5 Tools Every Business Owner Should Use to Hire and Manage Freelancers

Businesses need great tools to hire and manage freelancers. As more companies continue to move towards hiring online, business owners are also discovering the challenges of managing people sitting on the other side of the world. Apart from the process being totally new, timezone difference and location independence is proving to be a major hurdle for companies who are total rookies at hiring freelancers.

Thankfully, companies recognize these obstacles enough to realize the need to start using specialized tools to hire and manage freelancers.  Many such tools have proven to be efficient, making online freelancer management as simple as managing hires onsite.

If you are new to online hiring, the tools below should help make things easier as you go through the transition.

1. FreeeUp

FreeUp is fast becoming one of the best online hiring marketplaces.  If you’re a business owner who’s hiring an online freelancer for the first time, you’ll find FreeUp to be a huge help in getting the best talent in the shortest amount of time.

The marketplace prides itself on helping you secure the services of the top 1% of international online freelancers.  With its rigid interview process, you’re assured that FreeUp has pooled the most highly skilled freelancers in the areas you’re looking to hire for.

FreeUp’s online hiring process is also known for its speed.  You can literally have someone working for you the next day after submitting your complete freelancer request.

More importantly, FreeUp offers you more options. If you want more than one, they can provide you with a list of freelancers that match your requirements and let you talk to each of them.  They also give you an immediate replacement in case the ones you chose don’t work out.

A typical scenario is that you submit your requirements today, for example.  FreeUp sends you a number of freelancers to interview for 15 minutes each. Once you’ve chosen the best candidate, you just hire them on the system and start talking to them about work.

That’s it!  The freelancer you hired should be able to understand exactly what you need and start working for you the next day.

FreeUp is the best marketplace to use if you’re hiring freelancers for the first time or transitioning to this kind of setup.  If you’re looking for additional tools to hire and manage freelancers, the FreeUp Resources page is also a good place to start.

2. Skype

When it comes to business, communication is always key.  You may soon be managing a pool of freelancers who are scattered around the world. It will become absolutely crucial to have this on your list of tools to hire and manage freelancers.

Skype provides a means of communication that fits the freelancer setup.  Right from the get-go, you’ll see who’s online and communicate with them either via chat, voice or video call. This is beneficial especially if you want to do a spot check or simply ask how everyone’s doing. This makes Skype one of the best tools to hire and manage freelancers.

You can also exchange files and hold video conferences with it, making collaboration feasible despite the distance.  You can also do screen sharing so you can explain things clearly.

Gone are the days when talking to someone from another country costs you a ton in telephone bills.  Technology has indeed come a long way.  All we have to do is take advantage of it.

Skype is excellent whether you use it on your PC or on mobile to keep the lines of communication always open. With a tool like Skype, differences in time and location become irrelevant.  It gives you the opportunity to properly manage online freelancers to produce good results and increase profit.

3. Asana

When you’re working with several people on multiple projects, it’s easy to get lost and lose track of who’s doing what and when it is due. While you can do it the old-fashioned way by writing them manually, it still doesn’t give you the bigger picture.

Efficient project management is critical to achieving business goals.  As a business owner, you’ve got to have control of your business by knowing each person’s responsibilities. This is something project management tools like Asana do for you.  It’s probably the reason why it’s one of the most sought-after tools to hire and manage freelancers.

With Asana, you’ll be able to track what people are working on, when it is due and what resource they use.  The best part is you’re able to see all of these on one dashboard, making things easier and well-organized. Each task is represented by a list where you’ll see who manages the project and which tasks depend on it.

It’s basically an overall view of what’s going on within your business that allows you to track performance and see where you are in achieving your business goals. This is a huge help. If Jared is working on your social media campaign, for example, you’ll be able to see that he is assigned to that task as well as the due date for it.

4. Time Tracker

As a manager, productivity is something you expect and need to find a way to measure. One problem with managing freelancers is you can’t tell if they are actually working, unlike when you work with colleagues who are onsite.  Not only are freelancers not in the same location, but freelancers may also work different hours than you do.  This brings us back to the question, how do you know if they’re working?

Thankfully, there are productivity tools like the Timeclock on the FreeUp platform. Such time trackers allow you to monitor online freelancer productivity even if you don’t work at the same times. You’ll still be able to validate claims even if a freelancer tries to game the system by logging hours without working.  All you have to do is compare the hours with the amount of output they provided.

The tool is useful in settling disputes because everything is recorded, ensuring that you get your money’s worth.  Time trackers are definitely up there as important tools to hire and manage freelancers.

5. Resource Guru

Availability is one of the major concerns when it comes to working with freelancers.  Their flexible working times and the timezone differences make it difficult for you to get a hold of someone to perform a specific task when you need it done.

Though you can easily agree on working times for freelancers, it still doesn’t give you that big picture. It also does not give you the advantage of automation.  This is something Resource Guru can provide.

Resource Guru gives you that huge dashboard where you can monitor everyone’s availability all throughout the week.  It also lets you filter who can work on urgent projects based on availability and skill, which comes in handy. If you’re looking for a Photoshop expert to help create mockups, you can create a custom filter within Resource Guru.  This will give you a list of freelancers who are available and possess the skills to take on that project. There’ll be a lot of these types of tasks as you go along, especially if your business is just starting out.

Having a scheduling tool like Resource Guru is a big bonus. The convenience it provides makes it one of the best tools to hire and manage freelancers today.

Bonus: TalentLyft

If you’re looking for a reliable recruitment software to help in your recruitment strategy and the building of your team, check out TalentLyft. You can also read a great article about 60 benefits of using a recruitment software to give you an idea of how it can help your internal operations.

Conclusion

There are several tools to hire and manage freelancers that you can get your hands on.  Most of them have competitors that perform the same functions of hiring marketplaces, productivity monitors, or communication tools. It’s not really a matter of using what’s ranked as the best or thinking that one is superior because it’s the most expensive. Rather, it’s a matter of finding the ones that you are comfortable with. In the end, it’ll be you and the freelancers who’ll be using these tools and benefitting from them.

Distance, location, and timezone is no longer an excuse for mismanaging remote freelancers.  You’ve already got technology on your side through these wonderful tools, so take advantage and leverage their power. While it can be frightening to try something new, at some point you have to go with the times.  The solutions are already there.  You just have to select what’s convenient for you and your business.

If you’re transitioning to working with freelancers or hiring for the first time, the following will help you identify which tools to hire and manage freelancers suit you:

• Write down the tools we mentioned above
• Research for 1-2 of these tools’ competitors and compare them
• Try them out (if possible) even for just a week
• Narrow down your choices and decide which tools to use
• Download and implement them in your business operations

If you’re interested in trying FreeUp’s services but want to know more before jumping in, you can set up a phone call with FreeUp by clicking here.

Noel Rosos is a personal development writer, motivational speaker, entrepreneur and founder of Life’s How You Live It, a personal development blog dedicated to helping people live the life they’ve always dreamed of.  He is also a writer/contributor for Arianna Huffington’s wellness site, Thrive Global.  He is an affiliate marketer, a full-time husband and father, and a self-proclaimed FAILUROLOGIST.