1. What types of freelancers do YunoJuno cater to?

2. Adding a brief to YunoJuno

3. Editing your brief

4. Closing a brief

5. What is a shortlist?

6. Shortlisting freelancers

7. Managing your shortlist

8. Creating a booking

We work mainly with freelancers who sit within the creative, tech, and marketing sectors, however, we have a number of specialists who operate within other specific fields. If you’re unsure if we can help feel free to reach out to us via our live chat or email hello@yunojuno.com

We’ve pulled together the following guide to help you add a brief to the YunoJuno platform.

A ‘Discipline’ on YunoJuno is how we categorise a base field of expertise. When starting a brief, it’s only a starting point and can be refined as you go.

Once a discipline is selected, you will be able to see sub-categories within that field.

If you can’t seem to find the right freelancer, speak to the YJ Team, and we can advise whether we can help.

FYI: It is free to add a brief to YunoJuno. No payments are processed until you have booked and approved a freelancer's timesheet!

Once you have selected the discipline, you will have the option to add more detailed information about the brief.

This description needs to be as thorough as possible. You should include details on day-to-day tasks, required skills, software knowledge, and necessary experience. The description helps set the tone of your brief and also gives freelancers a good idea of your goals. It helps them identify whether they will be suitable for the role, and may also impact their quoted day rate.

See our top tips, to enable you to write a great brief using our tried and tested method called 'B-E-S-T'.

Add a day rate that’s in line with your budget for the role. This is not displayed to the freelancer but rather as a starting point for the YunoJuno platform to return a set of results based on a price band.

Every freelancer has a default day rate they set when they join the platform, which helps match them to relevant briefs. Once you have added your brief, we will show you freelancers that work within the range of the day rate you have entered. We don't tell the freelancer the exact budget, so they can quote on a brief by brief basis, based upon the timeframe and description within the brief. This helps to create a fair marketplace for both hirers and freelancers.

You may want to have a more in depth discussion with the freelancer about your budget. We enable this via our chat functionality. All messages and negotiations between you and the freelancer are direct one-to-one conversations and YunoJuno does not stand in the way of this exchange as we believe it leads to a more honest interaction, and hopefully a transparent working relationship.

You also have the ability to offer the contract on a per-project basis rather than a day rate. To ensure uniformity, all briefs are initially posted using day rates. If you are looking to work on a per-project fee, please indicate that in the description and so that freelancers are aware and so they can give a quote.

The project fee option needs to be manually added. If you don't have this feature yet please, get in touch with us and we'll help you set this up.

Next, you will need to add the project details including the start date and duration.

If you’re unsure of the start date, don’t worry, you can indicate the start date is flexible. When selecting a start date, it is important to take into consideration the length of the interview/hiring process.

The duration is a free text box, so you can add what you like here. The more information you can give, the more accurate the freelancer can be with their suggested day rate.

You also have the ability to add the industry your project is in, but this is optional. If you select a particular industry, you will only be shown freelancers who have experience within this sector.

If you're a medium to large business, and you are booking a UK freelancer operating via a PSC (Personal Service Company) you will be asked if you have done an IR35 status for your brief yet. If you haven't, that is not a problem, you can mark it as currently unassessed.

You can go back at any time and edit your brief, if you want to add further information or refine the day rate, start date, duration etc.

Once you have created your brief, on the following page, you will be able to create a shortlist, and find the ideal freelancer for the role.

You have the option to choose whether to keep your brief open for applications or whether you want it to remain unlisted. If the brief is open, freelancers within the discipline you selected will see it on their YunoJuno dashboard and if interested, can apply directly.

As well as choosing whether to keep your brief open or unlisted, you will also at this stage have the opportunity to request YunoJuno Talent Support. If you select this option, our expert Talent Team will put together a shortlist of 3-5 candidates, typically within a couple of hours for most roles. There is no extra fee for this assistance- it’s all part of our service!

You will receive notifications letting you know when freelancers have applied directly to the brief, indicating their interest in the role. If the brief is unlisted, only freelancers that you shortlist will have the ability to engage with you on your brief.

You can also reach out to any freelancers who have yet to apply, by sending them a shortlist request.

After a certain period of inactivity and a brief has passed the start date, we remove the brief and it expires. As such we let the freelancers know who have applied directly to the brief, or who have been shortlisted. To stop this, change the start date and engage with the freelancers.

Note that shortlists are not available to view after a brief is expired, so please make sure you regularly check in to make sure you don’t lose your shortlist.

There are no Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA) in our terms with freelancers, so please carefully consider any sensitive information before posting the brief. If the brief has sensitive information, you may prefer to make the brief unlisted.

You can edit your brief at anytime, by clicking the ‘brief details’ button, then ‘Edit brief’:

You can edit the start date, project title, brief description and more, however, you cannot edit the day rate. There is no need to alter the day rate, as it isn’t visible to freelancers, and is only used as part of the search functionality.

A brief will automatically expire when it passes its start date and there is a period of inactivity. The alerts on your briefs will signal the proximity to the final expiration date; once it is red and flashing, you will have 1 day to take action.

