LinkedIn wants to help freelancers get new jobs

O LinkedIn presented a resource to help connect freelancers to companies that need professionals to perform specific services. Called Service Marketplace, the idea is to create a sort of classifieds to enable people to apply for short or occasional job opportunities advertised by contractors.

To get started, the social network promises integration with sites specialized in practice, such as Upwork and Fiverr. Both services offer pretty much the same thing, but Fiveer is more aimed at freelancers (since people offer their services), while Upwork is focused on companies (they publish ads and people present budgets).

The social platform should help balance things out, although it is more likely to adopt the Upwork model. After each work performed, companies will be able to assess the performance of the freela — but he won’t be able to evaluate the contractor — and that can help him get a good reputation for getting more opportunities.

Testing for this intermediation began almost a year ago, initially in the US market, and had the participation of about two million users. Now, with everything adjusted, the site should release the tool to its 800 million users across the planet, a number well above the 23 million of Upword and 2.5 million of Fiverr.

Anyone interested should check if the resource has already been made available for their profile, because this distribution should be gradual: just look for the button near the top and right below the photo and biography sections. The user will be able to define what their skills are in the profile, what types of projects they want to work on and, from there, apply for offers made available.

The Service Marketplace is free and already has about 250 job categories, a number that should grow to at least 500 in the coming months. .

Source: TechCrunch

–