a new opportunity

Beginning in March of 2023, providers can view individualized terms for your opportunities both in your broadcast emails and on the application itself. These terms are calculated using the anticipated (or actual) agreement for the specific job combined with the terms allowed by the customer who has made the request.

While on the application in your opportunities section of the site, you can click on "view terms" to see your anticipated terms before expressing an interest.

You will also see terms in other places: when you express interest, on your job brief, as well as on the request page. Terms will also be included in your broadcast and confirmation emails.

What is the difference between "new" and "still available" opportunities?

There are three tabs in the opportunities section: new, still available, and browse.

New Opportunities — This section includes opportunities you haven't responded to yet and reflects the active opportunities your partner is still waiting for your response on. If you decline a new opportunity it will move to the still available section (unless someone else has filled the job) and you will stop receiving email notifications about it. If you express an interest, the new opportunity will remain visible here until the customer or partner responds.

Still Available Opportunities — This section contains all the opportunities you have previously declined as well as those you have instructed the system you wish to ignore. For example, jobs outside of your preferred mile radius or during a period that conflicts with your availability or another job you have already taken. Your partner doesn't expect you to respond to these because the system has indicated your preference for you. But, if you are willing to travel farther than your mile radius or your availablitiy has changed you can express an interest.

Browse opportunities — This section allows you to use custom filters to narrow down your existing new and still available opportunities in a single place.

Why should I decline an opportunity instead of just ignoring it?

When you decline an opportunity, we immediately move on to the next provider on our broadcast list and we will also stop emailing you about this particular request. Don't worry: you will still be notified of any new opportunities that come up! When you decline an opportunity it only applies to the specific one in the email. And you can change your mind: declined opportunities are always visible on the application. Just login to see.

If you don't take any action from our emails, our system will wait a bit before it continues contacting the next person on the list. The amount of time varies based on the request. If you haven't responded, we may contact you a second or third time about the same request to see if you are interested or even text you if necessary.

We also capture your reason for declining (e.g., that you are "not available" or "not a good fit"). All of this information is aggregated and used by our platform to make decisions about when to contact you next time so we don't bother you about requests you aren't interested in.

The Octoo platform values responsive providers—that is, people actively responding to requests. The more responsive you are the more likely we will reach out to you in the future. By responding promptly to each request by either declining or expressing interest you are more likely to be contacted in the future.

If I say I am unavailable for one job will I still stop being notified of all jobs at that time?

Not currently. If you decline an opportunity and indicate your are "not available" it will not have an impact on other job notifications overlapping this same time period as the job you declined..

Your reason for declining is recorded and shared with your partner; however, this information is not used to restrict future broadcasts. S, if you said you are "not available" for a job from 2p-4p on Friday you may still receive notifications for new jobs 2p-4p on Friday (or 1p-5p or 3:30p-4p).

I said I was interested: now what?

Depending on the request settings either the requester/customer themselves or the partner will respond to your interest. There are some situations when you will be notified immediately after expressing an interest but most of the times there will be a delay before someone responds. If your interest is still pending this means the partner or customer has not responded yet.

If you change your mind, you can always withdraw your interest before being assigned.