Learn from my startup’s mistakes — how to do freelance recruitment right
Ethical freelance hiring is the only way forward.
Changing our approach
Our journey started with conversations — lots of conversations. We spoke with our freelance members as well as startups who regularly used the platform to connect with talent. We explored their main pain points, experiences and challenges.
Early-stage startups felt that too many freelancers weren’t invested in their core mission and less than 10% had implemented an internal hiring process whilst the concept of diversity was simply not on their radar.
Freelancers spoke about how they were treated like outsiders, often left out of social events when working a contract in an office whilst only half of them said they felt confident talking about money.
Almost every freelancer we spoke to claimed to have been offered or had accepted unpaid work in the past, a statistic that reflected the survey we conducted for our #NoFreeWork campaign.
Many said they had entered ‘competitions’ on marketplace sites to compete for paid work and that they felt their creative work was looked down on as a ‘hobby’.
When we asked startups if they had ever posted unpaid work, those who had claimed it was a lack of industry knowledge to blame rather than calculated exploitation.
It was clear that the industry had problems and we all had a lot to learn. Freelancers felt dehumanized and undervalued perpetuated by job platforms that encouraged a race to the bottom. Startups, in an attempt to cut costs, took advantage of the cheap labor.
Having been a freelancer for a decade and a founder for 10 years, I know first hand that utilizing freelance talent not only enhances company diversity and productivity, but it also facilitates growth and development. Done right, freelancers can transform a company and in a COVID world where remote work looks set to stay, the role of freelancers is set to become even more important.
I wanted to bring this message to the masses, highlight the pros and cons and place it at the heart of the Freelancer Club’s mission. The result is what we call ‘ethical hiring’.
What is ethical hiring?
My team and Iare asking startups and freelancers to consider some basic principles when engaging with one another and provide companies with an option to hire freelance talent in a fair, unbiased, and ethical manner that never compromises on quality or cost.
For everyone’s sake, these are the basic principles you should follow:
Forward-thinking technology with traditional values
Innovative disruption sometimes looks back to move forward. I’m on a mission to redefine the freelance recruitment space and have developed products and tools to make ‘ethical hiring’ that bit easier. Using advanced tech, human insights, hundreds of hours of research, and traditional values, my team and I believe there is an alternative way to hire freelance talent and grow your company.
Story byMatt Dowling
Campaigner for the self-employed, speaker and commentator on all things ‘freelance’.Campaigner for the self-employed, speaker and commentator on all things ‘freelance’.
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