Jennifer Spencer — January 30, 2017 Follow @jsstartuppr
Recent studies on hiring trends indicate that the number of businesses hiring online workers has risen over the past two years, and it is expected to continue to rise. The remote worker offers a competitive edge for both small and large businesses in the sense of freeing up time to spend on the growth of the company. More advanced remote workers can even fill certain growth roles within businesses as they bring their expertise that the company may not have.
The number of platforms to hire online workers is increasing by the day and their seeking to develop new solutions. When online hiring first started, it was dominated by large job boards where business owners could simply post a job, receive applicants, and hope to hire the best one. Today, a number of new online hiring platforms are taking the business owner’s experience to a new level offering hands-on service to further make the process simpler and more reliable.
While there are plenty of options to choose from if you are looking to hire, it’s important to find the platform that works best for you and your business. If you don’t have extensive hiring knowledge, you may want a more hands-on platform. Vice versa, if you have years of hiring experience, you may be better off in one of the larger talent pool platforms.
By knowing where the top talent can be found, you will be able to tap into a wealth of on-demand skills that can help grow your business. Below is a list of the top five platforms to hire online workers based off of research evaluating over 20 online hiring platforms.
Upwork is the largest of the platforms to hire online workers available to businesses and entrepreneurs. Upwork allows you to find the level of service and expertise that fits your needs and budget. This site has several service options available ranging from searching and finding your own qualified freelance worker to having premium talent handpicked for you. Upwork even offers an enterprise level account where businesses can choose an end-to-end freelancer management system if you so desire.
Upwork has over 9 million freelancers competing for your business, so you are guaranteed to get a reasonable rate. Upwork is unique in that you will be able to use the platform to do everything involved in your project including posting the job, hiring your favorite worker, collaborating with your freelancer, and paying directly for the work completed.
Toptal is an exclusive network of some of the most talented freelance software developers, designers and finance experts available online. Engineers created the company, and they are highly restrictive on the people they choose to hire. Toptal will handle it all and find you the perfect match based on the kind of freelance talent you need. They guarantee that you will be satisfied with the quality of work, and they back it up with a risk-free trial period for all freelancers you choose to add to your team.
Toptal has a stellar reputation which is largely based on the exceptional customer support and service. Toptal provides a personal touch to the process and is involved with you from the beginning to the end.
People Per Hour (PPH) is a platform to hire online workers with several options to get started depending on your individual project needs. You can browse hourly fixed price offers to start immediately, post a job and let freelancers submit proposals, or search profiles and contact freelancers directly. You can browse each seller’s rating and write your own evaluations after work is complete. PPH has great reviews from both the freelancers that work through the platform as well as the customers that buy services.
PPH provides secure communications between the buyer and the seller and handles the payment transactions so you don’t have to. If you have any issues or disputes, PPH has customer support ninjas ready to help mediate and resolve them.
Freeeup is one of the newest platforms to hire online workers, specifically for tasks related to managing an eCommerce business. It is an up and coming site that has generated great reviews because they thoroughly pre-vet all their freelance workers to ensure they have the top talent for you to choose from. You will be able to choose the level of expertise that you need for each specific job or project. Customers gain unlimited access to FreeeUp’s network of freelancers and can request a new worker in as little as 30 seconds. Once the request has been received by FreeeUp, they personally introduce you to the most reliable worker in their network within hours.
Most companies that use FreeeUp are pleased with the experience and end up developing long-term relationships with their workers. While FreeeUp is relatively new, the platform is growing quickly due to the ease of use, customer service, and quality of workers available.
Freelancer helps millions of small businesses hire expert freelancers for their projects making them one of the largest platforms to hire online workers. You will be able to post your project and receive competitive bids within minutes. Freelancer handles all types of projects from the very small “one off” jobs to ongoing projects requiring a very specific skill set. You can specify if you’d like to pay a fixed price or hourly. You will also be able to dictate the schedule and set predetermined milestones for your projects. The hiring process is personalized, and hiring decisions are completely at your discretion. Freelancer has been around since 2004 and continues to grow.
Outsourcing project work is a trend that is growing by the day. When location is not a factor, companies can bring together the very best talent from across the world into one virtual and collaborative environment. The platforms available to hire this talent make the dream a reality for millions of businesses and freelancers around the world. While there are lots of platforms to choose from, some sites are known for having the best talent, customer service and quality of work. This list stands out from the rest for these particular reasons.
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