How to use freelance platforms effectively?

Hi there! I recently asked the Indie Hackers community about the biggest pains they face when hiring through different freelance platforms. There were literally dozens of answers, and the post was even included in the IH newsletter, which made me realize that the subject is quite relevant. That is why I decided to summarize my own experience and the feedback I received in one post. So here are some key tips that help me and other Indie Hackers use freelance platforms effectively.

1. Choose the right freelance platform

Upwork and Fiverr may be industry leaders, however, they are not the only freelance platforms out there. The range of recruitment platforms today is greater than ever, so it makes sense to explore several options before finding what works for you. Besides, if you are looking for talent in one specific field, small niche platforms can be a much better fit. Here are just some platforms you can try recommended by fellow IHs:

1. Toptal - technical talent and business experts, pricey, but high quality
2. freelance.com - one of the major competitors of Upwork
3. Digifloat - an emerging platform for 3 types of talent: content writers, designers, and web-developers
4. X-Team - freelance teams of software engineers
5. Freemance - Cuba-based freelancers, affordable, but decent talent
6. Reddit - can be a great place for hiring (and free), for instance, check r/Jobs4Bitcoins

2. Develop an effective filtering process

On the one hand, the range of freelance platforms gives clients a wide selection of specialists for every budget and taste. On the other - it makes the screening process overwhelming. Finding your ideal candidate among hundreds of applicants can be time-consuming and simply exhausting. Today a lot of freelancers mass-apply to dozens of jobs without checking if they actually fit their skills and experience. Besides, almost every freelance platform has its own share of bots and scammers.

So what can you do to save your valuable time and get quality talent?
1. Include hidden magic words
in your job ads for candidates to mention in their cover letters. This can help you weed out bots, scammers or unreliable freelancers who don’t bother to read the job description.
2. Give small paid test tasks to top candidates to see if their skills match your requirements.
3. Use AI/automated recruitment platforms.
They can save your time and money by taking care of the screening process and help you ‌make the final decision. I’ve been working on a solution that makes hiring easier but doesn’t cost a fortune.

3. Create an enjoyable candidate experience

It is important to remember you are not the only one who is filtering your options. Ensuring a pleasant candidate experience is key to attracting top talent and improving your employer's brand. If your hiring process is respectful and engaging, applicants will more likely be eager to join your team and do their best to succeed. What is more, they will share their positive experience with friends (or online), increasing the number of potential candidates for your next open positions. If you already know a high-performer, getting referrals is often easier than starting from scratch.

Here are a few tips on how to make sure your jobs are popular among applicants:
1. Write a clear and interesting job spec.
Always highlight your key expectations and requirements, but don’t make it sound too imperative.
2. Make the screening process exciting
Gamification is one of the top recruitment trends of 2022. By testing the applicants’ skills in an engaging way, you can filter the top candidates effectively, while improving your employer's brand. Using recruitment chatbots or gamified screening tests is usually the easiest way to achieve this.
3. Never “ghost” your candidates
That is probably the most common complaint among freelancers. If you know the candidate is not a good fit for your company, take a bit of your time - and notify them about that. A candidate that is not a good fit for your current role might be perfect for you in 1 year, so keeping a good relationship often saves you time in the long run.

In summary, effective hiring on freelance platforms requires a thorough and creative approach to the screening process. This takes a lot of time, of course. However, you can both speed it up and make it more efficient by using one of the emerging AI recruitment platforms. The startup I am building has developed a platform, designed to make the hiring process easy, fast and bias-free. Check us out at https://rekruit.net/ and let us know in the comments if you'd like free beta access.