Vetting Employees on Freelancer?
Hey guys, I'm hoping to start a conversation about vetting employees on Freelancer so that I can get some insight into how other people are hiring Freelancers and what that process looks like from the other side. I'm currently a relatively successful freelancer but I've only been on the employee side, never actually worked as an employer. I recently connected with a group of young entrepreneurs that regularly hire freelancers and I had a chance to ask them how they filter through bids and hire someone. Here's what I found out.
-First, they provide a very detailed project brief. They want to do this because they need to ensure that the person they hire fully understands the project and they don't want to explain the project to every single person they get in contact with. By explaining in detail the first time, it's easy to check whether the worker has his head wrapped around what needs to get done from an early point.
-Second, they always ask for a specific word to be mentioned at the beginning of the proposal. What this does is it quickly highlights whether or not the person who wrote the proposal actually read the job brief or not. If they didn't, it's likely that they're just posting the same bid on every project and we don't want to hire someone who is doing this. Second, if they actually read the job brief and still failed to put the correct word there, they either didn't understand what that meant or didn't follow instructions accurately - neither of these are characteristics of the person you want to hire!
-Third, they ask the Freelancer to come up with the deadlines and milestone release schedule for the work. This gives that person the chance to manage expectations and exhibit their organizational competence. If the job is huge and the worker says they can get it done within two days, we know that they may be outsourcing a large part of it, it may be getting done by a team or they may just be lying to get the job. We want to hire people that do the work directly, not someone that uses subcontractors. It doesn't matter sometimes if the work takes a bit longer, if we're certain that the person we're talking to is doing the work and we're not risking the success of the project on a game of broken telephone.
-Fourth, they negotiate the price. The price is often the easiest part to deal with because out of 30 proposals there are maybe only one or two people that seem competent to do the work and frequently just one person. The price gets negotiated down to a level where both parties are happy and the work can start.
What do you guys do when hiring Freelancers to make sure that you're hiring the right person? Do you ask to see samples? Check their portfolio and reviews? Ever hire someone brand new? Please share some of your ideas and best practices so I can learn to hire my own Freelancers in the future. Thank you!
-First, they provide a very detailed project brief. They want to do this because they need to ensure that the person they hire fully understands the project and they don't want to explain the project to every single person they get in contact with. By explaining in detail the first time, it's easy to check whether the worker has his head wrapped around what needs to get done from an early point.
-Second, they always ask for a specific word to be mentioned at the beginning of the proposal. What this does is it quickly highlights whether or not the person who wrote the proposal actually read the job brief or not. If they didn't, it's likely that they're just posting the same bid on every project and we don't want to hire someone who is doing this. Second, if they actually read the job brief and still failed to put the correct word there, they either didn't understand what that meant or didn't follow instructions accurately - neither of these are characteristics of the person you want to hire!
-Third, they ask the Freelancer to come up with the deadlines and milestone release schedule for the work. This gives that person the chance to manage expectations and exhibit their organizational competence. If the job is huge and the worker says they can get it done within two days, we know that they may be outsourcing a large part of it, it may be getting done by a team or they may just be lying to get the job. We want to hire people that do the work directly, not someone that uses subcontractors. It doesn't matter sometimes if the work takes a bit longer, if we're certain that the person we're talking to is doing the work and we're not risking the success of the project on a game of broken telephone.
-Fourth, they negotiate the price. The price is often the easiest part to deal with because out of 30 proposals there are maybe only one or two people that seem competent to do the work and frequently just one person. The price gets negotiated down to a level where both parties are happy and the work can start.
What do you guys do when hiring Freelancers to make sure that you're hiring the right person? Do you ask to see samples? Check their portfolio and reviews? Ever hire someone brand new? Please share some of your ideas and best practices so I can learn to hire my own Freelancers in the future. Thank you!
Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
SteveBrowneDirect