As communicated in a recent email to employers, FreelanceStudents is undergoing some fundamental changes. Ok, the second part of the title is perhaps a bit dramatic, but there is a serious point behind it. We’re going to rock a steady ship, in a bid to move into greater waters and we thought it would be a good idea to open up to those whom have accompanied us on our journey thus far – our ever faithful readers, followers, tweeters and subscribers.
Change is coming…
FreelanceStudents is about to come out of BETA “mode” and will start charging for job ads. The target date for the switch is the night of January 31st. This is assuming there are no last minute bugs (grrrr!) or system changes. But we’ll keep you informed.
The job postings will initially be £28.50 each [Note this has since been updated see end of the article], which, in a market that can command as much as £450 for an ad, we think you’d agree represents a fair starting price.
Why the change?
The fact is we all love free. After going live in July 2009, we anticipated a switch to a payment model within a year. Yep, target missed. We had, in our excitement as a start-up, overestimated the rate of growth. And so we focused on growing our database whilst continuing to self-fund the venture. Also, the extended period allowed us to garner great feedback from employers and gradually improve the service.
We now have a database of almost 4000 users. Not bad for a company founded in a bedroom on a borrowed laptop. However, there’s a cost to maintaining a community of this size. And it’s a cost that we willingly accepted. But were Lord Alan Sugar our boss, he would growl “Yeah, but you lost bleedin’ money!”
So, this is all about making money?
We won’t lie – charging for job ads will help us make money. That revenue will help ensure that we’re here over the long-term, to enhance our services, to continue to assist businesses in hiring talent and to find students awesome placements. But this isn’t just about making money – we truly are listening to the needs of our users – many of you love our service, but hiring businesses want us to find more quality applicants and students want us to find more quality jobs. So, we’re going to do just that.
And trust us – we’re concerned about losing job listings (we’re only human), from employers who aren’t open to paying. But if they are unwilling to pay, then it would probably be better for them to try alternate recruitment platforms. But thought about logically, having fewer job ads isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it may mean that we only get ads from employers that are serious in their efforts to nurture and recruit students. So, tons of listings aren’t always better – rather, we want to build a community that offers great opportunities, and where all of our organisations and businesses are successful, with us!
How are students impacted?
We’ll be withdrawing the ability for students to post jobs, but this will impact a minimal amount of accounts. Any student that wishes to recruit their peers will need to register as an employer.
Will the change work?
We hope so, as we strongly believe in our ability to deliver an exceptional service and we have an unwholesome passion to see our mission through. But, we don’t have a crystal ball (has anybody got a spare one by any chance?).
The response from employers wasn’t negative but neither were they singing and dancing. But, changes like this take time to adjust to and where we’ve had feedback, we listened. For example, charities asked whether they would need to pay for ads, and we hadn’t thought about this, so we changed our pricing to allow registered charities to post free jobs when advertising for unpaid voluntary positions.
Many things will be changing in the next couple of weeks, and we are still in the process of making and determining the best way to integrate these changes in order to ensure a smooth transition. At the same time, we are very excited about this change and the opportunities it will bring for us and our users.
We look forward to continuing this journey with you and we would like to thank you, unreservedly, for all your support.
Tim Mukasa
FreelanceStudents Founder
If you have any further questions or comments, please add a comment below, or send us a direct e-mail at [email protected].
Update: Shortly after posting this article we opted for a Free and Premium model. Free ads can still be posted for now and premuim ads cost £14.99. See more details here: http://www.freelancestudents.co.uk/pricing
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