Happy Global Talent Acquisition Day!

On September 7th, 2022, The Urban Writers celebrates Global Talent Acquisition Day! We are passionate about connecting customers with exceptional freelancers, and it shows. In reality, every day is Talent Acquisition day The Urban Writers.

Our mission has been clear from the start. The Urban Writers is so much more than a content creation platform. Our Platform is the number one place for freelance creatives. We have refined our onboarding and orientation processes, helping thousands of freelance creators succeed and discover our inclusive, fair, and supportive freelance Platform.

But, let’s start from the beginning. The Urban Writers was born out of a vision to create an enjoyable workspace for both freelancers and our clients. After trying other ghostwriting services and having a less-than-pleasant experience on their project, our founders Marco and Natasha Moutinho began building a business that aimed to bridge the gaps in the freelancer‒client relationship.

In an effort to provide an amazing experience for our clients, and a healthy, supportive workspace for our talent, we’ve chosen to tailor our processes and workflows around effective communication and providing opportunities for talent growth. It didn’t take long for the concept to gain traction, as our writers recognized that we aim to make our clients happy by also making our freelancers happy. In doing so,we learned that our business thrives when our talent thrives. It didn’t take long for our freelancers to recognize and support our mission. In fact, they have become our strongest champions! 

While our freelancers focus on creating high-quality content and our Customer Success team provides exceptional support, our Talent Acquisition department prioritizes recruitment of talented freelancers, identifying individuals with great potential, and supporting our existing freelance team by answering questions, creating resources, and teaching new skills!

Innovative Content Is Shaped By Engaged Creatives

Continual growth and exceeding expectations: These are our guideposts. We do this by seeking out freelancers who not only produce the high-quality content our customers expect, but who also agree that creative expression and fun are equally as important.

When freelancers are happy and passionate about the work they are doing, their creativity and quality increase. This in turn leads to happier customers who return to our Platform for all of their content creation needs.

We know this isn’t how freelance platforms typically operate but we aim to be anything but typical. It’s often a free for all where freelancers fend for themselves and underbid one another. Most of these platforms simply acted as an intermediary, providing minimal support to clients or freelancers. We do more because we can do more. Our freelance creatives drive our Platform forward.

We challenged ourselves to really listen and be proactive in responding to the needs of both our customers and our talent pool. We created The Urban Writers Platform where everyone is welcome, supported, and hyped!

We’ve worked hard to eliminate biases in our hiring practices and create an equal playing field for freelancer success. Our growth mindset helps us discover new ways to identify, face, and resolve problems, and still have fun doing it!

Our Industry-Leading Culture Fosters Long-Term Relationships

We can’t let this day pass without  emphasizing the role of our co-founder and Chief Culture officer Natasha Moutinho. With a desire to create a positive work culture and a positive customer experience, Natasha focused her efforts on facilitating management skills based on listening, support, and constructive feedback for all. Our coordinators have a clear vision of what it takes to succeed in their roles.

What Does Global Acquisition Day Mean to us?

Today, we reflect on the importance of taking an innovative and proactive approach to hiring. We emphasize inclusiveness, staying true to our mission of creating more opportunities for our diverse talent.

Supporting Talent Growth as a Driving Force Behind High-Quality Content

For us, supporting global acquisition means the following:

#1: Leaving the Door Open for Talent to Join… and Come Back!

Our Platform is open to freelancers worldwide 24/7.

When it comes to bringing new freelancers onto our Platform, our high standards directly correlate to the value we see in their unique skills as writers, editors, designers, illustrators, or narrators.

Upon joining our Platform, each freelancer receives the same support system, setting them up for success. We make a point of introducing new freelancers to our Platform policies, procedures, protocols, and communication channels.

Once our freelancers are fully onboarded, they can access projects that best fit their skill set. Recognizing creative strengths is essential to connect  customers with freelancers who can satisfy their project’s scope, collaboration, and quality to ultimately produce the desired finished product(s).

While using our Platform, freelancers enjoy ongoing support from our team, who are available to answer questions within one business day (though, it is typically less)!. We also value convenient freelancer-client communication, and monitor conversations between freelancers and clients to make sure everyone feels safe and supported.

#2: Supporting Freelancer Work and Performance

Streamlined operations provide an enjoyable and positive experience on our Platform. We keep customers happy by adhering to schedules, keeping orders on track, and helping them move on to publishing within their planned timeline. If delays do come up, our admin team is happy to help and prioritize timely communication and resolution.

Our freelancers are rewarded for their high performance as the opportunity to earn more on their projects increases with the number of orders they complete. Maintaining high internal and customer ratings and demonstrating their reliability and consistency helps freelancers stand out and get more work.

We further support freelancer productivity by offering free resources, upskilling opportunities, webinars, and tips and tricks that help them thrive on our Platform.

#3: Supporting Talent Diversity

Our equitable acquisition process ensures that the emphasis is on evaluating samples and portfolios. Our team focuses on the individual’s skills and ability to succeed on our Platform. We never set someone up to fail. Our vetting process is essentially a ‘blind’ review and helps ensure that selection and ratings are made using the same criteria for all.

#4: Valuing an Inclusive Culture

We focus on creating an open and inclusive workspace and listen to our freelancers when they need support. Whether they need help with communication skills, accommodations for a disability, or guidance on securing their next project, our team is happy to help in any way we can.

To put it simply, we believe investing in our freelancers translates to an investment in our business as a whole. Setting our freelancers up for success helps us meet our goal of delivering top-quality content to our clients on every project..

We wouldn’t be where we are today if we had not made the decision to prioritize genuine connections between our team and our freelancers, our team and our customers, and maybe most importantly, between our customers and freelancers.

Our company values are present in every facet of our business operations. Our culture is upheld through a commitment to transparency, open-mindedness, the use of inclusive language and policies, professionalism, and the promotion of emotional awareness and open communication.

We Value Humans

In summary, we believe Global Talent Acquisition Day means valuing and supporting the diversity of people from every background and part of the world by providing a Platform that empowers them to be their best and most creative selves. In doing so, we are able to facilitate genuine connections that produce quality content unmatched by other popular freelance platforms.