The freelance job market is booming. There are plenty of freelance sites to find professional freelancers to work on your project and for freelancers to find a suitable job. Every freelance site will have a mixed population of experienced pros and new talents. As highly skilled freelancers become available, the competition to recruit top talent increases. Selecting a right freelancer from the list of applicants can become a tough job at times. While they can surely offer cost-effective solutions, it can be a real challenge to find a good match.
Selection 101 obviously involves relevant experience, expertise, cultural fit, cost and availability. But beyond the basics, here are some fundamental principles that will help you in getting right freelancer on board:
Use a highly regarded hiring resource
If you are willing to hire a freelancer, it is, in fact, essential to use the best available resources for locating external help. Some of the websites that you can use to hunt for the right candidate can be Upwork, Toptal, Elance, Freelancer, Guru, 99designs, Peopleperhour, Freelance Writing Gigs, Demand Media, College Recruiter, GetACoder, iFreelance, Project4hire and SimplyHired.
All these websites feature different freelance profiles including market researchers, web designers, copywriters, software developers, and many more. You can use these sites to search for the required profile based on the basic criteria.
Check the references
Once you have shortlisted some of the people on the websites, go through the review of each one of them and also check the references that are provided so as to have a clear idea of their performance on the previous projects. You can inquire with the references if the person met all the deadlines and delivered quality work.
Carry out a rigorous interview
If you have selected two or three candidates whom you would consider hiring, institute a comprehensive interview that will enable you to assess the candidate. Conducting such interview is especially important because you would not be able to have a face-to-face interview. You can either arrange a telephonic interview or an interview over a video call via Skype. You should ask open-ended questions during the interview so that you can gain more information about the individual or you can also ask the candidate to elaborate some of her answers.
Define your goals clearly
You cannot hire a right freelancer until you clearly define your goals. You need to explain to the candidate what you expect and that the work needs to be submitted within a pre-defined deadline. If the person would not have a clear idea of your expectations, she would not be able to deliver satisfactory results.