Looking for design jobs online and not getting any luck? I’ve compiled a list of 10 awesome sites for you to find your next client or employer. I have found graphic design jobs on some of these sites, either through clients approaching me or successfully bidding on a post. I’ve included a healthy mix of contest sites like 99 designs, freelance bid sites like Upwork and search alert sites like Brightermonday. Here are the top 10 sites you can trust to find your next design job.
Google Job alerts
Google job alerts is probably the best tool for finding current job posts online. It allows you to customize a personal alert for a query, e.g “graphic design job” and you’ll get email alerts as soon as you want them. Even more awesome, you get to select how often you want to get the emails, filter sources like blogs or news sites and choose your region. Google does the work for you and searches the web for new jobs as they are posted and send you custom alerts as frequently as you want. What better way to stay ahead of the game?
99designs
99Designs is a competition site that connects clients to designers in a competition format. The client who needs a design, posts a brief and designers on the platform get to work designing. The client then chooses their favourite design and the price money goes to the winner. Their pricing for clients starts from $299 to $1,299 depending on the client’s budget. Designs can get from 30 to 1000 or more designers competing. It allows the clients access to a large number of designers that they wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise. Clients can also reach directly to individual designers or hold private contests but not outside the platform. As convenient as it is for clients, designers who don’t get their designers picked (most of them) may not be too happy. However, the competition format means the designer who wins gets paid more than if they were on freelance sites like Fiverr and Upwork. Designers also get ratings and ranks for the number of competitions they win which exposes them to more clients looking for high-quality work.
Designhill
Designhill is quite similar to 99designs. The client posts a brief with a price for competing designers and the client then chooses the design they like and the winner gets the money. Designhill does not seem to have as large a variety in briefs as 99designs as it’s not as popular. However, it has less competition for designers and that’s a great thing. You stand a better chance to win contests and climb the ranks. Their pricing for clients starts from $249 to $999. They also have one-to-one projects where clients can reach individual designers directly. Another great feature is their print shop where designers can sell their designs on merchandise like t-shirts. This means you can earn passive income as you participate in design contests. Neat.
Upwork
Upwork allows clients to hire designers and other workers to complete a specified job. The client posts a job and the platform recommends designers for their project. The designer has a profile that outlines their skills and experience and a portfolio page to display their kind of work. Clients can browse the designer’s profile and invite them to view their job and submit proposals. The platform allows designers to send invoices and receive payments. The clients can hire for short-term tasks, recurring projects or full-time contract work. Pricing is agreed between the client and the designer and upwork charges a fee for a certain amount billed e.g 20% for $500 billed.
Fiverr
Fiverr began as a job posting platform where freelancers would complete the clients tasks called “gigs” for just US$5. They have since diversified and have job posts that begin from US$5 up to thousands of dollars. It’s not dedicated to design but you’ll find a number of posts for design work, similar to Upwork. The platform hosts millions of gigs, but their filtering and recommendations make it easy for both designers and clients to navigate. Just like Upwork, you are able to create a profile showing your skills and experience that prospective clients can view. They have project-based pricing rather than hourly rates and provide protected payment methods.
Peopleperhour
Peopleperhour is a UK based company that shares a lot with Upwork and Fiverr. The client posts a project and the algorithm matches them to suitable designers and other freelancers. The designers submit proposals and the client reviews them and picks a designer to work with. Projects start from 5 pounds and the site allows for both fixed and hourly rates.
Brightermonday
Brightermonday is a job search site that helps you find work opportunities in Kenya. Designers are able to find vacancies at established and new companies. Once you see a listed job that interests you, you can open it to read about the company, the job description and requirements. You’ll be able to find both part-time and full-time jobs on the site. You can be able to apply through the site after signing up. Another good feature is the email subscription that notifies you of new jobs in your field as they are posted. That way, you can be the first to apply and get a head start.
The Star Kenya
The Star Kenya newspaper has a great job section in its classified page on the website. At any one time they have thousands of vacancies posted on their site. You can find jobs in your field, showing the company that’s posting the vacancy and sort them by location. It acts like a search engine and finds jobs posted on other job sites. You might find some listings to be outdated because the site seems to have some latency as it finds jobs on other sites. They also have email alerts you can subscribe to.
Creativepool
Creativepool is a global community for creatives. On the site, you’ll find jobs posted by companies, ranging from start-ups to large multinational companies like Sky, Amazon and the BBC. Designers and other creatives are able to create profiles and post their projects for prospective clients to find. It also has social media like functions like followers and likes. It’s also more than just a job site. Creatives are able to connect with each other and share ideas. The site has a great blog and magazine with intuitive articles for every artist.
Behance
Behance is predominantly a portfolio site for creatives owned by Adobe, a company pretty much every designer is familiar with. It is designed to be a visual experience and images and videos reign supreme, not long boring resumes. It’s a great site to find inspiration. Almost every top designer in the world is on it and every large company looking for creatives is probably on there too. You get to see new trends and stay on top of your game. Your profile and projects you post that build up into your portfolio are what attracts clients to you. The site also has a Jobs listing page with thousands of vacancies posted. You’ll find remote jobs, full-time and permanent work. Barely any of them are Kenyan companies but you can still try your luck especially with the remote posts. It’s very important to have a profile on Behance and if you post projects regularly you are bound to get clients, Kenyan and International, in your inbox looking to get some work done.
LinkedIn is known as the professional social media. It’s a social site for professionals to share work, posts, articles and everything else you do on Facebook… but professional. You create a profile and share updates, your skills, job experience and education level among other details. You can then view other professionals in your industry and find companies. The site allows companies to post vacancies on the jobs page and you can filter out jobs that fit you and apply. You can also get email alerts for new jobs in your area. Many Kenyan companies post their vacancies on their site. Check it out.
Conclusion
There are a host of other sites you can find jobs in, including individual company websites. These are my top 10 picks based on my own experience and recommendations from other designers. Whether you chose contest sites like 99designs, freelance sites like Fiverr or Portfolio and social sites like Behance, it all depends on your skills and dedication to the craft. There’s a lot of designers looking for work and you have to work hard and smart to get good jobs and offers. And a bit of luck as well. But luck is of no help if you aren’t ready to grab opportunities as they come. One more important thing, as you search for graphic design jobs, remember there’s people out there looking for a naïve desperate designer to scam. Make sure you avoid getting duped and don’t send money to get job offers. If you are working on platforms like 99designs, Fiverr etc please try not to reach out to clients or receive payments outside of these platforms or you could get banned for life. You also risk getting scammed by the client. Good luck on your job hunting, and don’t ever give up on your passion!
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