Why New College Grads Should Consider Freelancing as a Career Choice
Posted October 19, 2011 in Getting Started
Your university days are over. Gone are those structured, hard working (sometimes), but overall sheltered, days as a student.
Making it in the big wide world is a daunting prospect for anyone, but in these tough economic times the difficulties and hurdles facing new graduates are bigger than ever. With rising student debt, youth unemployment and cutthroat competition for the small number of jobs available to hundreds of thousands of graduates, the prospects for university graduates may seem quite grim.
Nevertheless, there are opportunities for those tech-savvy graduates who are comfortable with social media and the online world. For those who are anxious to get their first foot onto a career ladder online, freelancing may be a great opportunity.
While the online world has a lot to offer new freelancing graduates looking for work, there are some fundamentals to learn first before diving in and losing your head.
What Freelancing Can Offer Graduates
Many of us are familiar with the stereotypical freelancer–the individual who was sick of their boss, their 9-5 job and the lack of creativity in their career. There is also the individual who chose freelancing in order to spend more time with their family or to become their own boss. The idea that freelancing could also be an ideal career choice for a new graduate may be new to some people, but in reality, it’s the perfect option.
If you are a graphic design graduate and have ambitions of joining a professional agency, you’ll discover that the competition for these positions (even lower-paid junior positions) is extremely high. Thus, no matter how passionate you are, you simply may not have a diverse enough portfolio of work and satisfied client recommendations to back up your credentials as a graphic designer.
Freelancing on a variety of jobs, working with a diverse clientele, is the perfect way to expand your portfolio when you’re fresh out of college. Moreover, to the client, opting for a graduate freelancer may be the more economical choice over opting for a big-name agency or other seasoned professional.
Building Trust as an Online Freelancer
Some clients may feel that choosing a seasoned professional presents less risk to their project than selecting a newly graduated freelancer. However, for small to medium sized projects the skill and passion of the freelancer can make or break the success of a project.
Of course, when it comes to convincing clients to select you (the new graduate) for their project over another freelancer, you do not have years of experience to compete for the job with. Nevertheless, remember that a professional agency made up of many employees cannot offer the client the same personal touch that you can.
Plus, if you are fresh out of university and haven’t got dozens of clients to work with, then you are in a much stronger position to work on a one-to-one basis with any client. As we all know, a glowing testimony from such a satisfied client can work wonders for future project prospects.
How New Graduates Can Succeed
If there’s anyone able utilize social media and online communication for their career success, it is recent graduates.
Today’s generation of graduates has literally grown up with Web 2.0 technologies. The opportunities for graduates to use their internet skills to impress potential clients, win projects and conduct client management are there for the taking.
Online mediation and freelancing platforms can offer freelancers of all stripes the chance to upload their portfolio and list their skills in order to find exciting and diverse projects in all fields. In fact, graduates can take advantage of these online platforms to create an international client base, and there are not many traditional agencies who can say that they make a living from globetrotting for new clients!
Moreover, online project platforms or not, according to a joint study by Dr. Mansour from the University of Denver and Peter Kuhn from the University of California, searching for work online can cut time spent unemployed by up to 25 percent. That benefit is even greater for younger people.
Also, learning to effectively use online tools to freelance may come more easily to recent graduates than it would come to middle-aged professionals. For instance, if a new graduate wanted to create clear channels of communication between themselves and the client, they would probably have no trouble at all using Twitter or Skype to communicate during business hours. Plus, expanding social networks to include business contacts and clients is second nature to the generation who had their teenage years defined by Facebook.
So Get Out There and Freelance
Overall, whether freelancing brings you success, or not, rests on your ability to do your own marketing by reaching out to others in your field through tools like Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs. You will also need to impress potential clients with your passion and know-how with an online portfolio that can be easily accessed.
Recent graduates may have to learn the hard way that they must fight for every freelancing project they win. Yet, they are well placed to get the best out of what the online world has to offer.
What About You?
Are you a recent university graduate who has embraced freelancing as a career? What are some of the challenges and obstacles you have faced?
Share your answers in the comments.
Image by j.o.h.n. walker
Related posts:
- Freelancing — A Career Choice or Lifestyle?
- 3 Reasons Why I Am a Little Wary of Freelance Writing as a Career Choice
- Open Thread: Has Your Freelancing Career Been Affected By Discrimination?
- The Building Blocks Of A Successful Freelancing Career
- Boost Your Freelancing Career by Making the Most of LinkedIn Groups
About the author: My name is David from twago, Europe’s largest international online mediation platform connecting customers and freelancers together on projects in the fields of web design, translation, programming, graphic design and SEO.
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21 Comments
Maria
October 19th, 2011 at 9:26 amAs a freelancer I believe that Freelancing career one of the career which makes a man perfect, smart. Not only this Freelancing career was my Dreamy thing when I was in university. After a few years I’m having a top notch freelancer reputation as well. So I’m highly recommending “Freelancing” to anyone.
Thom Ransom
October 19th, 2011 at 9:34 amHey David,
Good article this morning. I agree completely with what you say is the new-freelancer USP (tech-savvy, 24/7 attention, etc.) I’ve gotten better results selling online marketing and PR services than any traditional service I learned in school (sad but true).
I’d like to add an addendum: Show a business lead that you’re a professional.
- Don’t show up to your pitch in blue jeans and a t-shirt.
- Know how to create a strategy and measure business results (ROI and added benefits)
- Conservative companies usually want to see testimonials and a portfolio to back up your claims (frustrating when you’re fresh out of school).
