Taking on a freelancer is a great way to boost your team’s skillset without the commitment of hiring a permanent member of staff, which is why it can be such an important option for small businesses. There are many roles that may not need a full-time staff member, like marketing, finance or HR, and a freelancer can bring this expertise for the right price.
That’s why 62% of senior executives say that freelancers improve their company’s overall performance and why more than 50% of the American workforce is expected to be freelance by 2027. Headway Capital has created a guide for small businesses to help you take your first steps into hiring a freelancer:
Know what you need a freelancer for
We’ve mentioned some of the skills that a freelancer can bring to your business but there’s plenty more tasks that small businesses can need without having enough work to justify a full-time employee to do them. These can include IT, administration, accounting, social media management, blog writing, graphic design, translations, event planning and project management. Which of these do you need?
Look in the right places for what you need to find
There’s several freelancer job listing sites out there and it can seem overwhelming when deciding where to look or to advertise your listing so it helps to do your research beforehand. Each offers slightly different services and job types, so if you’re looking to get a one-off graphic design job done, Fiverr might be the place to find it, or you can run a competition on 99designs, while translations can be bought on Textbroker.
Get your job ad right
When you’re advertising to get a freelancer, it’s important to write it in a way that ensures the right people will find it. Using keywords in the title is a big step in this direction, so do your research into what words people will search for to try and find jobs like yours. Then be sure to include all the key details and really sell the opportunity and the benefits, but don’t list every single requirement or you’ll risk putting people off.
What to look for in a freelance profile
Whether you’re browsing profiles or viewing applications from interested freelancers, it’s important to know what to look for. Recent ratings or reviews from previous clients are crucial as a way of measuring the quality of their work and how they work with people. They should also have a portfolio of evidence so you can see what they can do, so be sure to scan through what they have done in the past.
These tips will help you find the freelancer that is right for your small business, so why not think about what skills you could bring in with the right talent?
