The benefits of using freelancers, especially in a flux market

In the Creative Store’s latest Creative Talk column, the team discusses the benefits of using freelancers, especially in a flux market.

2024 is seeing the repercussions of the global recession as the creative market continues its state of flux. As many companies continue to have a no hire policy in place for new or replacement permanent recruitment, using freelancers is a great option.

We work with freelancers across the board, with skills and experience covering the Advertising, Digital, Design, Marketing, Media & Tech industries. In each of the countries we work in – UK, Australia, New Zealand – we have consultants who specifically focus on meeting new freelancers on a daily basis, ensuring we have the top talent ready to outsource to our clients. We also offer international freelancers, meaning you are tapping into the best global talent.

Globally in 2024 the freelance market has been responding similarly, with more clients leaning towards freelance resources to help them as and when additional resource is required.  This can help keep your business overheads down when you are not in a position to take on permanent hires.

With such a wide range of freelancers on our database and range of hourly rates, we can price the perfect person, with the ideal skillset to fit within your budget and requirements, meaning you don’t have to pay for additional skills that you don’t require. It’s a great way for companies to keep their talent fresh. You can engage anyone at any time to bring new life and ideas into your studio. It’s also a great option for agencies, with clients coming and going, freelancers can be a great option to get you through your busiest times without the hassle of finding them work during the quiet months.

For the first five months of this year, our most common request for freelancers in New Zealand has been intermediate level Graphic Designers with Digital Design skills. In Australia we have seen a peak in requests for Content Designers (hybrid of Creative and Digital Marketing), and in the UK there has been a higher interest in 2D and 3D Experiential & Packaging Designers.

Client freelance requests for hybrid skills are certainly on the increase and we do have an excellent range of hybrid options. At the moment the most common request is for a Digital Marketing Specialist who also has hands-on content creation design experience.

We still have a lot of freelance assignments that allow for remote working – however, there has been a big uptick in clients asking that freelancers work inhouse/hybrid.

One of the most recurring questions this year that we get asked from our freelancers is “what assignments are coming up on the horizon”.  We don’t have the answer for this, the market has been unpredictable throughout 2023 and 2024, however, we are seeing an overall increase in freelance requests across the board and more week long bookings, rather than hours and days.

Our advice to freelancers who are having a quiet year is to be more agile – accept assignments at short notice, be willing and able to work onsite, be flexible on your rate and use your downtime to upskill.  Everything is cyclical – hang in there!