Sick of working for ‘The Man’ for a pittance? Take matters into your own hands and get some freelance work courtesy of the Worldwide Web.
Your final year has finally arrived, your bank account is running drier than the Sahara, you need some readies but you don’t want to compromise your studies. What’s a poor student to do?You could go and get that part-time bar job, data entry position, or checkout job, but do you really want to surrender yourself to mind-numbing, repetitive employment? Be at the mercy of an already drawn up staff rota? Thought not.
Not only that, but in the ever-increasingly competitive world of graduate employment, every shred of experience counts. These part-time jobs might not be the best way to make the most of your knowledge, or your time. So why not take control of your destiny and earning potential, and make use of a number of websites cropping up that are tailored towards helping freelancers find employment and clients.
StudentGems.com is one such website that helps put businesses and individuals in touch with students in order to tap into their skills and services at a cheaper cost than hiring a professional. Students who take employment through the website can manage their own workload, earn more money than a lot of part-time jobs pay, and gain examples of work for portfolios.
Started last September, StudentGems already boasts more than 9,000 student members across the country who have taken matters into their own hands in finding freelance work.
There are a number of websites already in the business of helping people find clients while freelancing, but StudentGems is tailored to students, and makes no secrets of providing a workforce that aren’t at a professional standard yet.
“When we set up the website we knew that students are incredibly talented and firmly believed that they should have the opportunity to earn more money than they have pulling a pint,” explains Joanna Ward, co-founder of StudentGems. “Once we launched and students began to fill in their profiles by listing their skills and uploading media to back them up, we were blown away. Some of the profiles are totally outstanding and the talent is phenomenal. We have learnt that students are not only ready, willing and able to work but that they are enthusiastic, responsive and committed.”
Registration is free for students, while those doing the commissioning will soon have to pay a nominal fee in order to be able to use the web service. While StudentGems encourages open and honest lines of communication relating to levels of experience and client requirements, there is no mechanic currently in place to protect members as yet, other than through a user ratings system.
This gap in the market, a system to protect both employer and employee when entering into an agreement, looks like it will be plugged by a new website which is due to launch at the end of this year. A website for people from all walks of life, Skillbasket aims to be a one-stop shop which enables people to get in contact with each other, very similar to the way in which StudentGems works. However, there are a number of features that will separate Skillbasket from others in its field.
As well as putting people in touch, Skillbasket also plans to provide the tools needed to make professional partnerships watertight, such as legal contracts and non-disclosure agreements for top-secret information. Ben Morris, founder and Skillbasket mastermind, noticed an employment trend that he thought could be utilitised: “About four years ago I noticed a lot of my friends were starting to go freelance and a lot of companies were starting to realise that hiring freelancers was a good thing.”
His observations were astute – between September 2003 and September 2007, the number of people registered as self-employed rose by a third to just over 4.2million.So why does the idea of being self-employed appeal to so many people? “Less and less people want to be tied into one job,” reasons Ben.
“I think it’s part of the idea of the lifestyle we have which is more consumer-based – jobs are no longer for life.”
Ben sees a rise in a new type of employee through websites such as his own, one that is also rife on Studentgems: the professional amateur.
“Skillbasket is ideal for the professional amateur - somebody who, for example, isn’t quite a photographer, so they could say they’ve got a good eye for taking good shots, better than most people, but they don’t stand a chance of getting their own studio. Skillbasket will enable people to tap into this level of skills without having to pay for the professionals, or people at the top of the trade.”
Great news for anyone with a passion or hobby that they like to do in their spare time, but what about those who want to use this experience in order to get a professional job in that line of work?
While it may not be professional experience, showing commitment to your chosen profession early on and taking the initiative will impress your prospective employers.
“There’s an element of maturity required to actually be a freelancer, and a lot of graduates are having to go the freelance route as an entry to work,” explains Ben.
