10 Tips for startup’s hiring freelancers on Odesk, eLance or Freelancer

Leslie Barry

Leslie Barry

— 1 min read

If you’re a startup hiring freelancers on one of the popular freelancing sites, use this handy checklist to keep the quality high.

These are the top 10 things we do to help select quality, professional freelancers:

  1. Set up a Google Docs spreadsheet so that you can share information very easily.
  2. Post an ad on ODesk, eLance or freelancer.com and ensure the last line of the ad says that applicants should use the word “XXX” as their first word in their response. This weeds out generic responses. Delete ALL responses without this word without reading them.
  3. Put the ad up for 5 days and specify that applicants must have at least the highest level English. 4.5 in the case of ODesk.
  4. When looking at the responses, ignore how much applicants cost and look only at the last two reviews for their star rating.
  5. Respond to the matching ones, thanking them for their response and asking them to do a test relating to your project to check quality, accuracy, language use, etc. . Example: capture 10 results from a targeted website into Google Docs.
  6. Review these for accuracy. Decline the applicants who do not meet your criteria.
  7. If paying hourly, discuss what output or deliverables you can expect per hour so your expectations are aligned.
  8. Pick some responses and test this. See how accurate and fast they are (there may be a trade-off).
  9. Only give the shortlist your Skype details at this point as otherwise Skype will become flooded with connection requested that are hard to shake and an unnecessary overhead.
  10. It is best to work 1:1, as you can build a relationship with the freelancer. Check that the person you interview is the person that is actually delivering the work.
  11. bonus tip ;-) Hire them and keep the communication flowing.

Good Luck!

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