The internet is the most functional tool for employment. Professionals, as well as beginners, prefer working from remote locations. Remote working has become popular in the past few years. Many people have been afforded the convenience of working for anyone from any part of the world. The industry keeps going, and the demand for these jobs is rising. Online jobs may include working remotely for a company full-time or part-time and working as a freelance professional. Most of the time, freelancers work remotely. It helps them get different gigs from different employers conveniently. Many companies have set up online platforms to aid remote working. One of such companies is RemoteHub, a platform where you can find online jobs and work remotely. There are also numerous freelancing opportunities on the platform.

What are the jobs that can be worked remotely?

Remote jobs cut across many industries. IT jobs, marketing jobs, design, e.t.c Here are some popular jobs that allow remote working:

• Full-stack programming
• Graphic design
• Teaching
• Writing
• Language translation
• Digital marketing
• Technical support Engineer
• Project management
• Software engineering

What are the processes of searching for an online job?

An online job requires a skillset and the internet. There are different ways of achieving this, and they include looking up the websites of companies of interest for full-time, and part-time remote job opportunities, and the use of job boards.

Job boards are search engines that display job opportunities. Employment opportunities on job boards cut across several industries. Some job boards are, however, industry-specific.

Looking up the website of companies of interest may not be an effective way of looking for remote jobs. Some platforms offer new remote jobs, full-time and part-time jobs, and freelancing opportunities.

Freelance industry outlook.

The freelance industry is a trillion-dollar one. According to figures released by Statista, over 59 million people are working as freelancers in the United States. It is an increase from 53 million in 2014. There has been a steady increase in the number of freelancers in the industry since 2014. Researches have shown that you get people to engage more in freelancing than older people.

According to a survey in 2020, 50% of people aged 18-22 engage in freelancing. Only 44% of people aged 23-38 participate in freelancing. It shows that freelancing gets popular with the increasing youth population. Freelance workers contribute $1.2 trillion to the US economy annually. The average wage of freelancers per hour is $28. 50% of freelancers provide services related to ICT, marketing, and business consulting.

The US freelance industry is the largest in the world with year-on-year revenue growth of 78%. The UK and Brazil also have large freelance markets with 59% and 48% year-on-year revenue growth. Other countries with a big freelance market include Pakistan, Ukraine, The Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Russia, and Serbia. The COVID-19 pandemic caused some changes in the way people work. It consequently led to an increase in the number of first-time freelancers.  In 2020, 12% of the population started freelancing for the first time. The income earned by freelancers makes up about 5% of the US GDP or total market value. This means that the industry generates more revenues than the transportation and construction industry. 

Industry projection and predictions

The increase in the number of freelancers is evident, and it will only grow the market. Remote jobs are getting increasingly popular and are an option for people looking to do freelance jobs on the internet.

• The global Freelance Platforms market size is projected to reach US$ 9.1929 billion by 2026 from US$ 3.3935 billion in 2019.
• The CAGR is expected to be 15.3% during 2021-2026.
• By 2025, 36.2 million Americans will be working remotely, an 87% increase from the pre-pandemic level.
• By the end of 2021, 56% of entities will facilitate remote work. 16% of those entities will have the entirety of their workforce working remotely.

Market leaders and their shortcomings

According to financeonline.com, The top 3 freelancing platforms in terms of the number of users are Freelancer.com with 31 million users, Upwork with 17 million, and Fiverr with 7 million users. The freelance market is highly competitive, and big players such as Fiverr and Upwork have an enormous market presence and influence. Their services are good but consist of many inconsistencies and inefficiencies. Some of these problems are outlined below:

Fiverr – This is one of the most popular freelance platforms. It was created a decade ago and has provided solutions for clients and freelancers alike. A contract is won every 4 seconds on Fiverr. The platform, however, has many cons that do not conform to present market demands. Several reviews from different users have exposed the inefficiency of the platform. Some of them are discussed below:

No Seller protection: Fiverr places the interest of the buyer or client over that of the seller or the service provider. This is evident in the review of Katrina who complained of clients getting a refund upon job cancellation while the seller gets nothing for the work that has been put in. Gig cancellations are usually bad for analytics. Another seller Thomas narrated how he was defrauded in the course of a 3-year-old gig and couldn’t get a solution from customer care.

Bad Customer Service: Many of the bad reviews of Fiverr are complaints about customer service. Good customer service is very important in achieving excellent service delivery. A buyer Ashley was duped by a seller and he had difficulties reaching customer care for assistance. This resulted in him scoring the platform low in performance. Jun T, a seller also complained about the terrible customer service of the platform and stated that the platform cares more about money-making than user experience. Both clients and service providers seem to have problems with Fiverr’s Customer care. This is evident in the dissatisfactory reviews.

Bad matching: Getting matched with the best professionals is also another big disadvantage of this platform. With sellers on the lookout for the best hands they can get, this is a big con and may drive clients from the platform. A buyer Francis complains about how buyers get connected to incompetent individuals and eventually lose money.

Fraudulent sellers & Zero buyer protection: There have been numerous cases where buyers get scammed by dubious sellers. One of such cases is the case of John who narrated how he got scammed of $500 with little to no help from the company. Another user Jay complained about how the platform houses too many scammers and zero protection is offered to buyers.

