Hiring a consultant to reduce costs
Consultants (or freelancers) are sometimes a better value in your team and helps you reduce your costs, especially in the time of a slow economy. Here are some things you should look for when consultant hunting.
1. Experience & expertise - Needs to walk the talk. A lot of times people talk bigger than what they can do. Try a few small non-core projects and see how it works out.
2. Willingness to adapt - You want someone who is flexible, humble and willing to form a great working relationship. Think this relationship is for the long term and beyond just one project.
3. Communication - Should be clear, succinct and crisp. Sometimes, less talk the better.
4. Responsiveness - send them a few emails and see the turnaround time. The faster the better. Not only does this prove that they are committed but also shows their web-savvy-ness and promptness.
5. Not Greedy - In a slow economy you will find lots of them trying to make a quick buck. Just make sure you are not the guy that's going to shell out the cash.
Personally, I like to work with people that don't call themselves experts, are humble and are easy to work with. Recently, we have hired some really good freelancers and have built a win-win relationship with them. There were also the greedy and non-responsive few who lost out on the bigger projects that could have come their way!
