What's Your Freelance Writing Job Search System?
A freelancer needs to search for freelance writing jobs on a semi-regular basis in order to avoid the feast or famine cycle of freelancing (wherein you either have too many or too few projects at once). I personally get very complacent when I have enough projects and contracts to keep me busy- wondering why I would bother to fit another project into my schedule when I am just fine, thanks? The answer to this question is simple: many jobs come around weeks or even months later.
It's true. I think freelancing may have a lot of turnover in general- you would not believe how many times I've been hired after one or even two other freelancers have flaked out. This tells me that being a well-performing freelancer may be as easy as just hanging in there! But, I digress...
I'm not saying that you need to search for freelance writing jobs every day, although some certainly do. But, I do know that many jobs are filled quite quickly, so I would recommend at least every three days...maybe even every other day.
If daily or biweekly sounds like a lot, you should narrow down your list of job sites. For example, I used to check Sunoasis once a week, but I've lately been frustrated by the organization of their freelance writing job lists. In addition, I'm somewhat more likely to focus on job listing sites that are subscription-based, as I know the competition is cut down a bit.
What do you think? Once a day? Once a week? Once a month? What is your job search system? Do you keep your favorite sites in bookmarks? Or do you perhaps only use sites that send jobs directly to your inbox? Let me know, I'm really curious!
Subscription based services don’t offer anything the free services don’t have. There’s no need for anyone to have to pay for work at all.
I’m of the belief that a writer needs to schedule the job search into her daily routine. This leads to good habits and keeps you ahead of the competition. Checking for jobs once a week or only every three days means other writers probably beat you to the punch.
Ahhh, but Rusty, I believe there is at least ONE reason, and I mentioned it above- the cpmpetition is vastly cut.
There are freelance writing jobs that neither you or I get, even if we are easily the best candidates, solely based on the factor of inundation. I know as I’ve been there- when I hired for a proofreader, I got over 100 applications, but had to stop reading at 35ish, simply as a matter of time.
If I had paid, for example, freelance switch or another service that solicits job listings, then I probably would have received far less, and been able to give EACH application the attention it deserved.
Hey Allena,
I’m with you on the main benefit of paid membership sites – thinning of the herd! And just one decent project more than pays for the membership for a whole year.
As for frequency, no matter how busy my business gets (and lately it’s felt a lot like being an air traffic controller landing planes) I place five bids a day five days a week. Not all of my work comes from the boards, of course, but this plan keeps the work steady. It feels counterintuitive to bid when busy, but it’s the only way to avoid the feast or famine cycle.
Great post – thanks!
I think it really depends on what field of writing you’re focusing on. Paying for a membership to a job board seems really stupid if you’re looking for places to publish fiction. Writer’s Market, for instance, doesn’t publish anything that you can’t find on individual websites; is it really worth it to have all the info collected at one site when you aren’t submitting to that many different places?
Even for freelance non-fiction writing, I find that most of the sources you will write for post their requirements online, or you can query the editors directly. No need for job boards.
If you’re looking for more EDITING work, perhaps there is some incentive in paid memberships to sites that post jobs, but for the most part I think paying anyone for access to job postings is a total rip-off.
Allena, I generally have a policy against paying for jobs, but I’m thinking about revising that approach. Like you said, less competition, more targeted jobs, better chances… Might be worth a couple of bucks to get a few awesome jobs a year!
Kristen
Kristen- think of it this way: you pay for AIW membership, other union memberships, etc, right? Well, why>? Because the cost benefit (thinning of the herd) beats the cost.
Dear friend,
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John Bill
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