So there you have it: prove you have the nous to make a success of your own business, and you may impress prospective employers in the long term. Not bad work when earning some extra cash during term-time…
Tips on managing your freelance career
Don’t forget to register yourself as self-employed – if you fail to do this within three months, you are fined £100. Call 0845 915 4515 or go to www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed to register
“Go for as many jobs as possible, be realistic about your experience.” – Andy Barr, MyCelebrityFashion
“Put yourself out there and keep looking. The jobs I’ve actually done are ones that I looked for and persevered with.” – Jennie Parry, Freelancer
“The feedback from businesses has been that they are 100% more likely to take on a student who has made an effort with their profile rather than one who has not.” – Joanna Ward, StudentGems
“You need to have good communication skills to ensure that everyone gets what they want, you need to have a good business mind, good negotiation skills and be organised.” – Ben Morris, Skillbasket
“On the money side, you have to be clear in your mind what your time is worth and be able to explain that and be prepared to make some concessions with it.” – Ben Morris, Skillbasket
Keep a record of how much you earn and when. Figure out roughly how much National Insurance (and tax if applicable) you’ll have to pay and keep this pot of money set aside for when the time comes
Keep receipts for anything you can claim back as expenses – travel for a job, costs of materials, phone calls made. These costs can mean you pay less tax as you take the money from your earnings
Be organised and prompt. Businesses place a lot of importance upon reliability
If applicable, build up a portfolio of your work and experience. Take time to make it look slick and impressive – this is your calling card
“Keep in contact with people, as they can drop off the radar so easily.” – Jennie Parry, Freelancer
“Someone once said to me: ‘Say what you’re going to do and do it, under promise but over-deliver.’ That’s invaluable advice.” – Ben Morris, Skillbasket
The Client
Andy Barr, Managing Director of 10 Yetis PR and MyCelebrityFashion.co.ukHaving launched MyCelebrityFashion just two months ago, the success of Andy’s new website is phenomenal, with 10,000 unique users having logged onto the site in its first month. MyCelebrityFashion is a website which deconstructs what the celebrities wear and offers high street alternatives, with links to all the shops’ home pages.
In order to keep the website, whose currency is celebrity icons such as Kate Moss, fresh and interesting, Andy places importance on a regular turnover of new material, mainly in the form of news stories.
And this is where StudentGems steps in - Andy has a roster of ten students interested in fashion to wax lyrical about the threads that these VIPs are wearing, along with other trend stories.
“We posted our requirements up on StudentGems and the response was brilliant, 40 were fashion-related students, and the rest were studying English,” he explains.
All of the articles, apart from the odd thing that’s been written by myself, are written by people who are still at university.”
One of his regular writers is 3rd year English student Jennie Parry. “Jennie’s been absolutely fantastic, she’s written article after article, and I’m now using her for other stuff that we’re working on.
You can tell that some of these people are going to be the next really big journalists, because they really do know their stuff.”
Andy feels that a lot of the success of MyCelebrityFashion is down to the work of those people he found through StudentGems, including Jennie.
“I don’t think we’d have got where we are as quickly as we have without using StudentGems.
“The people who are writing the news articles are so passionate and knowledgeable, you wouldn’t get that anywhere else, really.”
The Freelancer
Jennie Parry, 3rd year, English Literature with linguistics, University of Central Lancashire
Realising that copywriting is a difficult field to break into, Jennie Parry is using StudentGems to gain the experience and portfolio needed to help her get a job once she graduates. In a month and a half, she has gained regular commissions from two websites – www.mycelebrityfashion.co.uk and www.snowbrainer.co.uk.
MyCelebrityFashion is her most regular client, having already written 15 articles for them in their first month working together, while the contract she has just signed with SnowBrainer stipulates that she writes 3 articles a week. From the work picked up over the summer holidays, she would probably be able to fund her final year without having to get part-time work. Instead, she is planning on tackling her coursework, while working part-time and continuing with the freelance experience, as she is worried that the freelance work isn’t reliable.
“There’s not really anywhere else out there where you can, as a student, get freelance work, explains Jennie. “Without StudentGems, I’d really struggle to get any experience in copywriting before I graduate, and that means possibly having to do an unpaid internship when you graduate or having to settle for a job that isn’t really what you want to do.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to go out and get work as a copywriter, even if I have to freelance or have to stay on with my part-time job for a couple of months. I’m hoping the experience will set me apart.”
The Freelancer
Deborah Burgess, Social Sciences 3rd year at York University
After reading about StudentGems on Facebook, Deborah signed up to the website soon after it launched, then promptly forgot about it.
This summer, however, she noticed quite a lot of activity on there, and consequently decided to create a better profile for herself, spending more time filling in details.
She listed skills such as being able to teach Italian, providing support for web software, needlework and sports coaching – all skills that she has picked up from everyday life.
Deborah received an email following her profile revamp from a businesswoman who needed help with designing her blog. Deborah knew the software that her new client Louise was using, and so stepped into the breach in order to get the website set up correctly for her.
After one face-to-face meeting, Deborah now provides interim technical support over the phone for Louise, which she finds easy to manage alongside her other commitments.
“I’m looking to go into PR and marketing when I graduate, so I’m developing business skills by working with Louise,” explains Deborah. It’s very much about putting across the image that she wants and I’m helping her do that. I’m gaining transferable skills from this freelance work.
“StudentGems is a good thing to run alongside coursework during term-time, because it’s difficult to have a bar job or a shop job during term. Something like StudentGems you can do in your spare time, at home quite casually over the computer – it’s really good.”
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