10 Tips to Consider When Hiring a Freelancer

If you want to make your experience outsourcing for skill through online platforms like freelancer a great and fruitful one, there are some considerations that you need to keep in mind. Not everyone will want to use a specialized hiring or staffing agency in order to find the right people for the job, and a more direct approach may be preferred, in order to cut costs.

Nevertheless, it is still very important that you consider the tips mentioned below, just as a specialized staffing agency would.

1. Know the law regarding hiring independent contractors
   Hiring a freelance contractor to do a job could have certain legal implications depending on where you are based. For example, certain tax rules may affect you and also certain rules may apply so that you are forced to either hire the outsourced staff as an independent contractor or as an employee.The important thing is to find out and understand what all the nuances of the legal and accounting implications of your decision will be.
2. Know what you are looking for
   It is important to be very clear about what you are looking for and the parameters that will guide your choice. This will make it clear for the person writing or putting out the advert looking to hire, know exactly how to phrase the advert so that you can attract the best possible independent contractors. You will need to be clear on issues such as;
   • Your budget; how much money can you spend and within what period of time?
   • When do you expect to have the work complete? Can you set a clear deadline giving enough lead time to the independent contractor to do the work well?
   • What quality of work are you looking for? Are you looking for in-depth academic work or more light-hearted or casual work?
   • What are your expectations for a job well done? Do you expect some creativity injected into your project or do you want the work followed to your exact specifications?

   There are several other questions that can help you decide exactly what you are looking for, but the above ideas should give you a better understanding of what you need to pay attention to.

3. Ask the potential independent contractor the right questions
   Some of the more important questions that you need to have satisfactory answers on include the following:
   • What is your relevant experience on the particular job you seek?
   • Are there any available samples or verifiable referees that can authenticate the quality of your work?
   • What rates will you be comfortable working for?
   • What is your average turnaround time?

   Ask any question that is relevant and specific to the position or project that you are hiring for.

4. Decide if you need a local independent contractor or if it doesn’t matter
   Depending on the job at hand, you may want to hire either locally, if you need someone with local experience, or you could also hire internationally, if you want to widen the hiring pool to accommodate more diverse skill and expertise.
5. Do you need to equip your independent contractor with tools?
   This will be an important consideration if you need to provide tools and equipment for the job to be completed satisfactorily. Even if your independent contractor is going to work remotely, you may need to provide server access, special software, network drives, etc.
6. Give your independent contractor access to any help they may need
   Once you hire the freelancer, or independent contractor, it is important that you allocate enough resources or avail an associate to the freelancer so that they have a contact person who they can directly communicate with if they have needs or concerns that need to be addressed. Designate a project manager, if you have to, so that progress of the work is monitored and any arising issues are addressed in real-time.
7. Place the right ads, in the right places, to attract the right candidates
   When advertising for a job, it is important that you place the ads in the right place or in the place most likely to get you the results that you are looking for. For example, it would be a waste of your time to advertise and get many respondents replying to your job offer, but none of whom are the right choices for the job that you want done.It is better to write targeted ads or to look for candidates in locations where skill and quality of work can be quickly determined and verified.
8. Ask potential candidates for a test sample
   If possible, ask for a sample that can help you verify the quality of work that can be done by the candidate. This should be done as soon as possible in order to quickly shortlist those who are capable of doing the job that you want. It may also be important to find out if the candidate has a website, blog, a social networking profile or an online presence that can prove a commitment to their work.
9. Get a confirmation about the candidates work schedule
   It is important to remember that because the potential contractor is a freelancer, they probably also have other work that they do for other clients. As such, it is important to verify that your work can be done on time and with consistently good quality.
10. Provide all the information necessary to get the job done as it should
    If you want your work completed on time and in good quality, it is better to give all the resources that will be useful to get the job done properly, on time and without holding back. Remember that the success of a freelancer is very closely tied to the success of the work that they do for you.

This is why it is important to realize that the freelancer is committed to you and they want to do the best possible work for you because it will directly benefit them as well. You should therefore equip them to do so.

Author Bio

Todd M. Spencer is an eCommerce expert with 12 years’ experience in the business. He has also written several debt consolidation reviews and gives useful tips to other e-commerce entrepreneurs. Visit his blog for more information.

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