As a small business owner I appreciate the service that freelance sites such as Upwork, Freelancer and Airtasker provide. But a recent email from Airtasker had me wondering if they are doing more harm than good to a future workforce.

The email I received from Airtasker was a job alert from someone needing marketing assistance. When I looked at the job description, the poster actually wanted someone to complete their marketing assessment for them. I found this really disturbing as I wondered did this person really hope to pass someone else’s work off as their own and possibly pass a subject not on their own merit? Is this person going to obtain top marks which may lead to a great job but not know at least the fundamentals of marketing? Do we suddenly have an unfair playing field among students? Does a student who completes their own work and usually performs well suddenly see themselves struggling to keep up with students that have had experienced professionals complete their work?

These freelancing websites are great especially for small businesses that don't need an office full of staff but at times could use help on particular projects but I can’t help but wonder if they are inadvertently destroying a future work force.