Get Shift Done: Management
Using Upwork, Guru, Outsourcely, Mechanical Turk and the like is a good way to find a remote worker for that projects you need to outsource. Without careful selection, though, your freelance hire could end up costing you much more than you planned. Here are some tips for getting a quality worker for your project.
Don’t Be Cheap
This is the biggest thing you need to remember when hiring freelancers through marketplaces: You get what you pay for. You may think you’re saving your company money by hiring someone with a low bid, but you never will.
More than likely, that person you hired will send you work that is beyond shabby and you’ll end up needing to hire someone else to fix it or create something from scratch. So, always go with bids that are on the higher end of the scale. This will help to ensure that you’ll get a better quality result.
Vet Your Worker
Picking a freelancer from the mountainous pile of bidders may seem like it will take longer than just doing the job yourself, but a quick scan can eliminate around 90% of bidders in about five minutes:
- Eliminate anyone that can’t use complete sentences. If they can’t be bothered to write a somewhat coherent proposal, they won’t be bothered to do a good job on your project.
- Eliminate all of the people who post, “I have been doing this for a long time and would love to help.” This is a super vague copy-and-paste note that means they probably didn’t read your project diameters.
- Eliminate anyone who bids astronomically low. See the first section above. You don’t want these people. Trust me.
Make Your Selection
Now that you have a small group of freelancers who may be a fit, take the time to look at their profiles. The freelancer you choose should have a fully filled out profile with a good rating from previous gigs.
The real gems are the ones that have samples of previous work for you review. This really gives you a feel for their skills.
Before you make your final selection, message the freelancer a few times, if the workplace allows. Curt or rude responses — or no response at all — will help you cull your list down even more.
From here, you should have a great freelancer lined up and ready to work. While this careful searching may seem like it will take a lot of your time, just remember that once you have found a great freelancer, you have someone you can turn to over and over again as projects arise. One hunt can lead to years of projects well-done.
The GSD Management channel is brought to you by Work Market, the leading labor automation platform. Work Market empowers businesses and skilled professionals to unlock new levels of productivity, engagement and growth across the entire lifecycle of work. Learn more at www.workmarket.com.