During the initial years of your startup, it’s easy to get by with just a few capable employees who can oversee all of your business operations. However, as the company expands, one may feel overwhelmed with the piles of work that need to be managed. It further increases the risks of errors and may negatively affect your business performance.
While it can be too time and budget-consuming to hire new employees, working with freelancers can help you solve your workforce issues quickly. Freelancers can easily come onboard, understand your vision, and help your company work much more efficiently. They can work on flexible timings and may help in getting your work done on time. However, while hiring freelancers is an intelligent solution to work management, it is good to consider some factors before committing.
If you want to make sure that you hire the right person for the job, keep reading. Below, we’ve discussed the top five factors to consider before hiring a freelancer.
- Plan an Official Meeting
Proper understanding of the organizational vision is often vital in shaping how employees carry out their tasks. Everything that your employees do should reflect your brand personality, product launches, marketing, customer services, graphic design, or more. Like every other businessperson, you would want to hire someone who can fit right in, like a piece of the puzzle, and make it easy for you to carry on with work processes.
An excellent way to see whether your freelancer is a good fit for the company is to call the candidate for a short meeting with the rest of the team. If you work remotely, planning your official meet-up at a coworking space would be an excellent idea.
Located in some of the best business districts, a coworking space is an ideal solution equipped with all the basic facilities that are required in an office setting. Self-employed individuals who don’t want to spend thousands of dollars for renting office spaces can consider coworking space as a budget-friendly solution for business meetings. Perhaps, meeting up with the candidate can help you assess whether he or she is the right fit for the company.
- Test Their Knowledge and Expertise
Another essential thing to consider when hiring a freelancer is their proactivity and enthusiasm for the job. Freelancers work on various projects at a time, so you want to ensure they don’t have your projects mixed up with someone else’s. The best way to ensure that you’re on the same page and that they understand your vision perfectly is by asking for their suggestions on a specific project that you already did before. A freelancer who actively engages within the discussion and provides meaningful suggestions can be a good choice, as it reflects his or her knowledge and expertise related to the job.
However, in case your prospective hire makes many queries, it is best to answer them clearly to ensure that the candidate has a firm understanding of your expectations with the work quality and management. That way, they can get a clearer picture of what you want and will later execute the job to your expectations.
- Discuss Work Schedule
Most freelancers work on different projects with different companies simultaneously and have hectic schedules. You may feel impressed seeing a freelancer working on various projects at the same time because it can say a lot about their skills and knowledge. However, these skills and knowledge are of no benefit to you if they are unable to focus on your tasks.
Freelancer burnout is undeniably real, and one of the biggest causes is freelancers taking on too much work. Before hiring them, be sure to have a clear picture of their work schedule, so you know if they can accommodate you or not. Most companies hire freelancers when they’re critically understaffed and need more hands-on-deck to reach essential deadlines. Being an employer, you should prefer
- Do Background checks
These are vital before you hire someone, be it a permanent employee or a freelancer. Testimonials from previous employers can be exceptionally useful in letting you understand your freelancer’s capabilities. You can get a holistic picture of how well they perform under pressure and their loyalty towards the company.
Through background checks, you can gather essential details, such as whether they played a significant role in the project or just worked on the sidelines. Furthermore, it’s essential to check whether they’ve worked with companies similar to yours before. If the answer is ‘Yes,’ then make sure to verify if they are legally bound to serve their previous employer. Since freelancers work for multiple clients, you need to ensure that the candidate is trustworthy and do not leak confidential information related to your business strategies or prospective clients to your competitors.
- Communicate All the Legal Issues
Most self-employed individuals have to face issues in terms of fraud or work theft. Since you are about to expand your business, it is good to hire your new employee through a legal process to refrain from any loss in the future. Try discussing the matter during your official meeting with the hires. Communicate all the conditions that your employee will be bound to follow. Also, make sure to have a legal document signed by the freelancer that states that the ownership rights of the overall work belong to the employer. Also, add details regarding the payment methods and the overall salary payable to the employee to develop mutual trust.
You can also ask the freelancer to sign a non-competition agreement to protect your business and financial assets. That way, freelancers won’t be able to cut you out at any cost.
Conclusion
Any company must work alongside employees who understand the brand vision and do their utmost to carry it forward. If you are facing a shortage of workforce, then hiring freelancers can be a lifesaver strategy for you. However, when picking new hires, consider the factors mentioned above to set yourself up for success.
