Hiring a freelancer is a popular choice for business owners because it reduces their overheads and increases productivity within the business. They can hire extra workers as and when they are needed and the hiring process is far more streamlined than when hiring a permanent employee. They will also have access to a wider talent pool that is not restricted by whether candidates can travel to a physical workplace.
Freelancing also has many benefits for the people that choose to work in this way. The main benefit is that they are able to choose the hours that they work and this flexibility leads to a greater work/life balance. There is also more flexibility in the work that can be doing and this allows them to grow their skills even further.
Freelancing is certainly growing as an industry and more and more people are quitting their jobs to work in this way everyday. One study estimated that this number could be as high as five million people worldwide every year.
There are clearly many benefits to freelancing for employees and the companies that want to hire them and one of the easiest ways for these two to connect is to use a freelancing platform. There are many different platforms out there and some of them are far better than others. Seven of the platforms that are considered the best are listed below along with some details about how they can be used.
Fiverr
Fiverr has really changed from the days when it was used to find people to do odd jobs around the house. It is now a very useful platform for businesses looking for freelancers to carry out work for them. People are able to post their skills on the site with the price that they charge for their services.
Freelancer.com
Freelancer lets you find workers for your project quickly and it is also one of the most reasonably priced platforms to use. When your job is posted on the platform freelancers will bid on the project with the amount that they would want to be paid. You can look at the profiles of everyone that has made a bid in order to help you make your decision.
Guru.com
There are more features on Guru.com than you would find on most other freelancing sites. There are different membership levels that freelancers can choose from and there is also a lot of advice about how to create a professional profile. There is also a SafePay feature on the site which makes the payment process easy and fair for both employers and freelancers.
People Per Hour
Both employers and employees can post on People Per Hour so you can choose whether to post your job or just browse through the profiles of people that have the skills that you are looking for. You are able to post very specific requirements to help freelancers understand exactly what you want from the project. There is also an option to let freelancers post their hourly rate on their profile which will help you budget how much your project will cost.
Upwork
If you are looking for a qualified professional such as an accountant or an attorney then Upwork is one of the best sites to use. Freelancers can post their skills on the site and employers are able to browse through their profiles to select potential candidates. The site is free to sign up to for freelancers but the site will take a commission from anything that the freelancer earns.
Toptal
In order for freelancers to be able to post on Toptal they have to go through a screening process. This is very thorough and so they need to have a lot of experience in their field to be able to get through this process. Only the top 3% of all applicants are accepted to work through this platform and so if you use it for hiring a freelancer then you can be sure that you are getting the very best talent. One thing to bear in mind is that you will pay more for hiring freelancers through this site than you would elsewhere but in terms of talent you are getting what you pay for.
Simply Hired
Simply Hired is a global platform that is available in 24 countries all over the world. The site is also available in twelve different languages and so there is a large talent pool to choose from. There are freelancers from almost every industry that you can think of on this site and so you should have no trouble finding the right person for the job. There is a blog on the site that is aimed towards freelancers with advice about how to increase the likelihood of being hired.