So far we’ve discussed accounting software (the none glamorous side of the business) & online portfolio’s (the shiny eye candy side of things), and before going on to discuss things like time tracking or project managing, we need to get on to the topic of where do we go to find the jobs and gigs?

Web Tips Magazine has been searching for you and we think we found some great places for freelance designers to find some projects out there to start building your clientele.  And the best thing is, you can register with all these places and spread the wealth!  :)  All the work you can handle is just 1 click away.

Authentic Jobs

Authentic Jobs is a place for developers and designers to seek out jobs posted for full-time or freelance. This place has been going since 2005 and has some pretty big names of employers that have posted work here before such as Apple, ESPN, Facebook (I know, I know – but it’s still a job) and even HBO.

For the employers, it’s a great site because the offer 100% money back guarantee. If you post a job and it expires before you found the right person, you’re guaranteed your money back as long as you request a refund within 30 days of your post expiring.

For $250 USD per ad you get your job posted for 60 days, $75 USD for freelance postings, and not only are the jobs posted on this site, but also on CameronMoll.com and a host of other partner sites as well. They even have an affiliate program, incase you want to check that out as well.

Again completely free for those who are hunting for work and the ultra clean, easy to navigate website is a dream to search around – check it out.

Programmer Meets Designer

Programmer Meets Designer is a site that is designed to do exactly what the name represents.  A place where programmers and designers work together to complete a project.  The tag line on the site is “This site was created to unite programmers and designers because rarely is a person good at both programming and designing.”

So if your a programmer and you have a project to complete – let’s say an online web application, but need someone to handle the UI for you, you would post your project on this site and communications would start from there.

This site isn’t just for programmers and designers though.  The jobs posted on this site may include: programming, web developing, graphic/interface designers, content writers or web entrepreneurs.

So check it out and see what you think.

RentACoder

RentACoder is a website for people looking to post jobs to have custom software built or for coders to bid on projects that other users have requested to have built.

One of the cool things about this site is they collect the money up front for you, so you don’t have to worry about that portion of the project.

It’s free, you just register with the site and can start searching for projects.  By the time you start the project – RentACoder has already collected the money for you.  All you have to do is complete the project.

Now of course there is a fee to them for collecting the money for you, 7 1/2 – 15% on the project total, but the fee is reduced on different auction types and/or if the buyer uses a preferred payment method.    If you don’t have any projects – you don’t pay RentACoder – there’s no hidden fees or costs involved.

For buyers, they just need to post their project and specifications – there are no finder fees or service fees to pay.  Buyers are under no obligation to accept bids, but once they do – the money is placed in an escrow account until the project is complete, according to the original specification.

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine has an amazing following.  Who doesn’t check out their site on a daily basis?  They also have a freelance section.

Here you can search not just freelance jobs, but full time jobs as well.  The search is quite simple – search all, search programming, search design or search other.  Some of the “other” jobs include (as of today) SQL, Web Content, Front End Developer, SEO Manager or even Entry Level Blogger.

Not only can you search jobs, but you can post jobs here as well.  And the obvious benefit to posting here is the huge amount of hits this site gets per day.

For a charge you can have 30 day access to post as many jobs as you want or need.  Just buy some credits and your job will be posted immediately.  For 2 credits – you can post for full time jobs.  1 credit will get you a freelance job.  The credits won’t expire – they even offer discounts for the more credits that you buy. For freelancers looking for gigs the setup is completely free – it’s a one way deal for charges, which proves to be a great way of doing things, but increases the amount of people interested in the position or job.

Creative Heads

Creative Heads is a simple and easy to use web search to find a plethora of jobs out there.  If you are looking for a job in the video games industry, animation, VFX or software and technologies, to name a few of their categories of search criteria.  You may want to check out this site.

You can search not only by industry, but location, country, experience level, job type and even position.

You can slice and dice your search to whatever it may be that your looking for and of course it’s free to register to begin searching for your next money maker.

Fresh Web Jobs

Fresh Web Jobs is another good one to use.  Search the job postings to find something in the web technologies, web standards and web design trends all over.

