What are the first things you are looking at a freelancer/agency when you are hiring for a project?
As I gather more information for my next project, I got across the fact that freelancers/creators and also agencies are sometimes hard to curate and do a fast pick-n-match.
For those that had past projects that were outsourced, what were the first things that you looked at when picking the right candidate?
From my little research, I got that most of the time users pick by availability, pricing, and past projects ( portfolio ).
What are your picking choices?
In my experience, after being on both sides, there is a big difference whether you must choose between solo freelancer(s) or agency.
An agency in most occasions will have a salesperson who will be Responsive and will have Badges, Testimonial etc. However, this does not mean that the person to whom you speak too will actually do the job.
If your project requires a team and you don't know how to manage or don't have time for it then an agency is probably is a good bet.
A (good) freelancer, on the other hand , is usually quite busy and you will have to stand in a line to before he can start with your project. Building relationship with freelancer is essential and will pay off in a long run. Obviously, you need to ensure that your communication is on the same level.
Responsiveness - Send them something small to review, create or provide feedback, if you are down to choose between 2-3 agencies maybe make it paid. I can assure only 20% will return back a coherent response within timelines.
Take Tim - Dont decide in one call and some email exchanges - Have a few video calls and have a discussion, you don't want someone who is transactional or not willing to put the time to build that relationship
Reference Check - Do a call based reference check and don't stop at the email-based reference check
Responsiveness and responsability
tech stack, pricing, past projects, communication
By tech stack is it enough for the freelancer/agency to define the skills and on the past projects to list how it was made?
Yes and no. Some agency use many stacks. Some has preference. Some has specialty. I was looking for someone who specializes in 1 particular stack. I prefer to use some freelance/agency who has done many projects with that stack.
Trust is a big one for me. How do I know I can trust them with my time, energy and money.
What are trust factors besides reviews?
Proof of work. Testimonials. Recommendations from people I know.
That's the big one. We wound up with a few false starts until we started exclusively working from personal recommendations.