Other defects associated with this platform are discussed below:

Low-quality consumers – Most of the clients on Fiverr are on the platform to get the cheapest and most ridiculously priced services. Underpayment is a big issue for service providers. Usually, it affects the quality of service provided. It also doesn’t help build a long-lasting relationship between clients and freelancers.

Low-pay: As earlier highlighted, many clients are on Fiverr hoping to pay bad prices for excellent jobs. One might eventually not get what their service is worth in the market. A $50 job could easily be worth $5 on Fiverr. Earning a lot of Fiverr means you have to gather a host of clients. It can be overwhelming and can also decrease the quality of service delivery.

Lack of long-term relationship –Fiverr isn’t wired for a long-term relationship between clients and freelancers. A Long-term working relationship is vital for a successful freelancing career, and Fiverr isn’t the best platform to achieve that.

Money withdrawal takes too much time – Getting your funds available for withdrawal takes too long on Fiverr. It might take up to two weeks or even more if you deal with an unreliable client.

Upwork – Like Fiverr, this is another popular freelance platform that links freelancers to clients. This platform is also defective in many ways. The many defects of this platform are evident in the reviews of the users of the platform. Some of the reviews are shown below

Some of the shortcomings of the Upwork platform can be summarized below:

Profile approval takes too long – With the level of the platform as one of the biggest freelancing platforms in the world, the platform is very restrictive. It sometimes causes a delay in profile approval. It may take months to resolve sometimes. It is highly disadvantageous to new members and could be an immense discouragement for some people.

Getting top-rated approval is difficult and takes time – the top-rated status differentiates freelancers on Upwork. Most of the time, gigs go to the top-rated guys before any other user. It may take up to 5 months to attain that status. It usually creates an uneven playing ground on the platform. The process is long, and a user may not be selected by their algorithm.

Tough competition – inexperienced Newbies on the platform are obligated to compete with the top-rated guys with years of experience. You have to convince clients in every way possible to employ your services over that of top-rated guys.

Clients have the final say –Upwork gives much weight to what clients have to say. It is being done to improve customer satisfaction but may also be disadvantageous if a client is unfair and dishonest.

In summary, the market leaders have a large part of the market and are dominant, but their platforms are old and less friendly to starters. Starters usually find it hard to begin a freelance career on these platforms.

Effective alternatives to the big players

The entry-level into the market via the market leaders is very high and grueling for beginners. Job seekers and Freelancers are actively looking for alternative platforms that could serve as a viable substitute for the big players. One of such substitutes is RemoteHub, a freelance platform where service providers meet their clients.

What does RemoteHub offer?

RemoteHub is an online platform aimed at connecting companies to remote professionals. This platform serves as a job board as well as a freelancing community. The platform can be described as a job marketplace and community that consists of professional service providers and consumers of their services. The platform comprises over 200,000 professionals, 2,000 employees and has created over 5,000 jobs worldwide. There are well over 13,000 portfolio projects on the platform, and more than 9,000 services have been provided. The professionals are scattered over many skills. These skills include programming, marketing, engineering, graphic design, UI design, business writing, content writing, translation, and many others. Companies have employed this platform for remote work hiring as well as recruitment into remote positions.

RemoteHub differs from other freelancing platforms and offers unique services tailored to the needs of both the service providers and the consumers. Some of the many advantages RemoteHub offers include free job posting, availability of all types of jobs, smart matching networking, creativity showcase, integrated payments, e.t.c.

Many companies are already making use of this platform to find remote employees. Some of these companies include Swapcard, Mailbird, Interaction Design Foundation, Kelly, Korn Ferry, Vmware, DataArt, and Clio.

How to become part of the RemoteHub community

Joining the RemoteHub community is easy and doesn’t require a lot of steps. The following steps should be followed to register an account on RemoteHub:

• Log in to remotehub.com

Click on the menu button on the homepage

• Click on signup

• Create a new account and choose a good password
• Edit profile and upload a photo
• Clicking the overview button will bring other setup options like ‘create a company page’, languages, skills, etc.

• You can also describe the services you provide in the window by clicking on the service button.

• You can also add your portfolio to your profile by clicking the portfolio button.

• If you are an employer, you can post a job by clicking on the job button.
• Clicking the menu button on the top left-hand corner will reveal more options.

The above steps are the basic steps required to become part of the RemoteHub. The site has user-friendly interphase, is easily navigable, and contains everything a job seeker or employer needs.

RemoteHub benefits the job seeker in the following ways:

1. Finding full-time jobs, part-time jobs, and freelance jobs.
2. Expansion of professional network.
3. An avenue to showcase their skills and creativity.
4. Build vital relationships with fellow professionals and employers.

RemoteHub benefits employers in the following ways:

1. Posting as many jobs as possible for free.
2. Finding and discovering professionals across many skills
3. Looking into various services and portfolios of professionals.
4. Getting matched with brilliant professionals.

By creating an account, you can now have access to the features of RemoteHub. As a job seeker, the platform is a goldmine of jobs. Jobs on the platform include part-time and full-time jobs, IT jobs, writing, full-stack programming, e.t.c. RemoteHub offers unique services that set them aside from other platforms in the industry. Remote hiring and work from home have been made convenient and more enjoyable by RemoteHub. Employing this platform is the optimal solution to remote jobs and freelancing difficulties, and that is why every employer and job seeker should engage it.