Technological progress requires professionals who are familiar with digital structures and are already working on standards for tomorrow. For example, working with specific software that is constantly being developed requires up-to-date expertise. This is where freelancers come in, who focus on a specific job and are always up to date. They are irreplaceable when companies need to handle specific tasks for which the staff has not been trained.
Are you looking for a suitable freelancer for your company? Are you a freelancer looking for a client with an exciting project? We show you some freelance platforms where both sides can find each other.
Development Freelancer Growth
Digitalization is making its way into more and more business processes. This creates challenges, because it often involves specialized applications for which the existing team of employees is not trained. This is where freelancers come in. They are specialists who work in a company on a temporary or project-related basis without being employed.
Freelancers usually have very specific knowledge, which is why an employment relationship is difficult for them to implement. They focus on specific work steps or projects. Once these are completed, they would have to be deployed in a company for other tasks to which they have no connection due to their specialization.
Specialized knowledge is becoming more and more in demand, because the world of technology consists of many work steps that are different in nature and yet must be coordinated with each other. If you work as a freelancer, you are a person who likes to find a specific field of activity and perfect your skills in this regard. For you, being an employee has no attraction for you. You prefer to specialize in one subject area and offer these skills as a service. Which is useful and lucrative, because digital apprenticeships can’t be created at the speed and complexity that technology is developing and changing.
KEY POINTS
- Digitalization brings challenges that often involve specialized applications for which the existing team of employees is not trained.
Freelancers are specialists who work in a company on a temporary or project-related basis without being employed.
- The average hourly wage for an IT freelancer is around 98€.
- Specialized knowledge is becoming more and more in demand.
Freelance Platforms From Freelancer Point Of View
Customer acquisition is important for every freelancer to get orders. Thanks to the Internet, this is much easier than it used to be, but relevant portals do not only provide advantages.
Various job boards offer you as a freelancer a platform to present and recommend your skills. You can offer your services worldwide via the Internet, which can secure you a large customer base if your work can be done digitally.
Many freelancer platforms also take over the billing, so that the bureaucratic effort is reduced to a minimum. However, as a freelancer you should watch out for hidden costs.
On freelancer portals, you always have to deal with a lot of competition, which may push the prices for jobs down. In difficult economic times, many clients give preference to offers that are cheap, although the delivered quality is sometimes debatable. You need stamina and, if possible, a unique selling point for your offers in order to stand out from the crowd.
In addition, as a newcomer on a platform for freelancers, you will quickly be overlooked if you cannot provide references. In this case, however, you should not resort to purchased references to convince your potential clients. It may take some perseverance to get the first orders. However, if you are convinced of the quality of your work, you will attract clients.
Freelance Platforms From A Company Perspective
As an entrepreneur, a freelancer platform offers you the opportunity to access services quickly and easily. Do you need a landing page to promote a product? Or does the company need a new logo? A better ranking of the website or should a flyer be designed? There are countless freelancers available for these jobs, you as a business owner just need to find the right person.
An advertised job usually brings enough applicants within a few hours. Since many more freelancers are registered on these special job portals than orders are placed, you can choose from a large number of freelancers. However, you should choose carefully, because the competence of freelancers is not tested everywhere in advance.
Therefore, you should choose a freelancer platform on which each provider can make his expertise visible and introduce himself with references. If evaluations are still missing, this should not be an immediate exclusion criterion. On request, sample work can certainly be viewed and with the help of written communication, the seriousness of a person can often be concluded.
Types Of Freelance Platforms
Freelance platforms offer different models of contact, dividing them into open and closed models. On open platforms, you communicate directly with the corresponding freelancer or provider of an assignment. The website can be accessed as long as the URL is provided on the portal. The communication takes place via the message function of the portal. However, it also works to contact the freelancer via their private mail address. As a freelancer, it is possible to register without providing proof of your services.
In contrast to open platforms, on closed platforms there is a third person who acts between the freelancer and the client. There is no need to provide personal data and communication takes place via the portal. Content.de, for example, is such a closed platform where no personal contact data may be exchanged.
If you register as a freelancer, you must upload your resume and submit work samples. As an entrepreneur, you can be sure on these platforms that you are really dealing with creative people who know their craft and deliver the best work. This model is financed by commission payments from the client.
