Things You Must Know About Experts and Freelancers

You will get the definitions of “experts” and “freelancers” in the dictionaries available to you, but you aren’t looking for the just the definitions, are you? Experts and freelancers are on-demand employable resources who are hired by organizations and agencies for long term or short term projects. Their work is contractual, which gives them a scope to explore diverse domains of the vast industrial landscape. In order to understand the difference or similarity between the two, you have to dig deeper.

Who are experts?

An expert is a professional individual who excels in his particular field, has ample experience in the same, and is the undisputed master in his domain. He is employed by several organizations as a consultant or advisor who holds in-depth knowledge about the competitive landscape. When a particular project requires expert opinion, or when the clients are in need of a solution to a complex problem, a consultant or an expert comes to the forefront. An expert may work remotely or on-site, as per the requirement of the clients.

The project may be of long terms like 6 months or a year or short terms like a week or two. Remuneration can be on an hourly or daily basis. An expert is generally bound in a contract, which means he cannot work in any other project until and unless the present project is fully executed. With the evolution of the workforce and the constant quest to shape the Future of Work, an expert can often work as a freelancer as well. A professional with years of experience in Sales and Marketing is considered to be an expert, who can take up independent projects as well as work as an advisor in an organization.

Who are freelancers?

A freelancer, as stated in the former blog post, is an individual who works independently, in the long term or short term projects, without the intent to be employed in any organization. A freelance can work in multiple projects at a time, getting paid on an hourly basis. Generally, the freelance projects are executed remotely, without much interference of the clients. The projects taken up by a freelancer is very specific and short term, extending from a week to a few months. Once the project is executed, the freelancer holds no professional connection with the clients. A freelancer hails from specific disciplines, like graphic designer or journalism, or writer.

Basic Difference between Expert and Freelancer

1. An expert gives professional advice, and help the organizations understand best investment plans and market strategies. A freelancer work with deliverables, concrete projects like writing brochures, or designing a website.
2. An expert is not formed in a day. When a person is working for 10 years or so in a particular field, he is known as an expert. His niche skills and expertise make him the best in his field. For a freelancer, his key skills are most important. For being a successful freelancer, one has to excel and be confident in his domain, years of experience is not that important, like in the case of experts.
3. A retired veteran, former CEO or CXO level officials are considered to experts. Freelance can be a graduate fresh from college or even an undergraduate. This way, many resources from Gen-Y are prospering as a freelancer.
4. An expert can be freelancer; he can take up freelance projects independently and work on it. But a freelancer is not always an expert. Most of the time, a freelancer is a budding entrepreneur or solopreneur.
5. Many a time it has happened, that the expert is hired as a consultant, but afterwards, the clients onboard him for a permanent position of an advisor. This is never the case with a freelancer. A freelancer will always work as a part-time resource, parting ways after the project completion.
6. An expert may have to work on-site, that is from the client location, as per the schedule of the organization. In some cases, he may consult over the phone or remotely. But, in case of a freelancer, he will mostly work remotely, that is, from home, as per his convenience.
7. The age groups of experts range from 40+ years to 65+ years. Experience plays a key role here. But the age group of a freelancer is generally from 19+ years to 39+ years as here the quality of deliverables play the major role.
8. Experts are hired mostly by large organizations and MNCs, whereas freelancers are hired by smaller agencies and SMEs.

Expert and freelancer share some similarities as well

1. Both experts and freelancers take up contractual projects, on-demand basis.
2. Both of them are part-time resources, and not regular employees of any organization.
3. Both of them have to experts in their respective fields, for successful project execution.
4. Both of them work in long term and short term projects, remotely or on-site.
5. No one is superior to the other, two things matter for both, and they are: quality of performance and achieving the objective of the particular project.
6. Both the experts and freelancers have to be tech-enabled, possessing niche skills.

The ratio of experts and freelancers in India

According to the India Microfinance Report, India ranks as the 2nd largest freelance workforce, after the USA. The freelance workforce plays a major role in boosting the growth of start-up in India.

A consultant is the subject matter expert of his industry-specific domain, hailing from premier B schools and colleges. In India, there are more than 7 lakhs consulting firms who are providing experts in various sectors like Business, Finance, Healthcare, Real Estate, Management etc. The need for expert consultants is rising every day due to the fast-changing global and Indian economy.

Experts and Freelancers are playing a central role in boosting and shaping the Future of Work around the globe.

Whether you are an expert or freelancer, there are huge prospects for you. We at Vedak have built a strong network of experts, freelancers and top gigs to ensure a productive work culture.