3 Mistakes to Avoid If You Want the Best Talent.

Freelancing Platforms Are a Fantastic Tool for Clients and Freelancers Alike, but We Need to Use Them Correctly.

As a freelancer that is involved in a variety of creative work (podcast production, graphic design, music production, creative writing, etc.) I have spent my fair share of time on Upwork looking for clients and/or looking for demand.

It seems like the people that are going to Upwork looking for freelancers (i.e. the clients) always have this false sense of power, and think that they are going to be able to find the best talent for a low price.

If you are struggling to find talented freelancers that are performing at a high level, there are probably multiple reasons for that. Fixing these three simple mistakes will result in a greater return on your human capital, which over the long run will increase your bottom line.

The First Mistake: Looking in the Wrong Place.

The first mistake that most clients tend to make is simply trying to be cheap and still hire great talent.

The best freelancers are not going to be found on the clearance rack, and if you want the job to be done well, you have to pay for quality.

It’s called freelancing, not free labor. The freelancers know enough to hold some sort of value to themselves and to charge what they believe they are worth. So when you find a freelancer willing to do the job for a low price, you are going to get what you pay for.

This isn’t to say that there is no talent to be found on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. You will probably be able to find some of the best talents in the game on these sites, but their rates are not going to be low.

So before you even consider hiring a freelancer for the next job that you need to be done, take a moment to consider exactly what your budget is going to be for that contractor, and exactly what you should expect for the price that you are willing to pay.

The Second Mistake: Hiding Job Information.

THIS IS A BIG ONE.

When you make your job posting on a site, you have to give a description that will give the freelancer a good idea of what you need. They will know whether or not they are a good fit for your job based on that.

It has become this sort of “tactic” for clients to post jobs on a site like Upwork with the description saying something along the lines of “Apply now in order to learn more.”

Here’s the problem….

On these sites, it usually costs the freelancer something in order to actually submit a proposal. At the very least, it costs them their time.

On Upwork, I literally cannot afford to apply to your job just in order to “find out more information.”

If the information is not given up front, I’m just going to assume that the job is not a good fit, and then move onto the next one.

The bottom line…

Your job posting is not the place to be using these “curiosity” tactics that you learned from vague copywriting or marketing material.

Use your job description to describe exactly what it is that you need, and do not waste the candidates’ time or money by making them apply just to find out that their skillset doesn’t even match the requirements you set for the job.

The Final Mistake: Avoiding Long-Term Hires.

Out of the three mistakes, this is the least common, but there are still a lot of hires being made on freelancing sites that do not factor in longevity or development of both the freelancer and the client.

Clients are often heading to these sites, again, to find the best talent for the lowest price, which usually doesn’t work out all that well. Instead, you could benefit from looking for the freelancers with the most potential.

These sites could actually be a great place for you to go and build a team just like you would if you were actually hiring. Most people come to these platforms with short-term goals for short-term projects though.

Looking to have an intro video created for your YouTube Channel? That sounds like a short-term project that you would go to Upwork or Fiverr for.

Now, what if you are looking to actually hire a video editor or producer? Do you still go to these same sites? Probably not.

This is when you will be able to hire the top talent though. Give the freelancer some money and some job security, and it might help.

This also means that it might be a good idea to roll the dice with some of the newer guys.

These sites are commonly used by freelancers to try and get their start, and not by freelancers that already have a solid foundation. So when you are mostly finding people that do not have a lot of experience, that’s why!

This could benefit you as a client though because most of these freelancers know that they are new, and because of that they are willing to work for much lower prices in order to get their foot in the door.

If you take a chance on some of them, and actually want to see them develop and grow (and offer them the incentives to do so) you will probably find yourself in a much better position in the long-term.

Let’s Recap.

So clients, here are the mistakes that you need to avoid.

1. Looking in the Wrong Places for Talent.
2. Hiding Job Information from the Candidates.
3. Thinking Short-Term, and Expecting the Highest Quality.

If you can work your way around these mistakes, you will find that there is high-quality talent out there, and there are ways to attract it. That’s going to come at a cost on your own end though, and you should expect that.