Hire the Perfect Freelancer with These Interview Questions

Hiring a freelance writer can be the ideal way to get original content for your company. Working with a freelancer enables you to access some of the best talent around without having to commit to hiring a full-time staff member. Before you begin publishing that great content, though, you need to make sure you’ve found the right freelancer.

When you’re deciding whether or not to hire a particular freelancer, you’ll want to look at samples of their writing and review their past experience. In addition, you shouldn’t hire a freelancer until you’ve had the opportunity to talk to them directly. You don’t just want to hire anybody, after all—you want to be confident that you’ve hired a writer who is talented, reliable, and able to understand your business’ goals. In order to do that, you need to know how to conduct a smart interview.

Whether you’re conducting an interview with a prospective hire by email, phone, or even in person, the most important factor is the questions you ask. If the questions you ask are overly vague or unhelpful, the interview itself is likely to be inconclusive when you need to decide whether or not to hire that individual. The best questions are clear, specific, and relevant. These are some of the questions you may want to ask in the interview:

Will you be able to meet deadlines?

The single most important thing a freelance writer needs to be able to do is turn his or her work in on schedule. If you find yourself repeatedly waiting for an overdue assignment, it’s going to be a major inconvenience. Unlike a full-time employee, there’s not much you can do if a freelancer fails to come through with an assignment—except not work with them again in the future. That’s why it’s important to emphasize timeliness in the interview.

What are your relevant skills?

When you seek out a freelancer, you will want to be aware of any and all abilities they have that may be usable for your company. While you may be hiring for a particular skill, such as technical writing, make sure that you find out if the freelancer you’re interviewing has any additional skills that might be relevant, such as proofreading. The more versatile the freelancers you work with are, the more useful they will be to you.

Do you know how to do online research?

It may sound obvious enough, but not everybody understands how to do smart research on the internet. That means knowing how to do effective searches, how to find the most authoritative websites, and how to distinguish trustworthy sources from less reliable ones. In order to do quality work, a freelance writer needs to be able to do high-quality research, and to do it quickly. Freelancers should be able to write well about subjects they have little prior knowledge of, and being a good researcher is essential to that.

What’s a past project you are proud of?

It’s always a good idea to give the interviewee a chance to talk about their work experience, but in a more specific way than “Tell me about your background.” Many of the freelancers you’ll talk to will have a past writing project that they were proud of, whether because of how it came out or because of how well they addressed a particular challenge. The answer to this question can tell you a great deal about a freelancer’s priorities and their passion for their work.

How much work would you be able to take on?

Keep in mind that freelancers tend to juggle multiple projects, and clients, at once. It’s a good idea to try to gauge how busy your interviewee is so you can determine whether he or she will be able to handle the kind of projects you intend to give them. For example, if a freelancer is already fairly busy, they may not be able to take on the task of writing a daily blog post for you. However, it never hurts to ask—and that’s why this question is a crucial one to include in the interview.

What else should I know about you?

It’s important that you don’t dictate the confines of the interview too closely. Your interviewee may have any number of things they want to communicate to you that will not come up over the course of the interview, so be sure to leave some time toward the end to talk about them. Also, try to avoid asking too many questions that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no,” such as “Is there anything else I should know about you?” These questions tend to limit the scope of the answer.

Do you have any questions for me?

It’s a good sign if a freelancer is buzzing with questions to ask about your company and your projects. Not only it is an indication of an active, inquisitive mind, but it also suggests that the person is enthusiastic about the prospect of working for you. Be sure to include some time for your interviewee to ask any questions that may be on their mind. If you don’t know the answer to one of their questions, tell them you’ll get back to them with the answer as soon as possible.

When are you available to begin working for us?

Finally, don’t forget to ask when your interviewee will be free to start writing for your company. If a freelancer currently has a full-time job or will be out of town, they may not be ready to start work right away. Since you’ll want to know when you can depend on them to start producing content for you, you’ll want to get an answer to this question before the interview is over. Feel free to ask this question even if you haven’t made up your mind to hire an interviewee.

Writers Work provides talented freelancers with the tools they need to shape their careers and find the great jobs they deserve–and makes it easy for businesses to connect with those talented writers. If you’re looking for smart, capable freelance talent to produce terrific online content for your company, it’s time to visit our Writers Marketplace. There, you can connect with writers who are ready to help you build your brand, polish your content, and connect with your audience.