Freelance jobs are here and they pay more!

Internet has revolutionized job hunting experience in Kenya, with most job seekers now considering freelance jobs which come with better remunerations, flexible working conditions and total independence

Unlike permanent jobs which come with bureaucratic requirements hence hard to source, skillful Kenyans can now source numerous freelance jobs in a day at a click of a button, thanks to tens of online platforms offering job assignments.

Freelancing pays more than formal jobs

A case in point is that of Jared Mutie, a talented graphic designer who makes up to Sh200,000 per month by sourcing jobs on Kuhustle, a freelance community and online marketplace that connects businesses with skilled freelancers who are looking to deliver quality work

Mutie, who was a full employee of a leading production house in the country, told Dhahabu Kenya that he is currently earning up to four times the amount he used to be paid by his former employer

‘’When I told my friends about my plans to quit formal employment and become a freelancer, one of them asked me to visit a psychiatrist. Am happy that my gamble is now paying,’’ said Mutie

Kuhustle

Launched in late 2014, Kuhustle links employers across the world with highly talented techies with skills in website and software development, Mobile App development, content creation and marketing and design and creative

A job seeker is just required to sign up on the website www.kuhustle.com using his/her email address, Facebook or Twitter.

This enables them to login in to the portal and bid for available assignments based on their skills level.

Once bids have been placed, an employer can easily get the best freelancer, thanks to a rating system on the platform that assists job posters select the best freelancer for their job based on the rating given to the said freelancer.

Once the client has narrowed down to the consultant to undertake the job, the client makes payment of the total amount to a trust account agreed upon by the 3 parties i.e. Kuhustle, client and Freelancer.

The client, with the help of Kuhustle, sets the key milestones for the project with timelines and price.

Freelancer commences the job and once each milestone is completed, the same is submitted to the client for review and approval.

Payment is done per delivered milestone upon confirmation from the client

The maximum amount of money a bidder can receive for a Featured project, through the Kuhustle system, without being charged a fee, is $150.

Any amount received above $150 will be subject to the regular fee of 5 per cent.

Besides Kuhustle, there are other credible platforms pointing skilled freelancers to job opportunities in the market

Rentacoder.com

If you are an IT guru, then you need to visit Rentacoder.com, a website in Kenya offering freelance jobs to coders, programmers and software engineers

On this website, you will come across a wide range of jobs for Kenyans ranging from very simple a HTML page that takes few hours to complex programming tasks that even take you months to complete.

Once you have done your job to satisfied levels, payments are made within 72 hours.

Guru.com

Guru is also among the best platforms in Kenya offering thousands of jobs to freelancers in diversified fields.

The site connects well over 500,000 freelancers with over 30,000 businesses all over the world.

Freelancers just need to sign up to get logging credentials to the site, where they can locate jobs in their respective fields.

Paydesk.co

With most media houses in Kenya downsizing, journalists perhaps need to visit this website

One is required to sign up by providing bio, samples of published works and banking details where the wage is sent.

When a client is in need of a journalist with your matching skills, paydesk contacts you and get a small commission from your wage.

Newsmedo is another online freelance portal that offers job opportunities to freelance journalists, editors, photographers across the world.

Elance.com and Freelancer.com are other big players in the freelance world.

These websites covers a wide range of freelancing jobs across the world ranging from graphic design, writing, programming and web development

So next time before you complain about unemployment, kindly exhaust these platforms first.