My recent process for finding freelancers
Recently I was given a small budget to hire some freelancers to help with the large backlog of design tasks we have. Below are some of the steps I used to find the right people.
1. Posted on a design specific job board
I ignored the general job boards like workforce services, craigslist, hotjobs or monster. I went straight to authenticjobs.com, a very well known job board in the design community. My second and third choices would have been jobs.37signals.com and krop.com.
2. 30 seconds and three folders: Yes, No, Maybe
I didn’t read the emails I received. Instead I scanned them for a link to a portfolio. Obviously if there wasn’t a link to a portfolio I threw the email in the No folder. If there was a portfolio link I clicked through and could tell within 30 seconds of looking at their work samples if this was a Yes, No or Maybe.
3. First paid task is a test
You really don’t know what someone is going to be like and what their skill is until they actually do a job for you. So I would hand the freelancer I was considering their first task, paid of course, and the result would tell me what I was getting into. If the result was so-so I might ask for a second task and decide from there whether to keep them or move on.
