Tag Archives: recruitment

What people really look for in a freelancer

types of freelancer

Written by Ken Myers

Freelance work is commonplace on the Internet and in real life. For the most part, a freelancer is cheaper than hiring a company to do the work you need done. In many cases, the freelancer’s work can be superior to that of a company performing the same task. Motivations are different between the freelancer and the company who assigns employees to your task.

Motivations aside, many of these individuals can perform the same tasks for a fraction of the cost with possibly greater results.

There are several key aspects that everyone looks for in a freelancer. Continue reading →

Creating a résumé to land an in-house job

Résumé

This is a guest article from Kristen Fischer.

Most creative freelancers will tell you that they don’t need résumés (CVs) – that they are stale reminders of their previous 9-to-5 existence. But the truth is that you do need to play the corporate game if you want lucrative, steady work – and that includes having a professional résumé. If you’re looking to freelance in-house at an agency, you definitely need to have a solid document in order to secure the gig. You may still be Joe Cool freelancer, but you will be working for a company…so that means you better start writing. Continue reading →

20 excellent portfolio guides and resources

Editor’s note: Want to sponsor this article? Details are on our Sponsorship page.

Getting your portfolio right is important as a freelancer, as you need to market yourself well. And if you work for creative agencies you will probably need both an online and and offline version.

To help you, I’ve gathered this big list of great resources:

Online portfolios

Free tools
Read How to get a free online portfolio – our own definitive article on the free tools available on the web.

Portfolio inspiration

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Folio Focus A gallery of portfolio websites

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DesignM.ag 50 excellent designer portfolio sites

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Folio Stars A gallery of portfolio websites

How to build an online portfolio

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Spoon Graphics How to build your own single page portfolio website

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Net Tuts How to build a website from scratch

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Woo themes Themes for WordPress blogs

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Smashing Magazine Guide to using WordPress for a portfolio

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Think Dave Recommended PSD to WordPress service

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Net Tuts Design and code your first website in easy steps

Portfolio tips

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Freelance Switch Build a killer online portfolio in 9 easy steps

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Webdesigner Depot Creating the perfect portfolio
Webdesigner Depot 10 characteristics of excellent portfolio sites

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Smashing Magazine 10 steps to the perfect portfolio website

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Webitect Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Portfolios

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Designious Times Top 10 websites to submit your design portfolio

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DesignM.ag 9 Ways to Get Your Design Portfolio Seen


Offline (physical) portfolios

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PSD Tuts Preparing and talking about your graphic design portfolio

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Just Creative Design The Innovative one page resume & portfolio
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Flaunt A book about designing effective, compelling and memorable portfolios of creative work.

Do you know of any other good resources or have tips? Please share them in the comments below.

Handy portfolio tip: Business cards or postcards make great hand-outs or conversation starters offline. With MOO.com you can print a different image on every card – print your whole portfolio for a tiny cost!

Make a good CV or resumé for freelancing

In this article I have gathered together some useful guides to CVs (resumés), along with a few suggestions for making them more effective for freelancing at creative agencies.

The guides

The following are some good articles I have found, giving advice on CVs and resumés for people in the creative industry:
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David Airey
I’ve mentioned David’s article before, which gives useful insight written by a senior designer at a London design agency who receives three or four of them every day.

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Stopgap Group
This blog article by a recruitment group from the UK and Australia is about future-proofing your CV.

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Eye Magazine
An article by UK creative recruitment agent Mike Radcliffe on simple CV guidelines.

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Freelance Switch
A useful blog article by this popular freelancing website. Also take a look at their Part 2 article.

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Periscope
Some good pointers from another UK creative recruitment agent.

Tips for freelancing

So now you have your CV in good shape, what can you do to make it more effective when looking for freelance work at creative agencies? Here a few simple changes I suggest from my experience:

Simplify
Do not including your whole career or life story – keep it strictly to the most recent and significant details.

Structure
Employers have (or expect to spend) less time to look through CVs for freelancers. Make it even easier to scan – it should be easy for them to find the top pieces if information on you in one glance.

Update it
The one thing that you must do as a freelancer is update it regularly. Clients and recruitment agents are always interested in what you are up to and it makes you stand out if you have news.

Promote action
The employer must know how to take action (find out more about you, or get in touch). The top ways of getting in touch and a link to your online profile or portfolio should be immediately obvious.

Any other ideas?

If you have any other suggestions, ideas or know of other good guides, please share them by posting them in the comments below.

Main image by SOCIALisBETTER