How To Hire on Upwork

I hire a ton of freelancers – several every month. So, in this video, I'm gonna share with you how I do it. Hey, everybody. I am Robyn L. Garrett. I own my own business, and I'm the author of Happy at Work and Be True to Yourself, the Personal Values Workbook. 

Using Upwork has been really successful for me and my business because of the quality, the flexibility, and the speed. Now, if you've never hired a freelancer before, it's essentially like hiring an independent contractor, not an employee. I hire them for usually temporary projects, but they could be full-time or part-time. Unlike a salaried employee, you pay independent contractors either by the hour, the task, or the project.

A lot of times, these are short-term assignments, but for me, if I really like working for someone, I'll hire them again the next time that kind of project comes along. In my business, I hire freelancers for graphic design, project management, IT, content creation, and lots of different types of tasks. It's flexible, which allows me to complete all of the work while staying within my budget. 

Upwork is my personal favorite contractor platform because of the quality of the talent.I always get a wide variety of applicants for each of my jobs, which allows me to find exactly what I'm looking for. Now my business offers services and we build technology, but freelancers can be used in all different types of businesses. 

If you don't already have an Upwork account, you will need to create one. The process is free, and it's very easy. Once you're in, you can post a job really quickly using Uma, Upwork's mindful AI. That allows me to post up to 70% faster. Honestly, it's the easiest job posting platform I've ever used, and I have used them all. The AI reminds me to include little details that I may have forgotten or things that I might not have thought about. 

So, let's say, for example, that I start writing what it is that I'm looking for. It's a graphic designer to create 2 new brochures based off of existing design materials. The AI walks me through the rest of the job creation process. I'll go in, I'll make a few tweaks, and I'll make sure that I'm being as clear as possible.

I want freelancers to understand what I'm looking for and what the final deliverables are. That allows them to include details in their proposals so that I can make the right decision on who's the best person for the job. 

Now, sometimes I skip the job post and I actually go to the project catalog. I do this when I'm looking for something that's very standardized. I can go in and browse a bunch of projects that have a fixed price. That helps take the guesswork out of budgeting, timeline management, and knowing what skills I'm looking for for that job. 

Now I'll tell you my favorite thing about posting on Upwork, which is that the job proposals start to come in right away. I've even had cases where I was able to hire the same day, which is great because sometimes projects come along that are either unexpected or need to be completed quickly.

We've all got deadlines to meet, so sometimes, when I'm in a hurry, I'll go in and use the quick invites feature, and that helps me find potential matches. When I'm writing to choose a proposal, I usually start with those that have the Best Match label. Best Match Insights is another feature that's powered by Uma, Upwork’s mindful AI and it helps me look for candidates that have the right qualifications for my job. It'll even highlight relevant reviews and help me identify areas that I may wanna investigate further.

So I do a lot of interviewing, and if I'm being totally honest, I find it to be kind of an exhausting process. Fortunately, Upwork has everything built into the platform, so I do not have to keep track of multiple trackers, communication platforms, calendars, all of it. Generally, I like to start with a chat. So, I'll go in and confirm that the person understands the project, and then we'll start coordinating for a potential interview. We'll schedule either an audio call or a video call, and that's something I always coordinate in advance so that nobody is surprised.

As I meet with each person, I always take notes so that at the end of the process, I can compare and select the very best person for the job. Once I've made my selection, I go in next to their name and I click on Hire. That will send them the contract offer within just a few seconds. And that's it. Once they go in and accept the offer, we are officially ready to get started.

So now I'm ready to get this project rolling, right? I go into messages, and it's time for me to share more details about what I'm looking for. I'll share my project brief, examples, and any specific directions. 

Now there are other things that I can do in here. I can share Loom screen recordings. I can schedule a video or an audio call. I often do a lot of video calls because then we can screen share, we can take a look at the work together, I give my feedback, and they can ask me any specific questions that they have about the piece. So as my project continues, I go into my dashboard, and that's where I can manage all of the projects that I have going on right now. I usually come in here a couple of times a week, either from my laptop or from the mobile app, and I can review drafts, check on contract status, and close out any contracts that have finished.

Honestly, that's pretty much it. I hope that you choose Upwork for your next freelancer hire, and don't forget to subscribe to this channel for additional tips and tricks for how to hire on Upwork.