The number of freelancers and independent workers keeps on increasing, and this, all around the world. Even if there are more freelancers in the USA, European countries and their labour legislation had to adapt to this new form of employment, which often goes with freedom. Generally, freelancers have an independent main activity and a complement of a paid employment. Freelance work attracts jobseekers because it is possible to work from home, and without a boss, and this is especially why the number of independent workers is still increasing. companies like Uber are pioneers in freelance. In order to avoid problems and to get the most out of freelance work, many online communities have been created, especially to help companies find an independent worker, or for freelancers to find interesting projects. In this article, we will first learn more about the two online communities that make things easier for freelancers. We will then see other types of communities that help freelancers start their independent activity or protect themselves against the risks of their activities.
How to find a freelancer
Freelancer.com
Created in 2009, Freelancer.com is the world’s biggest site dedicated to freelancing and crowdsourcing, thanks to its number of users and especially thanks to the huge number of projects for freelancers the team posts per day. At the moment, there are more than 24,445,920 users, for almost 12,000,000 posted projects. Any independent worker is assured to find a very interesting project. It is a website only dedicated to independent work. It is one of the best to help quickly find an activity. It is accessible for both freelancers looking for a project and companies, which have an urgent need in qualified workforce. It is very pleasant to navigate around the website, thanks to its modern design, and it makes you want to work, especially because the projects are clearly presented.
Indeed, the website shows, which type of services companies can have, and above all, at what price. It is undeniably innovative, and it shows that the freelancers’ profiles are of a high quality. As specialists in job boards and online recruitment, we recommend signing in on freelancer.com if you’re an independent worker looking for an assignment in the IT sector (website creation, software, mobile applications) or in design, data science, sales and marketing, writing or even in product sourcing and manufacturing. With more than 13 million of visits and almost as many users, freelancer.com is made for companies that “need to hire”. They can be sure to find a freelancer, and to get good results. And that’s the same for jobseekers, who wnt to adapt to the projects. Go check out Freelancer.com!
UpWork
The main competitor of Freelancer.com, UpWork, created in 2015, is another website fully dedicated to independent workers. It works a bit like freelancer.com, but we can’t see the projects on the homepage. It is made more for companies and people looking for a freelancer. The website is modern and very easy to use. It just seems to be focused on companies, but with more than 43 million single visitors last month, we are sure that jobseekers will find an assignment that will suit them.
Everything is handled by the platform; that means the publication of the projects, the recruitment and the hiring, the work progression and the payment. The website is available in the USA, Canada, Australia and in the UK. Those are the countries, which have the most independent workers in the world (officially). Upwork is also very good for all types of users, but we recommend it mostly for recruiters.
Co-working spaces
Freelancing is characterized by the fact that the workers may not have an office. It is true that some of them have to work from home, and that it was their main reason to become an independent worker. However, others would prefer working in a place that makes them feel like they’re in an office, but without the boss! A productive environment where you can meet new people who aren’t official colleagues.
That’s why I would like to tell you more about WeWork, a website available worldwide, which allows independent groups of workers to find co-working spaces very quickly. Their mission is to offer these workers “a working space, which will transform their day-to-day life”. They welcome you in spaces ideally suited to develop new ideas. It can make things way easier for many workers. Go and check out their website to learn more!
The American freelancers union
A very interesting McKinsey study on Forbes explains that there are more than 52 million freelancers in the leading country of independent workers, the United States (that is to say at least 1/3 of Americans). With the current crisis at Uber, one of the references in independent work, as well as the continuing increase in the number of freelancers in the USA, it was important for the Freelancers Union to further increase its popularity, but it’s actually been around since 1995. 
It is an online community of independent workers created to help each other. We can find very useful advice on social protection and insurance. The website is free for everybody and it is possible to donate. It gives a voice to freelancers. It is very useful and gives very interesting tips to all freelancers in the USA, and it helps them avoid contract problems and other current issues with independent work.
We hope that this article will help independent workers. Note that you can also check other job board specialists in freelancing on the Jobboard Finder.
Author: Anne-Marie
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