There are two people reading this. One of you has work that needs doing and no idea who to trust. The other one can do the work and cannot get anybody to look. This is for both of you.
If you are hiring
Write the job like a human
The posts that get good applicants have four things and nothing else:
- What needs doing, in one sentence. "Edit a 4-minute music video." Not "seeking creative professional."
- Where and when. Lagos, on site, this Saturday. Or fully remote, by Friday.
- What you are paying. A range is fine. A number is better. "Competitive" tells people you have not decided, and the good ones scroll past.
- How to apply. "Send one link to similar work." One. Not a CV, not a cover letter.
Judge on work, not on talk
You will get replies from people who write beautifully and cannot deliver, and from people who send one link and no message and are excellent. Open the link first. Always.
Pay a deposit and pay it fast
Thirty to fifty per cent up front, on a small job, from a stranger, is normal and it protects you both. It filters out people who were never going to start, and it means the person doing the work is not funding your project out of their own pocket.
If you are looking for work
Stop posting that you are available
"DM for graphics design" is invisible. Everybody posts it. Instead, post the work itself: one finished piece, what it was for, and what it solved. Do that twice a week. Within a month you are the person people think of.
Make one thing easy to find
Pick a single lane and put it in your bio and your cover image. "Video editor, Lagos." You can do six things. Advertise one. People hire the specialist and ignore the generalist, then discover later that you also do the other five.
Reply within the hour
Most jobs on here are decided in the first three replies. Not the best three replies - the first three. Turn on notifications.
Price it and hold it
Decide your rate before anyone asks. Say it plainly when they do. The negotiation you dread is usually one sentence: "That is my rate for this scope. If the budget is smaller, I can do a smaller version." Then be quiet.
What to do in your first week
- Finish your profile with a real photograph and one-line bio.
- Post three pieces of finished work, one a day.
- Join the groups for your city and your craft, and answer somebody else's question properly before you ask one.
- Apply to five posted jobs with a link and two sentences.
- Post one job of your own, even a tiny one. Being on both sides teaches you more than anything you read.
For campus
If you are a student, you have something people underestimate: you are physically near hundreds of other people every day. That is a distribution network. The students earning well on here are not the ones with the biggest following - they are the ones who became the person their whole faculty goes to for one specific thing.
Be that person for one thing. The rest follows.
