With 38% of the workforce freelancing in some capacity, the chances that your business can benefit from hiring a freelancer—whether to take on that extra load or to provide a service nobody else in your company can—are high. When it comes to hiring the perfect freelancer for the job, you need to understand how they can help your business and provide you with the best results.
Finding a freelancer with the right experience, available time schedule, and required skills will take some effort on your part. You will need to have a thorough interview and ask the right questions to ensure they meet your standards.
To make sure you find the right person to partner with, 12 entrepreneurs share the most important questions to ask freelancers before you hire them for a job.
Q: What's the number one question you should ask freelancers before you hire them?
1. What makes you proud?
I always ask them, “What is the project you are most proud of and why?” We appreciate original thinkers who take initiative and have conviction in their work, lives, and ideas. We like to get to know them to see if they would really commit to our vision and business. This allows us to understand them better and really get to the core of their motivation and inspiration. —Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs
2. What is your level of expertise?
When I first meet with a freelancer, my objective is to determine their level of expertise and ensure they are a good fit for my team. Although they are not employees, if their values do not line up, I will not work with them. To gauge expertise, ask about similar projects they've worked on and have them explain their approach. Do research beforehand to ask their opinion on various relating techniques. —Ryan Meghdies, Tastic Marketing
3. How would your last client rate you?
It's good to have a user quantify their performance and then make them back it up. I find that it makes a freelancer reflect on their project with a more thoughtful answer. Plus, you can cross-check their answer with the reference they provide. —Jim Huffman, GrowthHit
4. What have you done before?
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, so first look into their past. A quality freelancer will have a strong portfolio of previous work showcasing their skills. Make sure you're happy with the work they've done for other clients before considering them for yourself. —Robert Swisher, Frendli
5. How do you deal with unhappy clients?
I always want to know what will happen if I don't get what I expect, or if I'm not satisfied with an end product. I ask them to tell me about a time they had an unhappy client and what they did to fix it. If they start complaining about the customer for wanting something a particular way, I've got my answer. —Ajmal Saleem, Suprex Learning
6. What are your rates?
When we hire content writers, we need two things in order to add them to our preferred vendors' list: samples of their work and rates. While we understand keeping your rates close to the chest at first, we do need to know those things eventually to move forward. If freelancers won't even give us a range, it's difficult for us to consider them for a project because we cannot quantify their value. —Claire Winslow, Best Practice Media
7. How deep is your understanding?
I always look for how deep a freelancer (or any employee for that matter) understands the problems and goals for which we are hiring them. If they can't talk about the results that we can expect, or if they can't talk in depth about how they will manage the particulars of the project, then they are definitely not the right fit. —Tony Banta, Venture Greatly, LLC
8. What are your career goals?
After vetting their background, experience, portfolio, and soft skills (execution, dedication, commitment, deadline focus, etc.) I like to really assess their personality based on how they respond to situations. I find that some of the best hires are “humble pie” about their backgrounds, and vice versa, some of the worst hires talk the talk but don't walk the walk. I also like to find out their career goals. —Angela Delmedico, Elev8 Consulting Group
9. What is your honest availability?
I like to approach this through two to three differently phrased questions. It's important to know if they really do have the bandwidth for your project. There are a lot of freelancers who will take on additional work even though they're already maxed out. If they don't have ample time for your project, you can be pretty confident that you'll run into several roadblocks with that freelancer. —Zack Hanebrink, HookLead
10. What does your dream project look like?
I've found that people enjoy working on projects that align with their skills and passion, so understanding the dream scenario for a freelancer allows our internal resources a chance to better understand an ideal path towards collaboration. Through a fairly open-ended question, we're able to dive deep into experiences, personality, and professional preferences. —Justin Moodley, LASANAN
11. Do you have any questions?
I will normally ask a freelancer if they have any questions about the project to get a feel of whether they understand what the job entails. You can tell by the questions they ask if they “get” what you're trying to accomplish. —Bryan Driscoll, Think Big Marketing, LLC
12. What is your preferred method of communication?
After I identify that an individual may have the skills and expertise to contribute to our workload, I always ask their preferred method of communication. By understanding how they work and communicate best, I can see if they will fit into our culture/process, as well as understand how best to support their way of working. —Ryan O'Connell, Boomn
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