Hiring A Freelancer? 20 Questions To Ask

Marie Raperto, The Hiring HubHiring a freelancer can be helpful with your workload but identifying the right candidate can be difficult.  According to SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) critical areas to ask about include qualifications, communications style, performance expectations, fee structure and follow up.  The following are questions to consider:

1.  How much time do you have to dedicate to this project?
2. Do you have or anticipate having any competing projects while working with us?
3. How can you help our project succeed and do you see any obstacles?
4. What is the typical size of the clients you have supported?  Industries you have worked with?
5. Can you show us any samples that might be close in nature to our project?
6. What do you think of our current marketing materials/website?
7. How do you communicate with your clients?
8. If you thought you were going to miss a deadline, how would you handle it?
9. How do you measure and communicate results?
10. How would your past clients rate you in terms of your quality/volume, communications?
11. What percentage of your projects have ended successfully?  Talk about one that didn't?
12. What technical skills do you have?  Computer/Software etc?
13. What is your pricing structure?
14. How interested are you in working on this project?
15. How do you handle any intellectual rights that may arise ?

Freelancers can provide you with the help you need.  You just need to find the right one!