Working as a freelancer for the Saudi Arabia region requires an extensive amount of experience in that region. It’s not an easy market to understand. The Saudi Arabian market has shifted beyond expectation in the past ten years. It went from an apple to a banana. Hence, finding a freelancer for your business in Saudi Arabia is difficult.
Let’s talk about how to find a suitable freelancer and what to expect from such a freelancer. In a nutshell, we’ll be reviewing your options.
Freelancing Platforms in Saudi Arabia
The gulf region has experienced unexpected growth when it comes to the startup industry. Specifically, in KSA, their investments in the startup scene compared to others in the Arab world is unbelievably large.
Hence, it goes with reason to assume that remote work is growing as well in that region. For that, many startups in Saudi Arabia are looking for a freelancer in design, business, tech, and so on.
Before moving forward, our platform niches to business consultancy. That is, our freelancers work to help clients create business documents. Unfortunately, we don’t support design or tech at this stage.
That being said, let’s analyze the best option to acquire a freelancer in Saudi Arabia.
Agencies in Saudi Arabia
I personally was based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for over eighteen years. Hence, from my personal experience, the market is a challenging one. If you’re looking for an agency, you need to triple your efforts in terms of quality checks.
Most importantly, you can find many agencies on Google search. Those agencies could be online or physically based in Saudi Arabia. If they are based in Saudi, then you ought to see their previous work and meet with them in person. Once both checks have been completed, you’re good to go.
My recommendation here is to surf two platforms to find the perfect agency (if that’s what you want.)
- Google Search: Nothing is as widespread as Google. You’ll be able to see their physical location and reviews which is the best proof of credibility you might need. Considering that, they’re probably more expensive than other options for that particular reason.
- LinkedIn: It’s the growing social, professional network. Not only could you find the agency you’re looking for there, but also you could find a suitable freelancer to help you in your niche. The only problem here is that there is absolutely no vetting from LinkedIn. You will need to virtually or physically meet this person and check their previous work.
Freelancing Websites in Saudi Arabia
Alternatively, there are freelancing websites that could provide a fitting freelancer. Of those, here are my recommendations:
- Albusi (if you’re in the business document niche): I vouch for the people here simply because 28% of our clientele comes from the KSA. More than 20% of our freelancers speak Arabic and can tap into this market.
- Upwork or Fiverr: If you’re looking for any other service or niche, you could head to any of those.
- Toptal: As a third option, that could be much better than Upwork or Fiverr as they vet their freelancers. Yet, they’re definitely more expensive.
Who should you be looking for in a Freelancer in Saudi Arabia?
The most fitting freelancer, out of ten years of experience in freelancing, is one that you work with best. Quality of work is vital. But a synchronous work relationship is what you should be looking for. You could be a person who is working on something that requires 24h of attention. You could be needing that your freelancers would answer at any moment.
Alternatively, you could be a person who respects the 9 to 5 and looking for a person with the same mentality. In either case, you need to connect with your freelancer on that particular level.
This will promote a work environment that will enhance the output for you and the freelancer. It’s what I call an undebatable win-win situation.
How to confirm the quality of freelancing in Saudi?
Alright, let’s get backstage. I have been a freelancer for over ten years, and I own a freelancing platform. So let me tell you how to confirm that the freelancer is one you ought to trust.
Online Presence and Availability
Check the LinkedIn of that person. It’s not a critical point; many people don’t have LinkedIn. But it’s a supportive aspect if the freelancer has a strong LinkedIn profile. Additionally, ask that freelancer to have an online meeting with you. If they refuse, then that’s a red flag. Many online platforms like Upwork and Fiverr do not validate the freelancers’ identities, which could prove a disaster for your business.
Previous work
This is the holy grail of the freelancing world. You could have a freelancer who just graduated from Harvard business school provide you with an awful document. Alternatively, you could find someone who doesn’t have a degree in what you’re looking for but produces an astonishing product.
How do you tell the difference between the two? Previous work.
Ask them to provide you with similar work outputs. Many might be covered by an NDA. You could ask them to redact whatever’s important and send you the documents. You need to be aware that many freelancers do not have previous work examples to show and would only tell you that they’re NDA protected.
Ratings and reviews
I’ve put this as the last thing you should check because it’s the last thing you should check. Over the past ten years, freelancers have learned how to ace customer reviews and maintain quite a high rating.
Your gut.
Finally, this is, to me, as important as the first item here. You need to listen to what your gut is telling you. Is that freelancer the one? Are they going to be working with you in a collaborative fashion to achieve the result? If so, go for it.
Meet The Author Of This Article
I’m Al Anany, the founder and CEO of Albusi.
Having studied the KSA market for a very long time, I can assure you that it won’t be a walk in the park. But it’ll be worth it.