Freelance Trust Protocol: How freelancers and clients can trust each other in a perilous world
Many freelancers and clients complain about trust issues and possibility of the other turning out to be a scammer or dubious person. In this article, we will examine some means of examining the honesty and integrity of the other party before rewarding them a project or alternatively, deciding to dedicate our time and energy on their project as a freelancer.
Tracking the other's public activity on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook could be a key part of establishing this trust. Whilst not disregarding obvious precautions relating to privacy, one must just let themselves free and open on these platforms and participate as much as possible if they want to gain reputation in the freelance or freelance hiring trade. For only by socially interacting as much as possible does one make themselves known in the online world, their pros and cons out in the open will help everyone decide about their merits as a prospective freelancer or client.
It doesn't really matter who takes the initiative as long as one does the homework right in researching the other party on social media and pays attention to details. This homework needs to be done as it plays an important role in establishing trust and rapport between the client and freelancer. If you can't do this homework yourself, maybe you can delegate it to someone else whom you fully trust (such as a relative or friend).
It doesn't really matter who takes the initiative as long as one does the homework right in researching the other party on social media and pays attention to details. This homework needs to be done as it plays an important role in establishing trust and rapport between the client and freelancer. If you can't do this homework yourself, maybe you can delegate it to someone else whom you fully trust (such as a relative or friend).
Language and verbal communication
The most important factor in determining the genuineness of a prospective freelancer or client is their language and verbal communication. Trust garners slowly and while its possible for someone to fake a language which goes against their core personality for a brief time, its impossible to continue that in the long term. Language being an intrinsic part of one's culture and personality, paying attention to it will give you a good idea of what kind of person he/she is.
Attitudes and Eccentricities
Attitudes are one of the most important things that make or break the rapport or relational harmony between two people. Observing how a person replies or answers a question, participates in a discussion, etc. will give you some insight into how that person will behave once you hire them in your team. Observe their language carefully, the more you observe it'll be helpful in deciding their compatibility as a client or freelancer with you.
Skills and Abilities
This one is most obvious. Many people put all kinds of skills on their resume or portfolio ranging from C/C++ to Enterprise Development in Java to Machine Learning and Data Science in Python. But are they truly skilled in those areas or just bluffing? An analysis of their social media activity will give you a glimpse to that. Do they genuinely seem to answer the doubts or queries posted by someone regarding these topics on StackOverflow, Quora, etc.? Have they contributed some good amount of code around these topics on Github?
Credentials
On platforms like Linkedin, people can have recommendations made to them by colleagues, check out how many recommendations and endorsements your prospective candidate has. If the company is known or reputed, its practically impossible to fake these recommendations. You can also know about things like their academic credentials, training undergone, hobbies, etc. through their Linkedin profile and that could give you some idea about their merit too. Another important credential to check is the profile age. A Linkedin profile which is older than a decade should be considered a safe one, 4-5 years old is a medium and less than 1 year should raise some red flags.
Heuristics Filter
You may always argue that its possible for a con artist to fake all of the above filters, and rightly so. That's exactly why people have this stigma about hiring people online, this is no longer 1997, today's internet is filled with all kinds of con artists and black hats. However, you must remember that the stakes keep getting higher as you keep increasing the filters and it becomes less and less profitable for a con dude to keep faking them all. No sane con artist will go to the extent of faking all the above filters just to earn a couple hundred dollars on the first project awarded to him/her (one project is what it takes to expose oneself).
But assuming that a possible candidate passed through all the above filters and you still have doubt about their merits, you can have an additional filter or check which doesn't belong to the online world. One obvious heuristic is a quick offline reference. If the prospective candidate lives in the same city or region as you, you can ask them to give a reference whom you can cross-check by giving a call. If it isn't possible to get an offline reference, there are some other ways like using your contacts in HR industry to do a background check of the candidate. Another way is to use a divination technique such as Numerology, Astrology, iChing, etc. to make a quick judgment regarding the merits of the candidate. Depending on your belief system and/or cultural background, your attitude towards these techniques may range from "Next joke, please!" to "I've actually seen it work", so use them at your own discretion.
Attitudes and Eccentricities
Attitudes are one of the most important things that make or break the rapport or relational harmony between two people. Observing how a person replies or answers a question, participates in a discussion, etc. will give you some insight into how that person will behave once you hire them in your team. Observe their language carefully, the more you observe it'll be helpful in deciding their compatibility as a client or freelancer with you.
Skills and Abilities
This one is most obvious. Many people put all kinds of skills on their resume or portfolio ranging from C/C++ to Enterprise Development in Java to Machine Learning and Data Science in Python. But are they truly skilled in those areas or just bluffing? An analysis of their social media activity will give you a glimpse to that. Do they genuinely seem to answer the doubts or queries posted by someone regarding these topics on StackOverflow, Quora, etc.? Have they contributed some good amount of code around these topics on Github?
Credentials
On platforms like Linkedin, people can have recommendations made to them by colleagues, check out how many recommendations and endorsements your prospective candidate has. If the company is known or reputed, its practically impossible to fake these recommendations. You can also know about things like their academic credentials, training undergone, hobbies, etc. through their Linkedin profile and that could give you some idea about their merit too. Another important credential to check is the profile age. A Linkedin profile which is older than a decade should be considered a safe one, 4-5 years old is a medium and less than 1 year should raise some red flags.
Heuristics Filter
You may always argue that its possible for a con artist to fake all of the above filters, and rightly so. That's exactly why people have this stigma about hiring people online, this is no longer 1997, today's internet is filled with all kinds of con artists and black hats. However, you must remember that the stakes keep getting higher as you keep increasing the filters and it becomes less and less profitable for a con dude to keep faking them all. No sane con artist will go to the extent of faking all the above filters just to earn a couple hundred dollars on the first project awarded to him/her (one project is what it takes to expose oneself).
But assuming that a possible candidate passed through all the above filters and you still have doubt about their merits, you can have an additional filter or check which doesn't belong to the online world. One obvious heuristic is a quick offline reference. If the prospective candidate lives in the same city or region as you, you can ask them to give a reference whom you can cross-check by giving a call. If it isn't possible to get an offline reference, there are some other ways like using your contacts in HR industry to do a background check of the candidate. Another way is to use a divination technique such as Numerology, Astrology, iChing, etc. to make a quick judgment regarding the merits of the candidate. Depending on your belief system and/or cultural background, your attitude towards these techniques may range from "Next joke, please!" to "I've actually seen it work", so use them at your own discretion.
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