6 things to remember in order to hire the right freelancer

Photo: Deagreez, BS

Hiring a skilled and talented freelancer gives small and large companies the awesome ability to complete projects that require unique and advanced skills. Moreover, this is possible even without adding another full-time person to the monthly payroll 

Nowadays, hiring a freelancer is really easy. There are numerous people out there who have the experience and skills you need to get your projects done. However, hiring the right freelancer is not that simple. That’s why we decided to write about six tried-and-tested ways to consider when hiring a remote worker. 

  1. Be clear with your expectations

Whenever you interview a freelancer, take the time to let that person know what your expectations are in terms of the project requirements deadlines, communication frequency, feedback, updates, and so on. This clear understanding of what you want ahead of hiring someone is imperative for the freelancers to know how to accurately pitch and price their services. Although some details can change along the process, the big scope of the project and your expectations should be made crystal clear right from the beginning. 

2. Check out the candidates’ samples 

Good freelancers will always provide you samples of their previous work. This will help you decide if the remote workers’ qualities are the ones you’re searching for. If you’re interviewing a newbie without a portfolio, just ask for a free sample assignment. Think of something they would need to do for your project, draft it as an assignment and pay them afterwards to do it. You’ll pay a small price in order to see if you’re hiring someone qualified or not and most freelance platforms provide an escrow system that lets you pay for results after you get them. 

3. Firm up your timeline 

One of the big advantages of hiring a freelancer is that the tasks can get done quickly, as long as you have some preliminary discussions about it. Just make sure that you set some realistic deadlines and that the remote worker feels comfortable with them. Most freelancers are very flexible and constantly focus on meeting clients’ deadlines. 

4. Do a budget outline 

While this may sound like an in-house, simple task, in reality, it’s way more than that. Having your budget in place is, indeed, essential. Anyway, it’s also extremely important to be aware of the going rate for the type of work you’re requesting. This research should be done even before starting to look for freelancers. The reason for this is that you definitely don’t want to offer way too little or too much money for the task. 

5. Let yourself interviewed 

Just like small businesses are looking for several things in potential candidates, so are freelancers. Most of the times, remote workers value reliability, a project that matches their skills, effective communication, fair payment, and realistic due dates for the tasks. If you don’t seem very trustworthy to them, it can be hard to seal the deal. Therefore, provide clear answers to the freelancers’ questions, offer them helpful details, and be as specific as possible regarding the project’s requirements. 

6. Assign a small task 

Although you believe that the freelancer you found is the perfect match, things can still prove wrong along the road. The good news is that you don’t need to make a long-term commitment right away. You can start by assigning them a small task after deciding to go forward with them. Therefore, you’ll get a good idea of the freelancer’s work quality, work process, ethics, communication skills, and so on. And that will really help you decide if they can work on more complex tasks or projects. If you choose this route, always pay the freelancer for their work. Never ask for free work while promising more tasks in the future. This is disrespectful to their time. Plus, most serious freelancers will run away from these types of clients. 

While hiring freelancers isn’t as overwhelming as it used to be, you have to remember that, most of the times, you get what you pay for. Going cheap might tempt you, but this can actually cost you more in the long run. Hence, take some time and focus on finding the right freelancer. Some freelance platforms to try are GiggrabbersUpworkFiverr, or Toptal your small business. These sites are good at letting you evaluate and compare different freelancers. This way, you’ll avoid a lot of stress, unnecessary efforts, and money. 

Related Post