Hiring freelancers can be a daunting experience especially for startup founders. It is however important to dip your toes into the talent pool out there, have the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and pivot before committing to a full-time staff member who may not work out.
New entrepreneurs can test drive the hiring process by working with freelancers to cover numerous functions. To successfully hire your first freelancers, here are a few steps to guide you.
Create a Clear Job Description
Create a human resources document and outline every position you need within the first year of your operations, clearly describing the job and experience level needed.
Work with an Advisor
Reach out to a Human Resource mentor or advisor to share their expertise and experience. They could share articles, decks, and even contract templates to help guide you through the process.
Source Your Talent
There are many ways to source your talent. You can ask your network, work with a freelancer agency, utilize Linked In etc. Start by posting your job with a clear description on these avenues .You can also meet potential candidates at industry specific locations.
Interview the Candidates
This is to thoroughly explain where you are and where you want to go as a company over the next year and to help them understand their role in this. Curate a list of questions for this purpose.
Alert the Chosen Candidate & Sign Paperwork
After the interview process, you have an idea of what candidates best suite your needs, so reach out to them and get your paperwork done. This is also the stage where, if needed, candidates sign any freelance or non-disclosure agreement paperwork.
Start Work & Review Early Performance
Understandably, it may take a few days for both of you to get into the groove of working with each other but that gets easier with time. In the beginning you might have to do a few reviews here and there.
In the end, building a team is all about combining skill sets while keeping each other within boundaries in order to create the best product possible.
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