It’s been a while since platforms like Elance and Odesk (merged into Upwork) boosted the freelancing industry by adding the features of online platforms.
In the first stages of the freelancing industry’s development, the value proposition was summarized into availability. You could walk beyond the limited circle of your connections and look for many other freelancers in any other country.
And the first tangible result of these platforms was the ability to receive and compare different proposals on a single job description.
Although “availability” was a major value at first, it soon turned the platforms into a war zone for freelancers; they started competing based on the prices they were offering for a specific job.
In other words, clients were holding a tender for their project, freelancers bid, and the one who offered less price usually got the project.
Since the criterion is a price-based comparison, the dynamic of these kinds of platforms is designed to highlight the ones who charge less.
As the market developed, these online freelance platforms started to notice the requirements of other segments, like the clients with bigger projects. They were looking for customized and qualified services and were willing to pay much more than $5 for their logo design.
Soon, platforms started changing and adopting updated features to match the new-founded requirements of these clients.
As such, Upwork, the market leader of the industry, utilized a much more precise vetting process to qualify its pool of freelancers. Also, Fiverr, another online freelancing platform, which got started with a focus on 5-dollar jobs (and even named itself based on that) launched a service where clients pay more to have access to top freelancers. Other platforms also made some changes regarding this market trend. But still, the clients’ needs were getting more and more varied.
As a result, a new trend has undertaken in recent years.
Online platforms with a focus on offering the best talents for each skill and job description.
A portal where you don’t post a job to receive tons of proposals from a pool of infinite freelancers which you can’t even vet correctly, but a trusted online space to present your project to match with best talents in the field.
Most commonly, these platforms receive your job description, process it, maybe break it down to some sub-projects, and then, by using matching algorithms and technologies, make a shortlist of previously vetted and interviewed talents to send them your job description. Then, after receiving offers and refining them, they finally present you with a shortlist of two or three vetted talents with proposals that include project milestones and pricing.
The added value of these new generations of online freelancing platforms is “customization” and “results”.
They don’t just introduce lots of freelancers to you, they hear your problem, aim to offer a solution, and tend to walk you through the process to deliver what you need.
Toptal, as its name suggests, is a good example of this platform. It only accepts 3% of applications and has a very complete and precise interview process to make sure only top talents can pass successfully. Also, the bidding process is eliminated, for its top talents do not want to compete on price, but their skills.
Moreover, other platforms are applying to this model, and it seems that while you can always use first-generation platforms for low-cost logo design jobs, you can profit from the new generation of online platforms in favor of outsourcing bigger challenges and requirements of your business.
We at “Win A Talent” are offering customized results for IT and software projects. We listen to your concerns that have affected the growth of your business and not only suggest a product development project with all the required phases and tasks, but also present the specific tasks and skills to complete the job in reaching out to our vetted top talents and finding the best combination for your project.
Upon your confirmation, the team will work on your project and with our supervision, you can make sure you’re getting the best possible results on time and budget.
So, if you are experiencing “wish we had extra developers” or “we can’t do that until obtaining the requirements” or similar obstacles in your business, feel free to tell us about your needs and win a talent to take care of the rest!