Five Unconventional Freelance Platforms
That are transforming the freelancing world
Times are changing, and traditional practices are fading away. In the past few years, freelancing has augmented popularity like never before over the traditional 9–5 job. The worldwide work landscape is disrupted due to the shift and transition of co-located employees to a remote setting.
Using a freelance website is an excellent option for those who are looking to earn some extra cash, who want to embrace the freedom of freelancing or for those who want to excel and gain more professional development.
Freelance platforms have altered the way professionals and companies operates. In fact, in the US alone 43% workforce is already spending some time working remotely in.
RELATED — What It’s Like to be a Remote Worker in 2018–19
As trends like the digital nomad lifestyle grow in popularity, Freelance platforms are without a doubt proving beneficial for both enterprise and individuals.
Implementing a freelance based system comes in handy when companies want to reduce overhead costs. It also boosts productivity as it is observed that freelancers and remote workers are more productive than in-house employees. It provides a wider section of the talent pool to choose from. Moreover, hiring freelancers provides you with the freedom to shift between different workers as needed and can part ways without any messiness.
On the other hand for freelancers, it provides them with an opportunity to work on flexible schedules, get rid of the daily commute process and have a perfect balance between work and professional life.
Freelance platforms are unquestionably advantageous for business and individuals. But the crucial question is — How does someone start freelancing? Well, to start it off you need a freelance platform on which you can register and connect with the prospect.
However, due to the abundance of both freelancers and freelance websites in the market, it becomes challenging to choose which one is best suited for you. You can always go for big shots but does these big shots actually provide the solution you are looking for? To make you familiar with some non-conventional freelance websites that offer some unique and distinctive feature we prepared a comprehensive guide. We compared and scrutinized and came up with top 5 websites that have some unique features that make them stand out.
Here are five freelance websites that have the vigor to remodel the freelance economy -
01. SimplyHired
Founded in 2003 by Gautam Godhwani, Anil Godhwani, and Peter Weck, SimplyHired is an employment website and mobile application and an online recruitment advertising network. After receiving funding in various Series Rounds, on July 01, 2016, Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd. announced that they have acquired SimplyHired but its webpage would continue to operate as a job search destination and become a publishing partner of Indeed. With the availability of a wider range compared to other freelance platforms, SimplyHired is perfect for everyone from programmers to construction workers.
What makes SimplyHired stand out?
A) Heterogeneity in Resource Pool -
It is hellishly difficult to beat SimplyHired when it comes to the pool of resources. From personal care to technology and construction to administration, SimplyHired has resources for all. The site lists jobs from over 24 countries in 12 languages.
B) Finding Talents Made Easy -
SimplyHired is a platform consisting of experts in various domains. The platform focuses on enhancing user experience and usability. In order to simplify the search for talents, the platform offers a tailored way to search on the basis of job title, skill, and company. Along with that users can also perform a location-based search if they are looking for freelancers in any specific location.
C) Salary Estimator -
Are you a novice freelancer just starting out in the freelancing world? Then you probably have one question lingering in your head–How much would I make by taking up a job? Would I be scammed or underpaid just because I am new?
Well, no need to fret anymore, with SimplyHired’s Salary Estimator (a unique feature) you can quickly get an estimate and learn about the salaries for any job by merely entering job title and location.
02. Guru
Founded in 1998 in Pittsburgh and acquired by eMoonlighter.com, with over 3 Million members worldwide and 1 Million completed jobs, Guru.com is a platform sculpted to connect and associate employers with the talented pool of freelancers from all around the world. Moreover, to make the transactions between parties easy and fuss-free, Guru also facilitates communication between the concern parties. The Guru Work Room lets you efficiently manage all your work.
Guru is perfect for freelancers, looking for good pay jobs in designing, writing, IT, marketing, administration, and other fields.
What makes Guru stand out?
A) Showcase Your Work -
Guru is one platform that lets you showcase your past work experience and provide you with the access to new jobs every day. Being provided with the past experience employers can make a detailed and impeccable decision.
B) Payments Made Safe -
With Guru, you can set up how and when payments will be made on your job in 4 arrangements –
* Pay by Milestones
* Pay by Task
* Pay by the Hour
* Pay Using Recurring Payments
But what really fascinating about Guru is SafePay. It doesn’t matter which arrangement you choose, SafePay is easy to use and gives you a simple and secure solution for payments. On top of the finest security, Guru also offers a way to automate your payments. And in case of any dispute where an issue comes up that you can’t resolve, Guru has Dispute Resolution Service available to all.
C) Simplified Onboarding and Job Posting -
Guru is focused on providing a relaxed and hassle-free onboarding and job posting experience. By leveraging above-the-fold content, Guru empowers the employers to quickly post a job for free right from the home page.
While creating a job post is free, but in order to augment the reach, Guru also offers a way to boost your job posting by paying additional. The advertised posts are featured on top of the search results.
03. PeoplePerHour
Founded in 2007 by Xenios Thrasyvoulou and Simos Kitiris, the company is headquartered in London. PeoplePerHour is a freelancing marketplace mostly aimed at bringing together people searching for services related to writing, web development, designing, social media, business development, etc. PeoplePerHour is empowering specialists across the globe to take on work that they love doing.
