Monday, April 26, 2010

Get Hired: 15 Best Job Boards for Freelancers

Nowadays financial issues seem to be a common problem, with everyone complaining about what difficult situations they’re in and how they have no money. Freelancers face the same problem as all other people. Projects are fewer, payments are very low and the request for work is enormous. To help freelancers in their search for work, here is a list of opportunities for everyone.

1.48hourslogo

Pros:

Even if a quality logo requires a lot of time and work (including research, sketches and drawing) here a logo can be ready in 48 hours (but a competition can last as long as 6 days). A customer writes some lines about his project and the freelancers submit a jpg picture of their work. At the end the customer selects the winner which gives him the original format of the logo.They take a flat commissioning of 29$ for each project, which is paid by the client. The designer is paid via PayPal.

Cons:

Too few projects, this website and the concept itself are good but need some ads and promo.

2.99designs

Pros:

In my opinion this website is the best. Here the process is like the one at 48hourslogo. There are a lot of projects, the filters are perfect and the prices are high. Here you can find some of the best designers in the world. Also the blog gives you a lot of resources. A few months ago they started a new concept: a freelancer posts his work, a customer likes it and buys it. The freelancer then customizes the project depending on the demands of client. Interesting right? If you are the winner, then depending on which way of payment you agree upon ,it is possible you will have no fees to pay or in the worst case no more than 25$.

Cons:

The website is only for designers, I believe that this platform will be the best once it has jobs for developers too. I hope that the team of 99designs will read this article.

3.Coroflot

Pros:

In my personal opinion a place that allows you as a freelancer to present a portfolio is better than one without this feature. I listed Coroflot because of this option, even if it is useful only for designers.

Cons:

Many projects are only for developers.Another con: in order to post a job here you have to pay a lot (265$) and freelancers are free to bid.

4.Elance

Pros:

Elance is one of the biggest freelancing job’s website and there are a lot of jobs for everyone..They restrict the number of bids, depending on the type of account. Here in order to be a provider/client you have to pass an exam (few question about how to pay or how to be paid, how litigations are resolved etc). The fee of Elance varies from 4-6% plus 2,75% for the payment processors.

Cons:

The number of bids is restricted, which is generally a negative point but for such an important site I believe that restricting the access of amateurs is a plus.

5.Freelancer

Pros

This is a huge place with a lot of jobs. This website presents a great advantage: the jobs are from various domains as: websites, IT, mobile phones, writing, content, design, engineering, science, sales, and business. All the jobs are very clearly categorized so it is very easy to browse and find out what tasks you want. The pay is good, depending on the complexity of each project.. Freelancers need to pay 10% or 5$ of the total funds received and gold members pay only 3%.The system for employers is very variable depending on their preferences.

Cons:

On the downside there is no blog or collection of articles to help you in your activity as a freelancer (tips &tricks).

6.Guru

Pros:

This website has two ways of navigation: one for employers where they list all the freelancers available (they have also some good filters to find the appropriate ones) and one for freelancers that also has a good layout of their projects and a helpful assortment of categories. There you can find jobs in all fields; soon a blog will help you in your freelancing career on Guru.Freelancers are charged 5% or 10% of the project value, depending on their membership level (basic 10%, guru members 5%).

Cons:

As I was navigating as an employer I saw this title “world’s smallest price”. I believe that as a freelancer that is offensive, they could as well write this ”we have a lot of losers, come on!”. I understand the importance of publicity but morality is a must not an option. For freelancers they posted an interesting title “Be one in a million, not one of millions”.


Boards 7 - 15

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