Specialized Platforms
In addition to these two models, job portals differ in terms of what they offer. More and more platforms are specializing their offerings in order to bring clients and job seekers together more quickly and easily. This procedure also takes place with the offers for freelancers, whereby a distinction is made on the basis of corresponding specializations. On the Internet, for example, you find portals with offers for:
- Doctors
- Mourners and wedding guests
- Marketing specialists
- Copywriters
There are also platforms for IT specialists. For example, the IT freelancer platform ElevateX brings them together with suitable clients.
Freelance Platforms At A Glance
ElevateX GmbH is an IT freelancer community that makes it possible for customers to find and hire IT experts within two days. Qualifications and expert knowledge are ensured through ElevateX’s pre-qualification process. Therefore, you can be sure that you will get exactly the freelancer that fits your needs. Through the non-binding needs analysis, it quickly becomes clear which specialist is in demand, so that the problem with the IT skills shortage can be solved quickly and effectively through the German freelancer platform.
DasAuge brings creative people together with potential clients. Videographers for music projects, translators, WordPress developers, lecturers, copywriters, designers and many other professionals from creative industries are sought and found on this platform. Here you can also post requests for a permanent position part-time or full-time, many companies even advertise an internship this way.
The platform Fiverr offers services of freelancers partly for very low prices. On Fiverr, for example, you can have logos and images made for your T-shirt business, get support from a coach, commission translations, and receive help with editing videos.
As one of the world’s largest freelance portals, Fiverr offers standard access as well as pro access. Each service is paid for with a fixed price. In order for a customer to buy a service (gig) to be purchased, a direct debit authorization must be issued. After the implementation of the order, the corresponding amount is debited from Fiverr and transferred to the freelancer’s account.
As we all know, a picture says more than words. That’s what the founders of 99 Designs thought, too. Every day, they make sure that companies or private individuals can get suitable designs. You need a logo in a new design? Perfect business cards or an impressive t-shirt design? Then 99 Designs is the right place for you. On this freelancer platform, you can also get a book cover design or practice your freelancing skills in all kinds of design.
As an entrepreneur, you create a profile on UpWork in which you describe your project and specify the time frame. Based on these criteria, you will receive suitable freelancers. This recruiting can also be done by commissioning recruiters at UpWork to find suitable employees for you. There are no additional costs for this service and you can book it via the “Talent Scout” option.
What Does A Freelancer Cost?
The average hourly wage for an IT freelancer is around 98 euros. This hourly rate can also go up further if it is a larger, long-term or labor-intensive project. At first glance, this price may seem high, but as a freelancer you have expenses that need to be covered. You have to pay for your vacation or sick leave yourself. The health and pension insurance must also be financed from your income and the downtime for accounting, organization or research of content must also be financially compensated.
The adjusted hourly wage turns out to be much lower than expected. At first glance, it may look like freelancers are expensive for a company, but in most cases, a company drives cost-effectively. Since freelancers are only used for specific projects and are hired for a limited time, they cost a company less than a worker who is hired full-time.
Looking for a freelancer?
Conclusion
Freelancers will continue to be needed in the future and the demand for their services will increase. Every change in the digital world must be responded to with the help of specialized knowledge. Three-year vocational training courses cannot provide this knowledge, which is why specialists are increasingly in demand.
The chances are good of finding suitable specialists via a freelancer platform who can oversee a project and contribute expert help on specific issues. Although freelance work differs from traditional employment, it gives freelancers the opportunity to organize their daily routine as they see fit. This form of work is also the only way to ensure that a person can focus intensively on a single area of expertise and master it with perfection.
On every freelancer platform, you can find freelancers who provide their services for a fee. Many job boards integrate offers for permanent hires and freelancers.
Companies like ElevateX are among the service providers that specialize in a particular occupational group. In ElevateX’s case, it’s about IT professionals who want to use their skills for a limited period of time or for a specific project.
Freelancers can find offers on these specific platforms from which they can choose according to their needs and skills. Invoicing is often regulated via the platform, so that the bureaucratic effort is reduced.
Freelancers charge between 80 and 110 euros per hour. Since the amounts for state and private insurances are still deducted from this, this price level is justified and should not be undercut by the freelancer.
