Talented freelancers are everywhere these days, thanks to the ongoing rise of independent contractors. Even so, finding the right person to suit your specific project needs is often a hands-on process that requires care and attention.
The good news is a little intuition and insider info can dramatically speed things along.
If you’re looking to find high-quality freelancers in the near future, these articles from the Hiring Headquarters—Upwork’s resource for businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs—will arm you with useful tips to help optimize your search process.
Know What to Look for in a Top-notch Freelancer
The best freelancers can be like Swiss Army knives: versatile and multi-faceted in their skills and capable of tackling a wide variety of tasks efficiently. Regardless of the specific skills you’re looking for, however, there are some common hallmarks to watch for in your search for top talent.
“Grow Smart: 4 Traits to Look for When Hiring Remote Workers” takes a closer look at four important elements to gauge when you want to work with a freelance professional. It provides great tips to make the hiring process easier when you’re left with making a tough choice between multiple qualified candidates.
These four traits are invaluable assets to find in a prospective freelancer.
1) Smarts and trustworthiness. Find people who are “smarter than you,” so you can benefit from their expertise and be confident about the people you work with.
2) Collaborative spirit. An eagerness to collaborate is a must for anyone who will be working on a project as part of a distributed team.
3) Personal investment in project success. Do they care about the project’s success and feel personally invested in producing a positive outcome for your business?
4) Excellent communication skills. Good communication is essential for a smooth professional relationship. Without it, even seemingly simple tasks can become bumps that cause progress to grind to a halt.
Write Laser-targeted Job Descriptions
In a competitive freelance market, the most effective way to find someone who can meet your needs is to create a project description that enables independent contractors to self select—attracting more people who will be a potentially good fit while reducing enquiries from people who aren’t a match.
“Finding the Right SQL Developer with a Good Job Description” may focus on how to write a great project description to attract a high-quality freelance SQL programmer, but it also contains tips that can be applied to descriptions for any role you want to fill.
Here are three useful insights from the piece.
1) Pin down the job parameters and tool requirements. Identify the objectives for the project, outline any special tools or skills needed to complete it, and describe the appropriate level of experience you’re looking for.
2) Outline deliverables and deadlines. Including details about the results you’re looking for, in the form of deliverables and timeframes, can be great for attracting serious applicants. It also gives them a clear sense of what to expect.
3) Balance detail with brevity. Freelance project descriptions should be thorough, but they don’t need the same level of detail and complexity needed when you’re conducting a traditional employee search.
Stick to the key details needed attract the type of freelancers you’re looking for.
Learn From Other Top-level CEOs
If you’re new to working with freelancers, it’s helpful to learn from other CEOs about what they’ve found valuable in the search for high-quality contingent workers.
“Tips on finding top talent—from job post to interview” offers excellent advice from several CEOs to help you identify and hire top freelancers on Upwork. This short video features several insights from Pixc founder and CEO Holly Cardew, though you also can find lots of additional tips in the full 10-video series.
Here are few top strategies from CEOs who use Upwork to source skilled freelancers.
1) Use a “tell” in your job description. By including an unusual or obscure question in your project posting for freelancers to answer, you’ll quickly be able to tell which freelancers thoroughly read the description. This can help weed out freelancers who don’t pay attention to directions or detail.
2) Hire freelancers who have an entrepreneurial mind. If you’re looking for self-starters and business-savvy freelancers, ask questions to determine what candidates do in their spare time and watch for indications they’ll be self-motivated and reliable.
3) Give prospects a trial run. The fastest way to know well you’ll work together is to engage a freelancer for a small project and deadline before engaging them to tackle larger projects. This will let you see how well they budget their time and let you gauge the quality of their work.
Eager for even more insights on how to find top freelancers to meet your business needs? The Hiring Headquarters has lots of articles to help you out.
The post Tips for Finding Top Freelance Talent appeared first on Upwork Blog.
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