If you are an entrepreneur, or you are entering the world of startups, you will realize something very quickly. Hiring quality talent is difficult and expensive. While startups and businesses, in general, fail due to a wide range of reasons, the inability to hire quality talent is one of the biggest reasons. If you need quality talent, but don’t have the budget to hire full-time, looking for freelancers may be the answer.

The freelance job market allows you to select the best talent and pay relatively low amounts to acquire their services. Keep in mind, however, that the freelance market is not without its challenges. In this article, we give you some tips for navigating these choppy waters and finding a freelance solution that works for you.

How to hire

How you hire plays a big role in who you hire and the outcome of that hiring. Some things that could go wrong include; hiring of unqualified people, time zone mismatch, language barriers and many others. Here are some points to follow to avoid these pitfalls.

• Requirements

First, write down your project requirements. Unlike a full-time employee who will be there while you figure out a path forward, freelancers require a highly specific project plan to get results. Determine timelines, deliverables, milestones, and any other details you can include in the project plan. General rule of thumb: the more detailed, the better.

• Budget

Next, set a budget. This is the most complicated part. If you’re recruiting with a blank check, you’ll get quotes from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. To properly gauge your budget, talk to a few friends and share budgeting ideas with them. You can also see what other clients are paying for similar projects. Consider setting a minimum and maximum to leave room for negotiation.

• Recruitment

Cast your net wide. Find as many quality freelancers as you can and invite them for an interview. What you are looking for here is availability. The best talent is useless to you if it’s not available. Once you’ve blocked several top-skilled freelancers, who have shown an interest in your project, it’s time to review.

• Check

Examine your previous projects. What did previous customers say? How were they rated? How many similar projects have you undertaken? Never take a freelancer’s word for their skills. Try them all to determine your skill level. Once you find one that works, interview the freelancer, and then get started.

where to hire

Now that you have a good idea of ​​what to do when hiring a freelancer, where do you find them? Here are some places to look.

• Main markets

Today, the top marketplaces where you can find freelancers include Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr, and Guru. The main advantage of going with these markets is the depth and breadth of talent available. The main challenge, on the other hand, is separating the wheat from the chaff. You will have to work harder to surface and hire the right talent for your project.

• Specialized markets

These are smaller niche sites like 99designs, Toptal, QuiGig – hire now, Matchist and others. These sites offer a better experience because they invest heavily in recruiting quality talent for their platforms, as well as value-added platform features. This makes it easy to get the best talent. One notable drawback is that they are often more expensive.

• portfolio sites

These include sites like Behance, Dribbble, Stack Overflow, and GitHub. On these sites, you have the opportunity to see in advance what the freelancer has achieved. The main challenge with these platforms is that they do not provide project management tools and it is often difficult to determine the authenticity of a portfolio.

• Social Platforms

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit also offer fertile recruiting ground. Most of these platforms have groups or communities of freelancers where you can go and post a job and receive proposals. While this is an easy option, you’ll be challenged to sift through the proposals and figure out how to move forward once you hire.

Hiring the best freelancers takes time and patient review and verification. However, a talented and reliable freelancer, once discovered, can add exceptional value to your project over time.