How do I find a freelancer?

find freelancers

These sites are excellent resources when you're seeking the right person for a project.

As your business grows, so does your need for talented workers. It can be a challenge to find the right people to expand your team, not to mention the budget to add them to your operations. Freelance workers offer your company the opportunity to work with talented individuals on the specific projects you need them for. You can keep your overhead to a minimum while also gaining access to the skill sets you need for the project to turn out perfect.

There are many websites available where you can find a freelancer who has the exact skill set you are looking for. To help get you going, we asked 12 entrepreneurs from YEC to weigh in on the best websites to find talented freelance workers. Here are their favorites.

1. LinkedIn, AngelList

"There are many websites to find talented freelancers. Oftentimes, we look to our own personal networks, and to LinkedIn and Angel.co, to find available and skilled freelancers who can handle a particular workstream or project. On these sites, you can find background information, testimonials and information about skill sets." 

2. Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr

"Outside of my own personal network of people I've worked with in the past, I tend to rely on websites like Upwork.com, Freelancer.com and Fiverr.com, in that particular order. I find that by being able to filter through candidates based on reviews, job success rates and other pertinent criteria, I'm able to zero in on the right candidates for an outsourcing job in order to free up my staff." 

3. Remote job boards

"Since we operate a fully remote company, we like to post jobs on remote-specific sites. Some of our go-to sites have been RemoteWorkHub.com and FlexJobs.com. We've had good success finding top talent whose No. 1 desired benefit is being able to work from anywhere."  

4. Craigslist

"It may seem old school, but many people are surprised by how effective outsourcing through Craigslist can be. It's one of my top three outsourcing sites. I've used it to successfully outsource writing, development, customer support and more. The key is to use early filters in your application process to cut down on the noise (like mentioning a keyword in the subject of their application)." 

5. Scripted

"It's a hit and miss when hiring content writers, and the entire training period takes a few months. All of this makes the content team pretty expensive to manage. We hire content writers from Scripted, which frees up a ton of management time, as well as helps us deliver more content without compromising on quality." 

6. Indeed

"Indeed provides access to some really good freelancers who tend to have more experience. It's been a very successful resource in terms of finding the right mix of skills for either remote or onsite freelance staff."