Freelance work
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- CygnusZero4
I've been out of the freelance biz for many years. Unsure how to go get back into it... where to look. Any suggestions? I know a lot of people use craiglist so I'll probably try that. Any other good suggestions or tips?
- freedom3
Craigslist is for low-ballers. You'll compete with high-school kids and people overseas who work for $12 an hour and people who are terrible and try to charge $200 an hour.
The only good way to ever get any work is to know people and network.
- doesnotexist2
get someone you know to refer you to a good recruiter/creative staffing person. don't use craigslist. jump into linkedin.
- fyoucher10
A long time before I had any good clients I was scouring CraigsList, so I can't say that it's bad. I landed my first decent client from there a very long time ago doing Flash stuff for movies (Worked with one agency who was just starting out, folks from there left and went to another agency that was also starting out, so then I had two new clients, those agencies became really well-known in the industry, which then lead to networking with other big companies and ad agencies. And thats how things came to be for me). So CL definitely helped my career. Not sure how it is now and it may be bad. However, I'm sure there are the occasional good companies actually posting on there privately. Trying it out certainly can't hurt. Don't think because a company is posting on CL that it's a shitty company either. It's hard finding good people and company recruiters know a lot of people look on CL. There's also sites that allow you to search ALL of CL. So it's fairly easy to search and find opportunities.
Whatever you, don't use places like Freelance.com or Elance. You mind as well work at McD's and get free french fries.
Krop (here on the Qoob) is probably a great place to start as well. (cough)
As for recruiters, that's definitely the easiest option. There are a lot of recruiters out there. Just keep in mind the standard fee for them is to charge 50% on top of what you charge. If you're REALLY good, then they only charge 25%. They do the work of finding you the work with their clients, you do the actual work. Don't expect to make a lot of money though because companies are only willing to pay so much on top of the recruiter fees. You can certainly earn a living that way though. If you want to charge more...
The best way IMO, is to network with people that you have already worked with in the past. Let them know you're freelancing now and to pass the word around (perhaps even mention some sort of incentive to do so). Word of mouth is the best way to get work by far.
And LinkedIn is very good as well. Lots of freelance groups and you can also search for freelance jobs doing a search under the jobs section.
- recruiters can get you into places you couldn't have had access to by yourself tho, if you know your value you can work with that.doesnotexist
- craigslist isn't what it used to be for creative jobs that pay decent.doesnotexist
- bklyndroobeki0
I agree w/ the comments above.
I think it will certainly begin with who you know, so reach out to your networks and let them know you are available, that will create a buzz.
I wouldn't rule out CL, but you have to have a discerning eye. There are a lot of recruiters hiding out in there and some weirdness. If you don't mind a bit of spam...
indeed is really good too.
- Continuity0
Make and maintain relationships with the following:
• Independent headhunters for the creative fields¹
• Local advertising and design agency creative directors
• Local advertising and design agency traffic managers²Anything else like Craigslist is a waste of your time and energy. As mentioned above, you'd be competing with the worst of the worst for the worst of the worst clients and projects.
Also: industry networking events are a good source of possible new work.
¹ Recruitment companies (not single, freelance/indpendent headhunters) are generally to be avoided. For example, Creative Circle are well-known for being utter cunts, by forcing you into a job you don't want, and paying peanuts. Find indpenedent headhunters on LinkedIn.
² In many agencies, traffic managers are often the ones responsible for booking freelancers, so they're really nice people to get to know. In smaller agencies, account minders do this, as well, so it's good to get to know at least a couple of that lot.