7 Ways to Hire a Freelance Software Developer

When trying to hire a freelance software developer, we sometimes do not know where to start. Of course, you need to have the project requirements ready and have a plan for the screening and interviewing rounds, and even find the right people to evaluate the candidate based on these tests and interviews.

But your struggle only begins there. There’s still a question – What channels can I use to hire the right freelancers for the job? Here are 7 ways to find the right freelance software developers for the job.

Hire a referral

A referral is one of the best ways to add the best talent to your team. If you already have someone on the team who is a great asset to you, then all you need to do is add more people like him/her. And the best way to do this is to take their word for it and add more people whom they know.

Why are referrals a good step forward when trying to hire freelance software developers for your team? First, they would most certainly be a good cultural fit, which is very important to get the work done without too much hesitation or confusion.

Second, the freelancers hired in this manner would have an extra sense of responsibility as they have been referred by someone and the incentive that they could earn something can make them stay on in the company.

Vetted tech talent networks

Vetted tech talent networks. The name does sound a bit confusing, does it not? It can be, especially when you are trying to recruit a software developer and someone in your HR team throws the name. But it can be one of the best avenues to hire a freelance software developer, for several reasons.

Here are some benefits of hiring from vetted tech talent networks:

1. Freelance software developers are evaluated on several parameters, so they would have the necessary technical skills, logical reasoning and communication abilities that set them apart from the rest.
2. In-house hiring experts ensure that you get the best freelance software developers by conducting screening rounds where they pose written technical examinations and through interviews with qualified experts.
3. The talent networks also check for a cultural fit so that the person hired is a good fit for your company.
4. Any tasks related to hiring will be handled by the talent network experts, which includes preparing the contracts and submitting the invoices etc.

Gighees is an example of a vetted talent network that allows companies to hire IT freelancers. It enables the listing of freelancers by category of development and all the testing and vetting is taken care of by experts in our company.

Pure freelance marketplaces

Many marketplaces cater to the needs of freelancers. You can find some great software development freelancers there. Some of these marketplaces are freelancer.com, Upwork and Fiverr. These marketplaces allow companies to directly get in touch with freelancers but they, though satisfying basic eligibility criteria, are not vetted by any hiring experts, which might induce doubt in the minds of the companies hiring them.

This means that even after the freelancers are assigned their jobs you might need to do a trial run to be convinced they are the people you want to hire for the job. And if it is a job with a small turnaround time, this could quickly become a problem that is not manageable.  

Online tech forums

Find a great person and wish they would work with you, only based on a solution they have offered someone else or through an article or any other thought piece they have written. Seems like a good idea at first. But this quickly can become a very difficult endeavor, especially if you are trying to hire someone with specific skills.

How do you know that the person is not just someone with a way with words? He/she could be a brilliant writer and exhibit great thoughts on paper but may be shallow when it comes to more deep concepts that require experience in actual real-life projects.

Dev shops/ Staffing agencies

Staffing agencies are companies that meet the staffing requirements of their client companies. So typically, the client approaches the staffing company with a requirement of x number of freelancers for a particular project and the staffing agency onboards the freelancers on their payroll and then continues with the project that the company needs them for, sometimes even training them for it. This means that if you decide to approach a staffing company, you pick one that is experienced and knows how to handle their people and other resources efficiently. Go by reviews and reputation revealed by word of mouth too. Testimonials matter a lot in the case of a staffing agency. Alp Consulting is a great staffing agency that also takes care of payroll and compliance.

Job Boards

Job boards such as LinkedIn and Indeed also help you hire software development freelancers for the role of your choice too. And the best part about LinkedIn are the choices it gives you in terms of targeting candidates in a certain geography or region, a particular skill set and based on keywords that you think are relevant for the role.

You can hire both regular employees as well as freelancers for the role. But what may be lacking in LinkedIn on close inspection is the expertise of a third party who vets the candidates and assigns only the best to a particular job, the convenience you have with a vetted talent network or with a staffing agency. A vetted talent network is even more targeted than a staffing agency, giving you a still greater advantage. Though it must be said that of all the job boards, LinkedIn stands out as it is a talent management website by itself.

Google Search

Want to rely on plain old Google search? You can do that as well. Google can direct you to websites of job boards that will have candidate profiles or even directly to websites created by the freelance software developers themselves to serve as a portfolio. This can be remarkably fast and get you profiles in a matter of a few minutes.

So, is there a problem with his approach? You may not get the profiles you should really target. You might get profiles that are overqualified or underqualified, as you cannot be a good assessor of how good the candidate is, based simply on Google results. If it is a site verified by Google, then all is well, but what can one say of the person behind the website or the listing offering their services. Nothing concrete, and that is precisely the problem with this approach.

Don’t go wrong when trying to find the right person

So many things can go wrong when you try and find the right person. Sometimes the person is reluctant to join you because you don’t enough value to their profile, or the communication isn’t right. Sometimes you don’t want the person because of some miscommunication or misalignment with your goals, which could be a result of inadequate research on your part.

You need a vetted talent network or a premier staffing agency to overcome this roadblock. We know because we have helped so many of our clients steer round such roadblocks, help them stay the course without too much trouble and helped them reach their goals on time. Well, seeing is believing, but it all begins with a bit of belief. Pick up the phone and call Gighees when you are ready to talk freelance hiring.