5 Tips for Hiring Freelancers
Businesses in any industry can gain from the convenience of hiring freelancers. The knowledge and experience a freelancer can bring is immensely helpful to a range of scenarios and allows businesses to benefit without being tied into a long-term contract. These simple tips will enable you to find the right freelancer and help you to encourage a healthy and profitable working relationship.
- Brief
To find the perfect person for the job, you must know exactly what you want them to do. Encourage constructive group discussions within your team to aid in the creation of a comprehensive and detailed brief. Consider every detail of the job in as much detail as possible so that you can quickly and clearly inform the candidates of what you expect of them.
Freelancers will appreciate the extra effort taken in creating a brief and will be able to customize their applications much more specifically and appropriately. Having an extensive brief will also weed out the freelancers that aren't suitable for the role, making the whole process more efficient. The goal of the brief is to remove any ambiguity from the task so that you can reduce misunderstandings and achieve better results.
- Budget
Once you know what you want to achieve, you need to calculate how much you're willing to pay. Freelancing has a broad appeal, and the opportunity you present is likely to attract a large and discordant mass of applications at a range of different price points and quality levels. Assess the market to gauge the value of the amount of work you want to have done for the quality you expect and set your budget accordingly.
With so much competition, it's tempting to accept the lowest quote provided, but often it is worth spending more for the right freelancer. Compare the going rates for comparable work with the amount you're willing to pay to find a price-point that's right for you.
- Assess
As with any other personnel acquisition, you need to assess the applicants carefully. Freelancers with a lot of experience will usually have work to show for it in the form of a portfolio. Set out the amount of previous work you would like to see in the job listing and assess each candidate more on their portfolio than their educational background where possible.
Create a shortlist of applicants whose work you like and schedule a meeting either face-to-face or online. There needn't always be a full sit-down interview, but you should have at least a conversation with all candidates. By conversing with an individual, you can learn a lot about how well you will interact and communicate during your working relationship. During the meeting, outline every aspect and detail of the role so that the applicant can make an informed decision about whether it is right for them.
- Contract
Contracts for any working relationship need to be professionally crafted to avoid misunderstandings or disagreements. Hire a specialist to draw up the contract and provide them with as many details of the job as possible. Include exact information on pay rates, what elements of the work the freelancer will be judged on, and when you expect completion of the work.
Once the contract has been drawn up, present a copy to your chosen candidate well in advance of when you expect the work to start to allow them ample opportunity to read through it carefully. If they have any questions, do your best to answer them fully. Your goal is to make the process as transparent as possible so that both parties feel comfortable and confident entering into the agreement.
- Communication
Having found the perfect candidate and agreed to the terms of the contract, it's now necessary to outline the best way to communicate for the duration of the project. Freelancers are normally brought in for their specific set of expertise so it's best to give them the space to operate. Agree upon an update schedule that you're both comfortable with so that you don't inadvertently start micro-manage the project through over-communication. Give the freelancer time and space but also set out clear channels of communication through which they can contact you if and when they need to do so.
With any successful freelancer relationship, there needs to be a degree of trust so finding the right person is crucial to a smooth and profitable exchange. With careful consideration of the needs of both parties, you can create a working relationship with a freelancer from which everyone benefits.