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How to make sure you hire the right freelancers



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How to make sure you hire the right freelancers

You are looking for a freelancer to handle your project or projects but you are reserved in hiring someone over the internet without meeting them in person. You don't trust they can get the job done right and on time and maybe you even have some bad previous experiences with freelancers.
How to make sure you hire the right freelancers
Here is a guide explaining how to find the best freelancers, fit for your niche, how to motivate them probably and how to ensure you end up with a completed project, in time and at a decent expense. 

How to make sure you hire the right freelancers for your projects:

1. Make sure you know exactly what you want. 

If you want to hire a freelancer you need to be ready in outlining what there is to be done. If you "kind" of knowing what you want but you want to figure things out once you start I suggest you first put in perspective exactly what you need. 

Write everything down as points in a spreadsheet and include things like: delivery time; deadline; price and even schedule. 
All of this will help you but also the freelancer you are hiring by painting a clear picture on what he or she is getting into. You aren't going to lose time on explaining and clarifying certain aspects, the freelancer can just start working and as soon as the freelancer finishes you will get your delivery. 


2. If you decide to place a job post make sure you are giving out the proper details. 

If you decide to post the job online you need to have a proper job description. Make it fun and interesting but most of all try explaining and giving important details on the complexity and special need of the job. The freelancer needs to understand your objectives and exact requirements for the job. I suggest you don't go much into deadlines and very specific management issues, leave those for future discussions with the freelancer. 

3. Don't post a job proposal but contact freelancers directly. 

Another approach you can take is not to publish a job post but to directly seek freelancers yourself and contact them. I personally love when clients contact me out of the bloom. If the client is serious and not looking for a cheap service and is not scammer such proposals can go a long way and you can actually build a nice relationship between you and the freelancer. 

You can find freelancers on freelancers platforms like this one here on SEOclerks, just shoot a proposal PM to the users you think can help you with your projects, I'm pretty sure with most of them you can actually work something out. 

4. Need 24/7 help? Hire people all over the world!

One of the great things about hiring freelancers is hiring people all over the world. Why? Because if you have a HelpDesk for example and you need people to be active and online 24/7 you can't really hire only people from the same time zone as you. The best solution is to have people in different time zone cover different hours. This way everyone will work in a relaxing time frame and you will have the job done constantly. 

5. Money. You will need to pay the freelancer. Don't be cheap. 

Here is what I've learned over the years. Clients that pay just a little bit above industry average for a certain service are usually going to have very dedicated freelancers that will prioritize their jobs every time. So don't be cheap and pay people well they are doing quality work, they'll be dedicated and will give their 100% every time for you. 

6. Set a clear deadline.

The deadline is very important. Freelancer need to prioritize, make the deadline as clear as possible so that the freelancer can honor that without any problems. Try being fair about the deadline, don't rush people hoping they'll work 16 hours per day just to meet your deadline. 

7. Have an interview. 

The initial talks should be done over email or the private messaging of the platform you are contacting the freelancer from. If the project is really big and important, I suggest you also do a interview over Skype to make sure you are getting the right person for the job. 

8. Have a trial run. A test run. 

As a freelancer I always ask for a test run, a test to see if everything goes well. This both me and the client will know exactly what to expect from one another if we decide to take things to another level. 
I personally never take big projects without a trial job. Sometime I'm surprised that many clients just don't ask for one, they tend to go head first into the project without getting to know what I'm capable of. 

Comments

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kgord
It goes both ways. Many freelancers have been burned by clients with unrealistic expectations, and those who make demands, but yet don't even have a clear command of English. Give me a break!



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wiseagent
Interesting point here.

By the way, a good lesson to take in this is: It's a two-way road because frustration can start from either side: Those who hire may not receive what they want and those who were hired don't please those people who hired them.

So, let the game begins... Haha.



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kgord
Yes, but if you are going to request services by natives of a certain language, I think requestors need to make sure they are communicating clearly in that speakers language to begin with. It is only reasonable.



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augusta
To hire freelancers one has to look at the rating of the freelancer, make the proposal to be very clear on the terms and deadline.

A good amount of money will also help one hire a good freelancer. So good money should be ready to be Paid.

Another points outline up there is quite valid.



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wiseagent
kgord,

Yes I agree with you.

The level of communication has to be very high to avoid possible frustrations that may occur. Unfortunately, some people don't care so much for such clear communication because they think the guidelines they initially give are enough.



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Corzhens
It surely is a sad experience when a freelancer gets burned by clients especially when the client is very demanding that one hour of delay would be blown up as a big issue. I know of such clients that sometimes it is better to refuse them services for the prospect of getting tangled with the bad attitude. A freelancer is very low on morale because of the low pay that he gets and yet he would suffer insults just because of minor mistakes.



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wiseagent
The tips are absolutely great and totally useful (thanks for it How to make sure you hire the right freelancers ), but the one that particularly caught my attention was the "4. Need 24/7 help? Hire people all over the world!".

Some time ago I had a closed mind for this, and I preferred to rely only on people of my own country for finding it easier to deal with them. However, it didn't take long for me to realize that working with people from other countries would make things much easier for me.



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Barida
I'm glad you now understood the need to hire all over the world. The good thing is that you can always get your jobs done for you anytime you want since the timezone is quite different in some of these countries.



