We’re going to show you the best way to hire a freelancer in the Philippines. We will give you actionable steps to make the best choice of candidates.

We will show you where you can find these candidates and how to avoid hiring the wrong candidates.

Pick the most suitable freelance company for your project. There are a lot of companies out there so it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Most of them have both clients and freelancers from all over the world so you could get a suitable freelancer from the Philippines from literally any of them. To help you choose a company we’re going to give you our top 5. All have sections especially for Filipino workers.

1. Upwork .This is our first choice because of the range of jobs they cover. You can get almost any type of freelancer from here.

For example, they have freelancers in web, mobile, and software, engineering and architecture, IT and networking, data science and analytics, design, writing, translation, legal, administrative support, customer service, sales and marketing, and accounting and consulting.

They also let you hire agencies with freelancers on their books. This can be helpful if you have a large project and need lots of freelancers.

2. Raket is our second choice because it only employs freelancers from the Philippines.They supply freelancers working in art and multimedia, information and technology, business, finance, and legal, lifestyle and entertainment, writing, and education.

3. Freelancer. Most jobs advertised here are related to IT projects and IT counselling, but you can also find freelancers in communication, marketing, translation, journalism, and writing.

On this site freelancers bid for the jobs and it’s up to you to choose what bid suits you. It is not necessarily the best thing to choose the lowest bidder as they might have to take on more jobs to make ends meet.

4. Truelancer. They specialise in IT and programming, graphic design, writing and
translation, data entry and administration, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, customer support and service, social media, and mobile applications. They specialise in certain countries of which the Philippines is one.

5. Guru. Here you can find freelancers in programme and development, design and art, sales and marketing, writing and translation, engineering and architecture, administrative and secretarial, business and finance, and legal. This site, like Freelancer, has freelancers bidding for the jobs.

Okay, so you’ve chosen the company you want to work with and have signed up with them. In fact, there’s nothing against you signing up with more than one company. This will give you a better chance of finding the talent that you want.
The next step is to write a thorough job description.

You need to make the job sound interesting and compelling if you want to hire the best professionals. In addition, you want to give a good first impression of your organisation.

You also need to describe everything that the freelancer will be doing. Unlike in-house employees, freelancers should not be expected to do anything that’s not in their contract.

Start with a clear and specific job title. Then give a thorough overview of what the job entails and the date you need the project done by. It is better to give a definite timeline rather than say that the job is on-going.

A freelancer is a business and you might not be their only client. They need to know what work they have so that they can plan their workload. If you are happy with their work you can always offer them another contract.

The next thing in your job description should be details of the qualifications you require. If need be, ask them to scan their qualification certificates in with their applications.

For certain jobs, such as writing or translation, you can also ask for examples of their previous relevant work. Make it clear if you want an experienced freelancer or if you are prepared to try out rising talent.

If you are with an agency that doesn’t have a special section for Filipino workers, remember to put this in the job description otherwise you will be getting bids and applications from other countries. Also specify what language you need them to be proficient in. You will find that most Filipinos speak English without an accent.

The next thing you need to do is decide whether you want to pay your freelancer by the hour or give them a fixed-price contract. It can be a good idea to start with a small fixed-price project to see how they work out, and then move on to hourly payment if you are happy with their work.

Hourly payment works well on long term projects or if you are unsure of how long the project will take to complete. A fixed-price project has a set price however many hours it takes.

If you want the job done in a certain length of time and know how much the work is worth, then go for this. With a fixed-price project, you can usually pay at predetermined milestones.

The benefits of hourly projects include flexibility and a longer-term relationship. In addition, you will be able to add to the workload without creating a new contract.

A fixed-price project is a great way to get to know rising talent and people you haven’t worked with before. It also works well if you have just one project on offer. It is convenient as it has a beginning and an end. In addition, it is easier for you to stay on budget as you decide the price at the beginning.

1. What do you want done and what level of skill are you looking for? If you want a more experienced freelancer, you are going to have to pay more than if you recruit an inexperienced freelancer.

2. When do you need it done by? This is very important. If you want it done quickly you are going to have to pay more. Your freelancer will probably have to work longer hours to achieve the deadlines. This is particularly important if your project is fixed-price.

Regardless how long your freelancer must work they will still get the same fee, so it must be fair. location. You want to hire someone from the Philippines where their cost of living is lower than many other countries such as the US or the UK.

With this in mind you can charge less knowing that the freelancers will still be able to command a good standard of living.

3. The next tip relates to efficiency. As we’ve said, if you are hiring an experienced writer you will probably be paying more. However, although you might be paying a higher rate, the job will be done quicker and more efficiently. If you don’t want to be spending time correcting the work, this is the way to go.

4. If you are looking for a freelancer who has skills which are in high-demand, the cost will be higher. The same goes for skills which are uncommon.

