How do employers pick freelancers to hire?

animeshe14

Member
When I decided to start Freelancing the first thing I did was look for freelance websites (Odesk.com, Freelancer.com,onlinejobs.ph, etc).

Along the way I have found and read articles on the how to's of starting a freelance career which coincidentally was also written my an experience freelancer.

Anyways my point is, how about the employers. How do they screen freelancers especially the newbies? unlike regular recruitment that experienced HR personnel's screen applicants before the actual interview. The ones who do the screening and interviewing is the actual owners themselves.

So to have this age old question answered, I am calling to all employers to reply to this post. Tell us (freelancers) the how's, the why's and the what's of your hiring process.

Experience Freelancer can also give their 2 cents to make this post more informative.
 

HenaryMagas

Member
I hired some freelancers from sites you mentioned above and some are good but some gave me bad jobs.

The first thing when I hire a freelance, they're any samples/works which they've done before so I can review which they will give me.

Price is also a problem need to be considered when hiring a freelance, sometimes I don't care about price because mostly freelancers will provide you quality work then they can offer a high or reasonable price.
 

Hostlumina

Active Member
Good question.

When looking to hire a freelance the process definitely changes (at least for me) as there is no need for HR to screen resumes (usually) as I would be the one in search of the individual.

Couple of items to look for:

1- Reviews from other individuals who have hired the freelancer for jobs
2- Request portfolio to review their previous work
3- Will they be dedicated to the project until finishes
4- Interview your top selected freelancers. If another team member will be involve have them be part of the interview to ensure it is someone who they can work with.
5- References
6- Compare notes at the end and see who is the best fit from the job.
7- Have HR do a final screening and neutral input.

To determine who is the best fit, you need to get a feel on their organization skills, how they work under pressure, how do they manage multiple projects/tasks at once, understand their work ethic, etc...

References are a strong key to hiring the right person in personal opinion. You get a good sense how happy the company is with the work completed and how it was managed.

The above differentiates from each owner, company culture, and/or project type of course.
 
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PTTed

Active Member
When I decided to start Freelancing the first thing I did was look for freelance websites (Odesk.com, Freelancer.com,onlinejobs.ph, etc).

Along the way I have found and read articles on the how to's of starting a freelance career which coincidentally was also written my an experience freelancer.

Anyways my point is, how about the employers. How do they screen freelancers especially the newbies? unlike regular recruitment that experienced HR personnel's screen applicants before the actual interview. The ones who do the screening and interviewing is the actual owners themselves.

So to have this age old question answered, I am calling to all employers to reply to this post. Tell us (freelancers) the how's, the why's and the what's of your hiring process.

1) First and foremost the freelancer has to have excellent English communication skills. If they don't speak and write English really well (without grammatical errors) then I usually won't consider hiring them for a project. Even if they are cheaper than someone else I won't bother wasting my time on someone I cannot communicate with very easily. We must be able to understand each other without much effort at all.
2) They have to have good reviews from previous work. I won't waste my time trying someone with zero experience unless they had a really compelling way of convincing me that they will be an awesome contractor.
3) They should respond to me in a timely manner. The faster the better. Someone who responds really quickly will really impress me.
4) They should appear to be professional and extremely dependable. Dependability is extremely important.
5) The person should have a portfolio of work I can look at. Ideally they would have a website that shows off their talent even if it is a free Web 2.0 site like Tumblr. or blogger.com or something along those lines.

If I was a freelance writer looking to establish myself in the field, here is what I would do:
1) Buy my own domain name and launch a Wordpress website to promote my services.
2) I would use SEO and my homepage to target the phrase "freelance writer for hire"
3) I would put a real photo of myself on the homepage showing me dressed professionally and smiling
4) I would use the blog to publish samples of the work I am capable of doing
5) I would list my rates right on the website where they are easy to find. (That is the number one question everyone will want to know when they visit your site)
6) I would record a video of myself dressed professionally where I explain what services I offer. Publish the video on YouTube. Use SEO to target the phrase "freelance writer for hire" and try to get the YouTube video ranked high on Google.
7) I would join a few freelance writer forums and begin networking with my peers on there.
8) I would join LinkedIn and network with other freelance writers and business owners in the fields that I am most knowledgeable about.
9) I would use my blog to link out to places on the web where I have published any of my work.
10) I would try to get my friends at the forums I hang out at to "Like" and "Tweet" the articles and other things I publish for clients on the web.
11) I would have professional business cards made at somewhere like Vistaprint. The business cards would match my website design.
12) I would send personalized thank you cards to every new client who hired me for a project. I would include a business card. I would remind this person that I would absolutely love to get a referral from them if they know of anyone else who hires freelance writers.
13) Any time I got a referral from one of my previous clients I would hand write them another thank you card and mail it to them.
14) I would also be promoting my services at all of the various freelancer sites. But my main focus would be on attracting clients through my own website.

Doing those things alone would easily land you enough steady work to be a full time freelancer. It would take somewhere between 6 months to a year to get things really rolling. But, if you applied yourself and tried hard to please your clients, I think you would find success.
 
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