Freelancing is an excellent option for people at different stages of their lives. And if you’ve just finished your education – be it high school or college – you’re probably thinking, am I ready to dive in and try freelancing?

The Answer is YES! And Here’s Why: 

You don’t need any experience 

One of the worst things about trying to find a job as a recent graduate is that employers nearly always demand experience, even for graduate roles. Experience is typically a pre-requisite for any role, and you will be expected to show how you have developed various transferable skills, even though you’ve just entered the job market!

As a freelancer, you don’t need any experience to start working in your chosen field. And while some clients might ask you where you’ve worked previously or how you’re qualified to complete the task at hand, others won’t be bothered, providing you can complete your work in a timely and professional manner.

You can try different roles before committing to a career 

Being expected to commit to a career when you’re fresh out of college is a pretty unreasonable expectation. After all, how can you possibly know what you want to do for the rest of your life when you’ve only just finished your education?

Dipping your toes in the water by freelancing is a great way to gain exposure to various jobs without necessarily committing to one career path over another. This is because freelancing gigs are typically short-term arrangements and don’t require a great deal of commitment on your part. As such, if you start a gig and it doesn’t work out, you can easily move on and try something new.

You can do other things while you’re freelancing  

In the years immediately after your education, the world is all yours to explore! Jumping straight into a 40+ hour career in a corporate office somewhere isn’t everyone’s idea of the perfect life. But entering the gig economy once you’ve finished your education allows you to experience lots of different things at the same time.

You can travel and spend time in different places, or you can commit to some of your other passions and interests while earning a decent living. The flexibility and versatility of the freelance lifestyle are particularly liberating for recent graduates, and it allows you to experience lots of different things before deciding on your next professional steps.

You don’t need to go for any interviews 

Let’s be frank – graduate interviews suck. You’re expected to impress high-level executives that you’ve never met by complimenting their company’s achievements in an industry you know nothing about. And in spite of your lack of experience, you’re expected to nail the interview and jump through hoops to land a role in the company. It’s a far from the ideal way to find work as a graduate.

Conversely, nine times out of ten as a freelancer, you don’t need to go for an interview to land a role. While you might be asked to hop on a call or exchange messages with a client, that is likely to be it. You can say goodbye to difficult interview prep and focus your time and energy on perfecting your portfolio and considering your freelance offering.

You can increase your professional network 

When you’re fresh out of education, your professional network is likely to be limited to your classmates. And freelancing is an excellent way of building your professional network, as you will connect with a broad range of clients and will even have the chance to collaborate and even hire other freelancers.

And as you advance throughout your career, you will find that most of the opportunities that come your way will do so through your professional network. It’s often said in business that it’s more about who you know than what you know, so building your professional network is super important from the very start of your freelancing career.

Five Quick-Fire Tips to Get Started as a Graduate Freelancer

• Don’t worry about your lack of experience: The gig economy is super flexible, and providing you deliver high-quality work on time, your clients won’t mind that you don’t have experience.
• Upskill where you can: To supplement your education, add some professional skills or qualifications where you can. This will help you land more gigs in the future.
• Learn from other freelancers: The best people to learn from as a freelancer are those that are already doing what you want to do! Commit to learning as much as you can from the people you want to emulate.
• Always ask for feedback: When you complete a project, check in with your client and ask them for feedback on your performance. This will help you improve your offer and your overall service delivery.
• Use RadialHub to find work: RadialHub is the perfect place to find clients when you’re just starting out as a freelancer. Providing you optimize your profile, you will find clients and other freelancers to collaborate on the platform.