Hiring

Temp Agencies vs Freelance Platforms: Which is Better for Hiring Developers?

2022-06-079 min readWritten by Arc Team

temp agencies vs freelance platforms for recruiting developers

Summary:

When it comes to recruiting developers short-term, temp agency or freelance platform? We’ve compared both talent sources to help you decide.

When you’re looking to hire these days, you have many possible configurations to choose from.

Should you hire developers through a temp agency or freelance platform? Full-time or part-time? Contract or staff? Remote or in-house? A freelance developer or dev shop?

Choosing which will work best for your business requires a closer look at what is involved with each, and how good of a fit it is with your particular project or role.

Today, we’re checking out the differences (and similarities) between hiring developers through a temp agency or a freelance platform for short-term dev projects — and seeing which comes out on top.

Make sure to head over to our in-house vs freelance developers post if you’re also considering whether hiring staff for internal positions might be a good option, too.

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Quality of Developers

In any working environment, you want to make sure you can trust the people that you’re hiring to do what is expected, whether it’s a full-time senior dev position you hope to sculpt into your CTO one day, or a short contract role, where you have a finite task to achieve.

When engaging a developer, you need to know that they will:

Produce quality results on schedule that are true to requirements
Be available to talk and plan according to your managerial expectations

Quality Gauge 1: Developer Vetting Process

Just what kind of candidates does an agency or platform select and how do they assess whether they’re any good or not? To find this out, you’ll need to find out the inner workings of their vetting processes.

As the first port of call, you can see whether their vetting process is listed on their website. For agencies, it’s unlikely — you’ll probably need to send an email or call them up to enquire.

For freelancing platforms, the process is generally listed. For instance, Arc vets through résumé screening, a coding test, a behavioral interview, a small project, and a technical interview. Upwork, a non-industry-specific freelancing platform, only verifies email addresses and shows results of multiple-choice quizzes that candidates have taken.

Quality Gauge 2: Candidate Quality of Work

Now that we’ve determined that many agencies and platforms have strong vetting processes for candidates, we want to check something a little more specific — the individual that we’re going to hire!

From the agency side of things, we will be able to receive the candidate’s resume, possibly a portfolio or GitHub account to look at, have a chat with them, and run them through any of our in-house vetting processes.

It’s pretty much the same over on freelancing platforms. One stand out benefit of choosing a freelance platform is that you can easily glance over recent client experiences and ratings with the candidate, giving you a fairly good idea of what to expect working with the candidate.

You might also wonder — “How can I judge the quality of a software developer’s work other than asking whether the thing did what it was supposed to do in the end?” Even this question can be difficult, particularly if you’re looking for a back-end developer.

A strong agency or freelance platform vetting process will help to guarantee quality of code, so ensure that you’re familiar with how a candidate’s coding skills are measured during the vetting process, for peace of mind.

Oftentimes, software developers have an online coding imprint. If this is the case, you can view their GitHub accounts as project originators or contributors and check out their Stack Overflow questions (and answers) quickly and easily. Have a senior developer go over their code and grade it to assess the quality of work before you hire.

Another way to ensure quality candidates is to have a risk-free trial period, which is offered by many agencies and some freelance platforms.

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Candidate Quality Gauge 3: Testimonials and Clients of the Agency or Platform

Whether you’re using a temp agency or a freelancing platform, you’ll also want to take a look at their testimonials and/or clients, both on their site as well as on review sites.

Other companies, whether they’re a freelancing platform or agency might list previous clients on their website. If they’ve worked with industry leaders like HBO or Ernst & Young, then you’ll have an idea of the quality of the platform or agency overall.

The Winner: A Tie

Ultimately, quality depends on the trust you place in the agency or freelancing platform, their evaluation of the individual, as well as your evaluation of the individual, too. With the right processes in place on your side, you’ll be able to pick up quality candidates both from agencies and freelancing platforms.

Which you choose to go with depends on the style of hiring that you prefer.

Cost of Temp Agencies vs Freelance Platforms

For any company or individual looking to hire a developer, the cost is always going to be a factor, no matter what your budget is. To make your dollar go further, take a glance at these key factors that go into pricing.

Cost Gauge 1: How Pricing is Determined

Developers working for an agency have a rate fixed by the agency plus the agency fee on top that makes up your overall cost. This will generally be around the average cost of hiring a full-time developer for in-house development plus extra, for the running costs of their agency and to turn a profit.

Developers on freelance platforms advertise competitive rates: it’s how they ensure ongoing jobs working in an environment where there is little job security. They may even negotiate lower rates for longer contracts. But oftentimes, software developers with higher rates (and with plenty of good feedback) are true experts at what they do.

Cost Gauge 2: Location, Location, Location

The location of an agency or freelancer is also a huge price determinant. If they’re located in a place with a lower cost of living, their prices are generally lower, too.

For example, if you are located in San Francisco, where the average cost of living is $7,800/month and your agency or freelance developer is located in Kansas City, where the cost of living is only $3,800/month (source: Numbeo), you will likely find their rates are lower, too.

Not only can you potentially save on rates by looking further afield, but if you have a remote agency or freelancer, you’ll save on costs like office space, new equipment (they’ll have their own), and even tools, as developers generally have their full dev environment already set up.

If you need to be able to have your software developer come in to work on-site, then you’ll need to either hire in your area or have someone willing (and able) to travel to you.

This is one case where temp agencies (if there are some nearby!) will generally have the edge. It may prove difficult to find freelancers in your area, or to organize for an agency worker to come to you, especially if they are located internationally.

The Winner: Freelance Platforms

If you’re looking for the best bang for your buck, then freelancers will usually come out on top. Putting in place reliable systems to expertly manage remote workers is important for smooth workflow if you’re looking to hire remotely.

Other Factors to Consider

Freelance platforms offer a much wider talent pool than temp agencies
Support on some freelance platforms is very poor
Agencies and freelance platforms that straddle a wide range of industries/roles may not have as high a caliber of candidates as you might want
There may be additional fees/commissions for a freelance platform, so check first

How to Choose the Right Freelance Platform or Temp Agency

Whether you ultimately decide to hire from temp/staffing agencies or freelance platforms, here are some tips to help you get started. Keep in mind that there are several freelance developer platforms that specialize in providing developer talent.

Freelance Platforms

Look for a platform that is specific to hiring high-quality freelance developers
Choose a platform that has the option to proactively help you find the right developers and manage a smooth ongoing working relationship
Ensure the platform has a strong vetting process
Pick platforms that offer risk-free trial periods
Choose developers with multiple positive reviews

Temp Agencies

Pick a temp agency that has a software developer focus instead of broad-spectrum, or “IT”
Choose a larger, more reputable temp agency for a better caliber of candidates
Look for agencies with a strong vetting process
Ask people in your network for recommendations

So, What’s the Verdict?

Ultimately, you can find great developers through either a temp agency or a freelance platform. Using a quality, trusted provider for either can help to ensure a smooth process with quality developers who produce quality output.

Freelance platforms have the edge in cost and pool of talent. However, if you are looking for an on-site worker, then a temp agency in your area will probably be your best bet.

With both options, make sure to run through your own vetting process. As much faith as you can place in both of these two options, ultimately the best developer(s) for you will depend on company fit. With some solid processes in place, you’ll be able to find the ideal candidates for a strong, healthy, and productive working relationship.