How to Find Freelance Work on LinkedIn?

The concept of freelancing is essentially working for oneself as opposed to working for someone else. Hence, freelancers are self-employed professionals working on a project-to-project basis. Freelance work entails topics from a wide variety of different fields like writing, editing, consultancy, marketing, designing, ICT, virtual administration, social media management, etc. Most freelance workers are experts in their chosen field of work.

Skills Required to Become a Freelancer
LinkedIn – A Platform to Help You Find Freelance Work
What are the Highest Paying Freelance Jobs?

Skills Required to Become a Freelancer

Like any other field of work, freelance work requires a range of skills. While the various hard and soft skills vary depending on the type of freelance work, there are a few common ones that are useful for any kind of freelance work.

• Writing and Communication Skills
• Research Skills
• Editing and Proofreading Skills
• Project Management Skills
• Computer Literacy Skills

LinkedIn – A Platform to Help You Find Freelance Work

As the world’s largest professional network on the internet, LinkedIn is, undisputedly useful for recruiters and job seekers. However, as a platform, LinkedIn is extremely useful even in finding freelancing work. There are many ways in which this platform can be leveraged and maximised to connect with clients looking for freelancers for specific needs.

Optimising the Profile

It is important to complete the personal profile on LinkedIn, adding all the relevant professional details and an updated photograph. Wherever relevant, adding work samples is an advantage as clients can peruse and see the quality of work provided.

Companies, recruiters, or even users searching for specific services use keywords. Someone searching for freelancing services would search using the keyword ‘freelance’. Hence, it is advantageous to include this keyword in some places on the profile like the headline, URL, summary, experience, endorsements and even on the projects, volunteering and other such sections. These strategically placed keywords go a long way to pass the relevant message to the clients.

Summary – A Perfect Place to Sell

Adding the services offered in the Summary section is the perfect way to entice future clients, even more so with the option to add media files to establish an online portfolio. Correctly structuring the summary is critical to get this section right. One way to do this is:

• Summing up the service offerings (elevator pitch).
• A few key bullet points to highlight the service and its benefits to the client.
• Providing examples of achieved results by adding testimonials (if available).
• Call to action.

Grouping Smaller Projects in the Experience Section

If the work experience involves doing lots of small freelance projects for a wide range of clients, it is a good idea to group them into one entry under the business name. This entry can then be enhanced by adding details like the type of work it was and the client it was done for.

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Listing Large Projects Individually

These can actually be used as a case study and listed as a separate experience. However, ensure that the client is not referred to as an employer, but rather as a freelance client. It clarifies that the engagement was on a freelance or consultancy basis.

Building LinkedIn Skills and Endorsements

Ask clients to give LinkedIn endorsement and give recommendations for the skills once the project is complete. It is always advantageous to request the client to use specific terms and words that constitute the search keywords.

Being Active and Growing Network on LinkedIn

It is not enough to just have a complete profile on LinkedIn. The chances of being noticed by potential clients increase multi-fold by being active on the platform. The many ways this can be accomplished are taking opportunities presented by LinkedIn notifications, participating in groups to establish self as a subject matter expert, posting comments, and publishing articles. The ideal way is to post 10 to 15 comments every day. Another effective way to reach out to clients is by increasing the network by sending 20 relevant connection requests every day.

Asking for Referrals

This is extremely helpful when trying to find freelance work. All it requires is reaching out to an already existing network explaining what are the services offered and the type of clients that look for those services. Then request the members of the network to forward the details to anyone who is looking to hire a freelancer. This move may or may not pay off immediately, however, it does keep the particular freelance worker in mind for any future requirements that may arise.

Connecting with Potential Clients Proactively

One of the main advantages of LinkedIn is that it is easy to find people who may require the services provided in the future. For example, if the service provided is video editing, then it becomes necessary to find people or businesses who are in the field of movie-making or advertisement-making. An easy way to find potential clients is to look at the way existing clients describe themselves on LinkedIn. There might be a common job title or level of experience that can help in identifying a potential pool of clients.

Using LinkedIn Premium Features

The LinkedIn Premium allows the freelance worker to benefit from this paid service. It allows the freelancer to:

• Send direct mail to recruiters and hiring managers.
• Allows the freelancer to view the people who have seen their personal profile. This, in turn, allows the freelancer to reach out to any relevant connection.
• Allows access to more than 15,000 LinkedIn learning courses which add value to the existing skillset and add course completions to the profile.

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Using LinkedIn Service Marketplace

This is a relatively new feature on LinkedIn that was added in 2021 and is a freelancer-specific service. It allows freelance workers to promote their services for business owners to hire them. Using this feature, companies can also list and promote specific projects for which they require freelancers.

What are the Highest Paying Freelance Jobs?

There are a few freelance jobs that constitute the highest-paying jobs within the scope of freelance work. These professions are:

• Digital Marketing
• Video Editing
• Web Development
• Graphic Designing
• Content Writing

Conclusion

To summarize the best ways to find freelance work on LinkedIn, it requires a         complete resume, work samples, a compelling pitch and last, but not least, the relevant knowledge and skills that apply to the chosen field of work. It is to the benefit of the freelance worker to pay close attention to these details while creating a profile on LinkedIn.

FAQs

Is freelance work available on LinkedIn?

As the world’s largest professional network on the internet, LinkedIn is undisputedly useful for recruiters and job seekers. There are many ways this platform can be leveraged to find freelance work.

How can I find freelance work on LinkedIn?

Here are the ways in which you can find freelance work on LinkedIn:

• Optimizing your LinkedIn profile
• Create a perfect summary of your work
• Building LinkedIn skills and endorsements
• Be active and grow your network on LinkedIn
• Use LinkedIn premium features

Which are the highest paying freelance jobs?

Some of the highest-paying freelance jobs include:

• Digital Marketing
• Video Editing
• Web Development
• Graphic Designing
• Content Writing