So, you’ve had a lot of applicants and now is the time to narrow them down. How are you going to do this?

Firstly, consider their experience and what they know about the job you want them to do. If they have free-lanced for the company for a while, read their reviews, ratings, and verified skills.

Make sure that the skills they have are what you are looking for. It is entirely possible that one candidate will stand out and you will decide to hire him or her
straight away, but this isn’t the case all the time. Usually there will be a few freelancers that fit the bill and that means interviewing them.

You can conduct an interview either through video or messaging but be careful how you go about this. Most agencies have a policy that clients and freelancers only talk through their platform which is fair enough as they too are running a business.

Here are some tips about conducting an interview.

1. Get the time right. You might be in the UK while your interviewee is in the Philippines. Work out the time difference and then set the interview at a time which suits both parties.

2. If you are conducting a face-to-face interview, choose a suitable place to hold the
interview. It is better to be in your office rather than sitting at home on the couch.

3. Again, for video calls, make sure you’re camera-ready. Check the sound quality and lighting. You don’t want to come across as unprofessional.

4. Check that the internet connection is working at its best.

5. Have your questions ready as you need to sound professional.

6. When making a video call, make sure that your interviewee is fully concentrating on the interview. If their attention span is low, it’s probably a red flag.

7. Keep the conversation on topic.

8. If you’re chatting through messages, you will have a written record of the interview. If you’re interviewing through video, you should have someone to take notes.

9. When you end the interview, tell them what to expect next, for example when they should hear if they have got the job or not. Be sure to follow up with all candidates even if they’re not offered the job. It is professional and doesn’t keep them hanging on.

After you’ve interviewed everybody, it’s time to choose the right candidate so how do you decide this? We would say that these traits were the most important – the candidate should know more about the subject matter than you do, they should be interested in your company, and they are good at communicating.

The right person should be motivated by what your company stands for, not just for the money.

You may find it difficult to decide on the right person but take your time and weigh everything up. Just because one candidate is more experienced than another doesn’t necessarily mean they will be better at the job.

Even if you are paying a higher rate that doesn’t mean that you are getting the best talent out there. A new freelancer might be just as good at the job and charge less.

If you choose the wrong candidate, it will cost you more in time and in money so you need to feel confident that the person can do the job.

You might find it difficult handing your job over to a freelancer. You are probably used to in-house staff that you can keep an eye on and speak to face-to-face about their work.

Now you have a freelancer who is probably thousands of miles away. How do you handle this? Well, firstly you must accept the fact that you have decided to delegate the work. This can be difficult if you think that you could probably do the job better yourself or faster.

Perhaps you think that the freelancer isn’t as committed to the job as you are, or worse, perhaps you’ll think that the freelancer will be able to do the job better than you and then you’ll be replaced.

However, you need to focus on moving the company forward and this involves delegation. You must accept that you can’t do everything yourself.

So how do you go about delegating the work to your freelancer, without making them feel that you are watching over them all the time?

1. Build a relationship with your freelancer. If the agency you have hired them from has video chat, use it. You can learn a lot by seeing the way they react to you. If you can only chat through messaging, do it.

Make it clear that they can contact you if they need to know something about the job. However, don’t crowd them. Let them come to you more than the other way around.

2. Be available. Encourage your freelancer to ask questions. It’s better that they ask while they’re doing the job rather than leaving it until the deadline to find they weren’t sure if what they were doing was correct.

3. If something must be done in a specific way, tell your freelancer. Let them know how their job fits into your company’s goals. This will make it easier for them to complete the task.

4. Make sure that you have specified deadlines. You don’t want to reach the day the job is supposed to be completed by to find your freelancer thinks that the deadline is a couple of days later.

5. Collaboration technology can be useful. Use Google docs for sharing and live editing of documents.

One final thing you must remember is that freelancers are independent, so you can check how the work is going, but don’t try to manage or mentor them.

Finally, your freelancer completes the task they have been assigned. It is now up to you to check the work. If you have followed all the steps mentioned here there shouldn’t be a problem. Ofcourse, there might be the odd thing which hasn’t been done correctly so tell your freelancer. It will help them in the next assignment.

Unfortunately, things do go wrong occasionally, and you might find that the work isn’t as you hoped. All you can do is put it down to experience. However, if you choose your freelancer carefully, you will probably have him or her working for you in the long term.

In this article we have given you a simple formula for hiring your freelancer. Just follow these simple steps and you will have the best opportunity for a successful project. Remember that the best results depend on you to manage the project!

https://www.upwork.com/hiring/for-clients/attract-your-ideal-freelancer-3-easy-steps-to-writing-great-job-posts

https://www.upwork.com/hiring/startup/fixed-price-vs-hourly-upwork/

https://www.upwork.com/hiring/startup/4-traits-hiring-remoteworkers/

https://www.upwork.com/hiring/startup/right-way-delegate