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wiseagent
Yeah. As human beings, we must always evolve positively. How to make sure you hire the right freelancers

Time zones can become a problem when things are not properly aligned, this can - for example - jeopardize the deadline of various work (which is obviously a real bad thing to happen).



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Barida
I enjoyed reading some of the tips you displayed above and I must confess that it is one thing to hire freelancers and another thing to hire the right freelancers that can get the best work for you. I have enjoyed working some freelancers and still work with some others.



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overcast
I think it's more or less hit and miss with people. Because we are not machine. And we are so much raised into belief of machine that pushing few buttons and getting things done. People are different and we have to respect their way of doing things. And if we are to be hiring them. We have to find out understand that hiring is something you have to approach properly. You can't rush this and you have to work really hard. I am not sure if the freelancing is possible always with the way buyer thinks of things to be there. That never works out in that context.



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Barida
This is the point where most of the clients fail to understand that freelancers are still humans and can make mistakes once in a while and that's the reason I always try to work with clients that have that sympathy for freelancers and try and to give my best for them.



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overcast
I think the thing about freealncers is that you have to understand how they work. But clients don't want to do that. They just want everything in low cost. And that is something they want to be continued. So this can be changed if the freealancers are bidding on the right set of companies. That's the thing I think we all need to watch out as well.



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Pixie06
Choosing the right person can be quite tricky. My friend once hired a freelance writer for her blog and she did a test before hiring him. However, my friend was largely displeased by the quality of his work. This was not was she was expecting for the price he demanded. We must not hasten the recruitment process and we need to make sure that the person understands what is required of him/her.



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DarthHazard
Don't be cheap is such an important thing to remember. A lot of people try to get a service done for as cheap as possible but this is a huge mistake. It's much better to get the job done properly rather than to get it done cheaply where it might not even be done properly. A lot of people will try to bid for your job by undercutting other people and this is not a good sign because it shows that they are desperate for your job. A good freelancer will use his experience and expertise to win jobs and will not budge much on his price.



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Tronia
Ah, that is too common lately. I understand that the clients want to spend as little money as possible but then you can't expect to get the most competent freelancer either. A good freelancer is worth the price because he/she knows how to get the job done and maintain high-quality. So instead of saving a dollar or two, invest into it and you won't regret it when you see the results.



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overcast
I agree. Fiverr and freelancer is full of buyers who want things done under 2$. And they seem to be pretty much demanding too. And they don't understand the value of time. And in that case it'd be reasonable to see that hiring the right set of freelancers is not a good idea. You can see that freelancing takes time. And people should be understanding that low cost bidding and low cost labor is wrong. Not just ethically but also from perspective of work.



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Tronia
I think that it is always bit of a challenge when it comes choosing the right freelancer. Sometimes you can find the perfect fit but other times it simply doesn't work out. I think that if the client follows all of your tips that he/she will eliminate many options of failure and have a greater chance of finding that "perfect" freelancer.

Just always make sure that you are fair and clear about what you expect from the person. Luckily, there are many great freelancers from all over the world and very eager to work.



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vinaya
You can hire freelancers from freelance sites, however, there is an alternative way to find a freelancer. I once hired a writer to work for me from a forum. I checked her forum posts and found to be well written. I messaged her and offered my job. She said yes. However, I was still confused. I asked her to do test article. Her test article was great. I hired her. She wrote 25 articles for me.



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Authord
Nice tips, for the clients.
Especially the apex of your tips, knowing exactly what you want, many clients don't really know what they want and nothing annoys me like that, you will see a client, give you details of a job and after completing the job following the due process according to the details. Only for the client to come up with a different ball task totally different the initial agreement. I do charge them well, when I come across such clients. So it's important you know what you want.



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vinaya
I once bought a service on Fiverr. The service was WordPress site customization for $20. The freelancer took the order and asked me to send my requirements. When I explained to him what I wanted (I had asked for the services that he said will deliver for $20), he said he cannot do this work for $20. he asked more. I refused and filed the complaint. Thankfully, I was refunded. This taught me a lesson. I need to be extra careful while hiring a freelancer.



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keen2write
Excellent post and guidelines Cristian, What I normally do I just use the search bar so if I want YouTube views, likes or so on I would search YouTube and just flick through the services if I like any I will click on one and read the details first. For some services, I tend to use the same person over and over again as gained a trust with them and I know what to expect and get from this person.

You touched on some great points, to know exactly what you want, and to private message them. As communication is the key here as you want to find out more about the service and if it is the right one for you. I often private message and ask about it and what can I get from it that is if it is not already in the description which most services as detailed well some.



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mildredtabitha
You have nicely outlined this for clients and I hope most of them will take all the points into consideration. I like when I am give brief and clear instructions and a deadline that is realistic. I also like when the price is agreed before I start working. I hate when the client takes my work and then refuses to pay me. It makes me not rust other clients and maybe decline doing jobs for other people.



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Corzhens
I like the line that says don’t be cheap. That is a good advice because freelancers seem to have a very low reputation when it comes to fees and charges that some people think they are being paid peanuts. At least, this advice to pay freelancers good money will give the idea that freelancers are humans too who can be good or excellent in their job that they need to be paid handsomely especially when they turn out a good output.



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