The job posting section works much the same as the others.  Buy a credit and that gives you a 30 day listing.  But with the credits only being $75, it is a little less of an outgoing cost for you.  And if you register as an employer, you get 1 free credit just for signing up. The site is free for freelancers to view and apply, this is a great source for gig hunters.

Krop

Krop is really cool as well.  Not only can you search and post jobs, but they also offer an online portfolio section unique with your own url.  I can’t believe we missed this one from our Part 2 Online Portfolio post.

Search job postings from around the world for free.  Take advantage of their online portfolio and resume builder.  Your portfolio is free of any advertisements as well.  Everything you need right here in 1 place.

The separate employer side offers a host of packages to choose to post your jobs, search the online creative resumes or even have your company scroll across the top of their site.

Taken from their site, here’s some information about the company:

It all started in 2000 as a private mailing list of top designers helping each other find work. In 2001 it had become a simple job board on our design community website QBN. Propelled by the interactive renaissance that followed, by ’06 the job board had outgrown it’s home and Krop.com was born. In ’07, QBN & Krop had become an industry phenomenon, launching a design lecture series at the Getty Center to sold out crowds and critical acclaim. In ’08 Krop released the Creative Database, a portfolio and resume application enjoying instant success.

Today, in 2009 while continuing to release tools and features on an entirely new platform, Krop is still owned by the same designers, and still thrives by helping great creatives find great jobs.

Again this is completely free for freelancers who are job, gig hunting and I highly recommend this site simply because it’s UI is spot on, the structure of the posts is clean and clear, they have plenty of listings and the added features for the portfolio section and adding yourself to the creative database is a must!

Design Jobs on the Wall

Design Jobs On The Wall also offers a money back guarantee for people posting projects.  If within 60 days of your job posting, your not satisfied, just request a refund.

Managed by Web Designer Wall, this site also has a pretty good following with jobs not only being posted here, but other online portals and design publications such as Web Designer magazine, Practical Web Design (.Net magazine), and Computer Arts Projects.

3 tokens ($75 USD) will get you a full-time job posting or 2 tokens ($50 USD) will get you a freelance job posting for 30 days.  You can buy more tokens for a bigger discount and they will not expire.

They are even offering a 75% discount for an opening special.

Again, as per the majority of these kinds of job posting sites, it’s completely free for those looking for work.

Elance

Elance has been around for a very long time.  It’s one of the originals out there.  With job postings ranging from Web designers to Social Media campaign’s.

Elance has a large client base from both sides of the fence.  They have different tiers for members to sign up for.  You just need to sign up, pick your membership plan, build your profile and start searching and applying.  It’s a little different here, as the jobs that are posted have a required skill level – which you pick when you choose one of 4 membership plans ranging from free to $40 per month.  There’s no contracts, this is a month to month plan.

For employers – when the work is delivered and payments are made, Elance will deduct 4 – 6 % to cover the Service Fee and Payment Processing.  There is also a one-time account activation fee to setup the Employer account.

Although Elance is a great site for those posting and hunting you have to balance your monthly dues and charges against the huge wealth of other sites we have listed that do things in a different way. The competition on pricing on Elance can be quite daunting, when you are looking however at web based jobs, the World as a whole is in competition with you, and therefore someone living in India, as an example, does not have the same living costs involved with someone say who lives in New York, therefore their rates can seem quite different – be careful here, price at a comfortable level and try to focus on quality and experience if possible.

Freelance Switch

Freelance Switch is an awesome site.  Of course it is, it’s owned by Envato.

They not only have job boards and the ability to post jobs, but their blog is one of the most useful and insightful blog’s seen offering advice on what your hourly rate should be, tax advice and more.

The only downside to the job listings are that it’s a reversed system where employers can post at zero cost, while job hunters need to pay a subscription of $7 per month. Of course there is actually a huge upside to this for those looking for work, there are possibly less people looking and applying for these gigs that those systems that offer the ability for anyone to look and apply – it could well be worth the small investment to gain the upper hand in this situation – certainly worth a couple of months at $14 to see how things go for you.

They not only offer a job board but a community also, with their blog, podcasts, forums and resources, this site is an fantastic place to get almost everything you need.

Enjoy this Post?

Remember to subscribe to our RSS Feed and if you would like, please share this post.