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Can't Find A Graduate Job? Join The Freelancing Trend!

14 Feb 2014

Can't Find A Graduate Job? Join The Freelancing Trend!

There is an increasing trend in the number of graduates who are turning to online freelance work instead of trying to find more traditional graduate jobs in the UK.

A study of more than 1,000 graduates in the UK by the online freelance website Elance shows that over 85 per cent of graduates with a first or second class degree consider online freelance work to be a ‘highly attractive and lucrative career option’.

Over one in five of the first class honours graduates surveyed had already worked in some form of freelance role and close to a third said that freelance work formed a part of their career plans before 2019.

The biggest attractions of online freelance work for graduates were said to be the flexible nature of the working for multiple companies and the variety of work on offer through providers such as Elance.

Around 7 in 10 graduates believed that the freelance route was an option that offered a better work/life balance to a traditional career path. Almost 1 in 4 graduates were also confident that they could earn as much from online freelance work as they could from a normal graduate job.

Commenting on the survey results, Elance’s European vice-president, Kjetil Olsen, said, “If the big issue for Generation X was the end of a job for life, today’s Gen Y graduates appear to be seriously questioning the nature of having a traditional job at all. They are seeing record numbers of employers around the world opting to use online work platforms to fill skills gaps and recognise that they can carve out lucrative careers working independently.”

Mr Olsen added that the survey’s finding had ‘far-reaching implications’ for recruiters, advising them to put procedures in place to draw on the significant flexible talent available in the freelance market in addition to offering permanent graduate jobs within their companies.

Just a few of the freelancer skills in high demand by businesses in the UK include article writing, translation, blogging, graphic design, PHP and HTML.

You can find read our tips about finding freelance work with various providers in our complete article about Freelance Jobs for Students - or, if you’ve already made your mind up that this sort of flexible work is ideal for you, then you can sign up with Elance now.

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