Cheers! -Thom
ORadini
October 19th, 2011 at 1:34 pmReally interesting article. I’ve been out of university for a while and found that freelancing is interesting fun, and useful. You don’t often think of freelancing as a graduate, but more people should give it a shot.
Nikhil Singh
October 19th, 2011 at 2:09 pmHello sir,
I m totally agree that in these tough days of recession freelancing can be fruiterer than other routine type of job. But don’t you think that still it require some training as well in the desired field. As I have started it from the last semester of my university days but my mentor left me in middle due to some new work which he got just after starting up. Now a days I am seeking training opportunity that is also difficult to find a suitable one. I hope you have got my point and sooner you will give me a hint to come out from this riddle.
thanks!
Nikhil Singh
October 19th, 2011 at 2:13 pmI have one more query that i think i should not ask, however I would like to know how stock management software can help a shopkeeper in long run of his business?
Millions -of-Thanks in-advance. :)
custom logo design
October 20th, 2011 at 3:28 amThere is no doubt that nowadays unemployment is on worse position and it is one of the important and burning issue of the world, and i think your suggestion is very important for all those graduates who are facing problems to get jobs, in my opinion IT business will expand in the world with the passage of time and in-spite of it that jobs are not easily available and every field of business is going down, online business is still stable and providing millions of jobs to newbies in this field. Therefore i will refer all fresh graduates start your freelance work as soon as possible.
Your points are very important and i think these guidelines have very importance for all newbies. However, your all points are very important, but i think the most important point is that “Building Trust as an Online Freelancer” because in this nature of business you have to build your trust on clients then you can earn good figure of money and faith.
waqar khan
October 21st, 2011 at 8:40 amIMPRESSIVE WORK :)
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
A COMPLETE GUIDE TO START FREELANCING AS A LONG TERM JOB INCLUDING A GUIDE BY MILES BURNE
A complete guide to start a new career as a freelancer
waqar khan
October 23rd, 2011 at 12:44 amNow a days freelancing is just going crazy lol tons of freelancers now a days and good thing is that…they pay very good………I have listed some of the best FREELANCING sites here just take a look and i have also done a survey and there are some very good things
so if you are new to freelance you must take a look and if you are doing it still take a look i am sure you gonna like it
thanks
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TOP FREELANCING SITES CLICK HERE !!!
David Sumner
October 24th, 2011 at 3:42 amNikhil: I m totally agree that in these tough days of recession freelancing can be fruiterer than other routine type of job. But don’t you think that still it require some training as well in the desired field. As I have started it from the last semester of my university days but my mentor left me in middle due to some new work which he got just after starting up. Now a days I am seeking training opportunity that is also difficult to find a suitable one. I hope you have got my point and sooner you will give me a hint to come out from this riddle.
You’re absolutely right that to be successful at freelancing you need a good level of training and “know-how” in your required field. However, graduates who have just spent three or more years at University can be expected to have a good sound knowledge of their field. If a graduate however does lack any specific 110% knowledge of any aspect of their work then a practical solution for the graduate is to create a strong network of contacts, fellow grads and even old professors which they can rely on. Another solution is for grads to take up further online courses in order to beef up their qualifications.
Melissa H. Masters
October 26th, 2011 at 11:22 amInteresting article. I have been out of university for a few years, but I am also recently unemployed due to relocation. I have been freelancing in the meantime, but it was not without obstacles and great amounts of time invested in order to get the ball rolling. As others have predicted, the most difficult part is getting your first clients without much of a portfolio. To combat this, I ended up taking a couple projects at very low rates, and a couple smaller ones I did for free in the interest of building a portfolio. So, it may be an option for those with a lot of time on their hands, but it’s not going to help you pay the bills for quite a while – so, my advice is to not let yourself lax on the job searching just because you landed a couple projects. I wholeheartedly agree that it is time well spent, since you are learning new skills and discovering talents. This will go a long way when you finally get some interviews.
Nikhil Singh
October 26th, 2011 at 1:16 pm@Mr. David: Thank you!
@Ms Melissa: thank you for sharing your experience; your experience has let me to realise that I should have done the project that I got for inappropriate money.
thanks again!
Sean Thomason
October 27th, 2011 at 2:29 pmGreat article!! I am an avid reader of your site and all the articles here. Thanks for contributing such good advice to so many readers and career aspirants. I also read an excellent book recently titled “The Career Journey” by author Ram Iyer that is a beautiful complement to your article here. Of course, there are many other career books too but it is articles like yours that are so clear and specific that make the difference. Thanks again!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Career-Journey-book-career-management/dp/1449918395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319738487&sr=8-1
jonathan
October 31st, 2011 at 2:50 amI’m a uni-student from Sweden who has a freelance business on the side. I’m currently also in an internship .. just want to tell any students thinking of starting to freelance while still in school:
You will need dedication and most of all time! If you don’t feel like you have the hours free to put into it, it may not be the best thing. Mostly because the financial stuff isn’t worth it if you don’t have time to take on jobs. There are services to use if you still want to take up the occasional project (which is great for both if wallet and portfolio) and I suggest looking into that :)
Sorry I can’t post any links to such services but I’m at my phone in the Morning commute . GL HF
web development consulting
December 2nd, 2011 at 7:40 amRapidly increasing the figure of unemployment i think the importance of freelancing work has increase because it is easy available and you can earn a smart amount at your home until you get a good job. Your points and tips are very effective and important to motivate newly graduate students to try freelance work at home.
blogging tips
February 27th, 2012 at 7:50 amgreat tips and nice way you have suggest for new college grads, because it is very easy and effective way to earn handsome amount on the web. Which will be helpful for their future to become a professional person.
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