If your company is growing, you are likely considering adding workers to your team. And anytime you build your team, it’s critical to find and hire workers with the skills and knowledge necessary to help move your company forward — not hold it back.
Bringing in freelancers allows you to assign projects to individual workers who possess the specific expertise required for those projects. However, if you simply hire the first freelancer you find, you could set yourself up for disappointment. And if you don’t take steps to keep your workers happy, you could end up losing their services. Here are some simple tips for ensuring you land and keep the best freelancers for your company.
Explore Temp Agencies
Forming a team of freelancers that you use regularly is a great way to get quality work done while saving on overhead. However, you can also hire freelancers for specific projects that come your way, even if you don’t have any plans to use their services afterward. If you need to fill a role in the company temporarily, going through a temp agency can be a good move.
According to Wonolo, a good temp agency will evaluate your needs and put you in contact with great candidates for the job. Also, an agency will cover all the HR work, such as screening and reviewing candidates so you don’t have to worry about vetting anyone—which comes in particularly handy during busy seasons. Moreover, there’s an incentive for agencies to deliver reliable workers since they must fulfill contractual agreements.
Conduct an Interview and Trial Period
Whether you use a temp agency or other resources, such as a job board, you will want to make sure any candidate you’re considering is a good fit. As you would with a potential employee, conduct a thorough interview that helps you get to know the freelancer. Acquire information about their experience, skills, favorite types of work, and so on. Also, use the interview to share details about your company and the kinds of projects the candidate can expect.
Once you’ve conducted a successful interview, consider giving the candidate a test project or hire them for a trial period. This will allow you to see their capabilities in action within the context of your company. If the trial project/period goes well, you may have found a quality worker to bring onto the team in an expanded capacity. If it doesn’t go well, you can pay the freelancer for their work and continue looking for the right candidate.
Transcribe Your Meetings
Communicating well is among the most important elements of maintaining a team of happy remote workers. It’s essential that each team member stays informed on projects, team meetings, protocols and so on — regardless of whether they’re in the office. One way to accomplish this is by having team call notes transcribed, which you can provide to freelancers who need the information. The good news is that you don’t have to hire someone for this task; automated speech-to-text transcription services are an efficient way of sharing call notes. Just remember that in order to get the most accurate transcript, your audio should be as clear as possible with limited noise in the background.
Include Each Worker in Company Culture
Lastly, do what you can to enact company culture within the whole team. This may be challenging when you have several remote workers, but it’s essential nonetheless. Be sure that each team member is familiar with the company’s mission statement, core values, and processes. Using collaboration tools is a great way to keep everyone connected, as is scheduling in-person team events once a year.
Hiring freelancers could be a gamechanger if you go about it the right way. Look into temp agencies if you need someone to handle a specialized project, and conduct good interviews and trial periods for each candidate you’re interested in. To help the team stay informed and connected, consider using a transcription service, signing everyone up for a collaboration app, and scheduling an annual company event. Following tips like these will help you obtain the right freelancers for your company and keep the team thriving for the foreseeable future.
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