Hiring freelancers online are easier than ever. You can find them through the power of your very own fingertips. Some of the most famous freelance websites like Upwork, Craigslist, and Elance, among others let talents create and display their profile for clients and employers to see. You can assess each individual by the previous projects they’ve accomplished or the ratings they earned from previous clients. However, don’t be too complacent because numbers and reviews can be deceiving.

False Understanding of the Remote-work Set Up

If you are looking to hire a professional for your ongoing projects, it’s important to consider both soft skills and hard skills. Balance is everything. To be fair, freelancers have more edge compared to their office-based counterparts for most parts. However, they, especially those who are new in the scene, can have unrealistic expectations of working from an independent location. There’s a possibility of incompetence when these expectations are not set straight.

Some companies allow their remote workers to report at their convenience as long as they render a certain number of hours per day while some work synchronously, following a specific time zone. This can be a downer for those who need to work late hours and may lead to incompetence in the virtual workplace. There are also instances when they fail to manage their time efficiently. For most cases, this can happen when they are dealing with different clients all at the same time

In addition, distractions are ever present and your freelancer should have a great deal of discipline in dealing with this problem. If you are one of those clients who let your remote team member work on their preferred time, you may encounter someone who starts work too late and set a meeting schedule would be too hard to set up. These situations may sound dragging but the key is to negotiate well enough to achieve a mutual understanding between you and your future freelance partner.

Freelance Websites’ Responsibilities

Setting up a profile is free. Upon visiting any freelance platform, you will encounter many names from different parts of the world, volunteering themselves to do the work for you, sometimes at a bargain. With that in mind, you should be very careful when finding a freelancer online.

In the quest to finding the best candidate, it’s not just you and the candidates. These websites should also be involved in helping you in recruiting only top talents for your industry. This is where their responsibility as a freelancer’s platform comes in.

Freelance websites should ensure that all claims of the individual posted on their platform are real and accurate.
To guarantee skills, these websites should give an assessment that will prove a candidate’s knowledge and skills
Securing that every client who will get a talent from their website is capable of paying the amount they pitched

Most well-known freelance websites have a disclaimer regarding their listings of both talents and clients which says that they are not in any way involved in case something unfortunate happens between the two parties. This has to change given that some of these websites are charging both parties a processing fee on all payments made within their platform.

Before anything else…

Before offering a contract, take note of these negative attributes that may be hiding behind a candidates’ fancy resume, impressive portfolios, and overpromised can-do attitude.

  • Slacking off
  • Underperforming
  • Compromised quality of work when they juggle multiple projects
  • Job hunting while working on your current projects
  • Surfing other sites not related to work
  • Failing to follow deadlines
  • Claims of skills they don’t really have

Meeting Halfway

There should always be a clear agreement between the talent and the client. How do you connect to someone you just met over the internet? Sure you have to invest trust and confidence that the person you will be working with will meet you halfway to create a team of awesome remote workers. There are three ways to establish a harmonious relationship between you and a freelancer.

1. Contract – this may be a tedious job but this piece of (electronic) paper serves a very important role in establishing your ground rules. This is where you will indicate all your conditions of working together. You let the talent read your demands and encourage them to ask every question they may have. The contract may include their rate, your required working hours, and company policies.

2. Communication – Communication is key. Remote companies often communicate informally but still in a professional and respectful way. Using emoticons is a cool way to lighten up your messages especially when it’s hard to guess the mood based on chat messages. Occasional video calls can help to help your remote team see each other once in a while. Don’t be afraid to crack some joke and bring some fun during your talks!

3. Collaboration – Collaboration tools are up online for free. These tools help your team keep up with current projects and updating everyone with the status of each. Make sure to keep key people involved and provide essential feedback for every work done.

At HOPLA, we treat everyone like a family. We make sure to introduce the right person that possess the qualifications that clients need. Our awesome team of home-based professionals aspires to help businesses grow by providing the right employee fit for the position. We believe that while technology is a great advantage for companies, some processes just require the human touch.

Not a freelance website, HOPLA works magic by finding only skilled candidates, filtering them through a series of tests and interviews to make sure they are what they claim they are. These freelancers receive a fair commission per project. We don’t advise them to lower their rates for clients to bargain. When they don’t have to worry about competition, work quality is ensured.

HOPLA provides managed outsourcing from recruitment to onboarding. We pride ourselves with hands-on management that delivers great results and high-quality work. Bringing a freelancer and a client to work together harmoniously is our definition of success. Curious enough to learn more about managed outsourcing? Give us a call today!