Just like anything an architect or designer does, hiring outside help is all about process. It’s a daunting task to find the perfect fit to trust handing over the keys to all the 3D rendering and visualization work for a single or number of design projects. Hiring employees is hard enough as it is, even without the added pressure of finding someone you can confide in right out of the gate.

This quick reference guide is an outline for how to go about hiring specific people who you can call on when the need for a design rendering or animation comes up. They are less expensive than full-time employees, and flexible enough to be able to meet fast-approaching deadlines or presentations.

These steps are meant to be a skeleton for how you might start thinking about the hiring process. As with anything, be sure to make it your own, and understand how your design philosophy might inform something like freelance hiring.

Step 1: Define the Problem

Hiring a freelance 3D rendering artist is all about sticking to an idea about what you are looking to get out of the extra help. Ask yourself and your employees very pointed questions about what you value in an outside employee. This can pertain specifically to the work they produce, or more general questions about personality, culture, and workflow.

You should create a cheat sheet that you can reference when evaluating talent and work ethic. If deadlines are the most important aspect of a prospective employee, be sure to include that in your scope. Be as pointed as possible, as this is the foundation for your entire search for the next great cog in your machine.

Step 2: Know Where to Look

So, you’ve put together a comprehensive profile for your perfect freelance 3D rendering artist. Good work! Now what? None of that work is going to be worth a salt unless you have the resourcefulness to know where the best, most affordable rendering talent is lurking. There are a number of great online services, such as Easy Render, that give designers and architects a library of available individuals who are experts and visualization.

You can also consult more generic job finding services such as UpWork, Freelancer, or Fiver. Those sites can be hit or miss, but with the required dedication, good employees can be shaken out from the scammers and self-misrepresenters. And if you’re feeling particularly bold, you can always throw up an ad on CraigsList. Crazier things have happened!

Step 3: Browse. Browse. Browse.

Once you’ve nailed down a few reliable sources for locating visualization talent, it’s time to find a small collection of people who look like they can aptly handle your design reputation. Most of the sites listed above allow employers to browse through individuals based on a number of filters and search options.

It’s important to get a feel for the kind of work they can do, yes, but it’s also vital you understand what their other clients have said about them in past jobs. Finding the right culture fit is just as important as talent, as a bad locker room guy could through a massive rift in the entire operation if you aren’t careful. Vet like you’re practice depends on it.

Step 4: Interview

A lot of job finding sites will let you hire freelancers without a face-to-face, or even over-the-phone interview. Decline this option. Speaking to who will be handing your visualization work is a vital part of the hiring process, and shouldn’t be skipped over just because it might seem convenient to do so.

Talking with someone, even on very casual terms, will give you an immediate gut feeling of whether it’s going to work out or not. There’s no science here, just something that all designers should be doing anyway: trusting your instincts. Talk to your freelancers, and if you get a weird vibe, there will always be someone waiting to take their place.

Step 5: Hire. Then, Hire Again!

I bet you thought you were going to be able to get off hiring only one talented and affordable freelance 3D rendering artist, didn't you? And while, yes, that might work in the short-term, it’s important to have a small handful of people you’ve already vetted and interviewed to be able to call on when project help is needed.

They might have different skill sets, or simply different capacities for doing fast work. But, in the end it’s all about availability. You’d be awfully sour if you call upon your one and only rendering freelancer for a presentation due next week and they are tied up helping someone else for hte next three. Putting your eggs in one basket is a dangerous game to play.

Be patient, be rigorous, and find a collection of like minded and talented visualizers who can help you well into the future.