You can easily score both online as well as on-site freelancing gigs on PeoplePerHour.
What makes PeoplePerHour Stand out?
A) Management and Collaboration -
With PeoplePerHour you can kiss goodbye to all the inconveniences and struggles of managing and overseeing the project. The dashboard allows users to monitor all the information they need along with the necessary management tools. PeoplePerHour gives you a clearly marked inbox of tasks, structured threads for communication and simple, organized invoicing.
B) Secure Money Protection -
Unlike conventional freelance platforms, PeoplePerHour has an intuitive payment system that holds payments in an escrow account until work is considered complete by both parties. Moreover, employers using the marketplace are required to provide down payments at the beginning of the project.
In order to safeguard its users, PeoplePerHour has an Anti-Fraud Protection system in place. They monitor every transaction and has customer support specialists who help solve issues swiftly and promptly.
C) Pre-defined Job Posting Template -
PeoplePerHour has a pre-defined quick and easy form to describe the project. The website has an artificial intelligence system in place that does all the heavy lifting — matching and contacting the best freelancers for your project.
04. TaskRabbit
On number 4 of our list, we have a very special entry that is revolutionizing the way we handle our daily errands. Founded in 2008 by Leah Busque, the company has received $37.7 million in funding to date. Originally launched as RunMyErrand, in April 2010 Busque renamed it to TaskRabbit. In September 2017, the IKEA Group announced it would acquire TaskRabbit, which would continue to operate independently. IKEA launched a furniture assembly service from TaskRabbit in March 2018. TaskRabbit is a freelance platform curated to help businesses and individuals with their day-to-day tasks. From minor repairs and housekeeping to furniture assembly and delivery services, this same-day service freelance platform provides it all. It has over 140,000 vetted taskers that are proficient in their individual tasks.
What makes TaskRabbit stand out?
A) Effortless Transactions -
TaskRabbit is one of those websites that also offers a companion mobile app for choosing tasker right from the handheld devices. Users can choose from a variety of home services and provide details about the services required and TaskRabbit does its magic.
Select from a list of qualified and thoroughly vetted Taskers for the job. Choose Taskers by their hourly rate and start chatting with them right in the app.
When your task is complete, payment will happen seamlessly and securely through the app.
B) Vetted Resources -
What is one thing that you need the most from any freelancer? Quality right! “Quality wins over Quantity” It doesn’t matter if a freelance platform has millions of resources what really matters is the quality of those resources. But through TaskRabbit, you get resources which are thoroughly vetted and undergone a rigorous background and identity check.
C) TaskRabbit’s Happiness Pledge -
Trust and safety are TaskRabbit’s top priority. While all Taskers undergo extensive background and identity checks, it is still risky to grant access of your property to a stranger. To secure and safeguard your best interest and provide a peace of mind TaskRabbit covers up to $1 Million in property damage.
05. RemotePanda
Founded in early 2017 and launched at StartupGrind Global Event by Ayush Jain, RemotePanda is the pragmatic, prudent and organized way to outsource your needs. With RemotePanda’s concierge service it means you have someone to take care of your needs right from recruitment to hiring and throughout the project. This freelance platform set the KPIs for the work and builds accountability within the process for the remote worker. With RemotePanda, employers can enjoy the taste of managed remote teams with a success facilitator to oversee that all KPI’s are met.
What makes RemotePanda stand out?
A) Managed Remote Teams -
There are multiple platforms which offer freelancers and remote workers, what really makes RemotePanda unique is the fact that they provide managed remote teams and freelancers. What this actually means is that when you hire a freelancer from the marketplace, you get an additional layer of management that oversees the operation and productivity of that freelancer. Hence, reducing the burden of managing the freelancer and allowing you to unleash the full potential of the resources. Another notable thing is that resources available on RemotePanda are all vetted and interviewed thoroughly.
B) Success Facilitator and Quality Overwatch -
To ensure that users can leverage the full vigor of resources, RemotePanda assigns a Success Manager to every project. From effective communication to resolving any query success manager takes care of it all. Success manager makes sure that all the KPIs set at the beginning of the project are met.
C) ESCROW Billing System -
To begin with, when any user hires resources from RemotePanda he/she is provided with the seven day trial period where the employer can test the waters and check if the hired individual is the right match for his/her project.
Moreover, to ensure the safety of the clients RemotePanda adhere to an effective escrow billing system. This means that all the funds remain with them until the completion of the project. If for some reason, you are not satisfied with the work you receive, the issue is scrutinized and resolved, and the employer gets their funds back.
RELATED — Get to know the latest trends on remote work with “Remote Work Survey Report 2018–2019”
Conclusion:
There are multiple options to choose from, each with their own unique features and characteristics. It is solely based on your needs and requirements which you want to choose. In this list are a few options that are worth checking out if you are determined to go with freelancer for your project development.
Also, let us know what all other unconventional freelance platforms you know about which offer some unique feature.
About RemotePanda:
RemotePanda is a personalized platform for companies to hire remote talent and get the quality work delivered from our city Pune. All talents associated with us are close network connections. When we connect them with you, we make sure to manage their quality, their growth, the legalities and also the delivery of work. The idea is to make remote work successful for you.
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