To stop this, you can change the start date and engage with the freelancers or, make a booking!

After the brief has expired, shortlists are not longer available to view and you will only be able to close it, so please make sure you check in regularly.

When you let a brief expire, you might let freelancers who have been previously shortlisted wondering why they haven't been selected so please, make sure you close your brief and select reason that we can communicate back to them.

A shortlist is a list of people who you think would be a good fit for the job, and who you are interested in learning more about.

When you request availability from a freelancer, they will get an email notifying them that they have been selected as part of your shortlist. From here they will respond whether they are interested or unavailable.

Any responses from your shortlisted freelancer will be emailed to you as well as appearing in this section and your 'Briefs' section of your YJ Dashboard.

We also know that the person organising a booking or finding candidates is not always the same person making the final call. So we've added the 'share shortlist' function so you can share the shortlist with the company stakeholders.

You can email your shortlist to relevant parties by clicking 'Briefs' in the left-hand menu, and then clicking 'View Brief and Shortlist'. You'll find 'Share Shortlist' button near the top of the page.

Once you have added your brief to the marketplace, you can review freelancer profiles and request availability from the freelancers you think would be a good fit for the job.

Shortlisting is a good way to get the ball rolling to get to your final selection.

To help you shortlist freelancers, you have a search bar and filters that enable you to help find freelancers with specific experience. You can filter freelancers down based on day-rate, industries worked in, or business type, making sure you find the right freelancer for your project.

Click on a freelancer's profile to find out more about them.

If you like freelancers, make sure you send them a shortlist request. By shortlisting a freelancer you have sent them an invitation to reply to your brief. We notify freelancers by email and text. It is then up to them, if they are interested, to respond and quote for the work, with a cover note.

From here they will respond whether they are interested or unavailable. In some cases, they may give you access to their email and number. Any responses from your shortlisted freelancer will be emailed to you as well as appear in your ‘Shortlist’ section of your brief candidate dashboard:

If your brief is open, this will show to freelancers in the most relevant discipline, within a range of the rate of the brief.

If your brief is open, you can find direct applications by clicking on the ‘Applied’ tab in your brief candidate dashboard:

On this page, you can easily see the freelancer’s application which includes contact information and a cover note if they have submitted one. To view this, click the 'view application' button

If you like the look of a direct application, you can promote this freelancer to your shortlist, by clicking the ‘shortlist’ button.

If a freelancer applies directly to your brief, we drop you an email to let you know when the first freelancer has applied. After this, we send a daily summary.

You can change this, by going to your settings from the top navigation:

Alternatively, click here to go to your settings.

Add any freelancers that apply directly to your brief to your shortlist if you would like to consider them for the brief. Once you add them to your shortlist, they will receive an email to let them know.

See our top tips for shortlisting freelancers here.

Once you have added freelancers to your shortlist, you will be able to fully review the freelancers you have selected by going to your ‘Candidates’ tab:

Some freelancers may show as ‘Pending’:

These will show in the ‘Pending’ tab:

This means you have sent a shortlist request to that freelancer and we’re waiting for their response as to whether they are available and interested. When they reply, they will respond with their availability, and proposed day rate and will sometimes include a cover note to give you more information about themselves.

To remove anyone from your shortlist, click the following icon:

They will then move to your ‘Excluded’ tab:

Please note: If a freelancer is removed from a shortlist, we do not message them. If you would like to let them know they have been removed, you will need to contact them directly. This can easily be done via the messaging function prior to deleting them from the shortlist.

To share the shortlist with a colleague, click the ‘Share candidates' button:

The link is a public link which you can send to anyone within your organisation.

They will be able to see the shortlist / profile but will not be able to see any day rate information. We do ask for the viewer to add an email address for GDPR purposes.

YunoJuno gives you the ability to message freelancers directly. So if you have any questions about their experience or profile, contact them to find out more:

You can also use the message function on YunoJuno to arrange interview times or attach any NDAs you require signing.

Pro tip - Freelancers greatly appreciate some sort of contact before you book them. Whether that is an interview for a long piece of work or an informal chat to discuss the brief in a little more detail. Here are our top tips for preparing for an interview and conducting an interview.

To contact the freelancer, you can use the messaging functionality on the platform. If they’ve shared their details with you, you can reach out directly,

When you’re ready to book a freelancer, come back to the platform to process the booking.

All bookings must be processed through the platform. Booking freelancers off the platform falls outside of any protection the YunoJuno Terms of Business provide and could also result in the disabling of your account.

If the project is delayed, it is best to archive the brief and let the freelancer know. To do this, go to the brief, and select 'Archive Brief':

You will then be able to provide a reason:

You will then be able to write a message to all the freelancers that have been shortlisted.

Once you’re ready to book a freelancer, make sure you come through the platform to set up the booking.

From the brief candidate page, on the shortlist tab, click the ‘Book’ button:

You will then be able to create the booking.

You will have one option of payment:

You will then be asked the following questions:

If you have an NDA you would like the freelancer to agree and return, you can use the messaging function by attaching an NDA to send for them to agree and return back to you.

You have the option to add any further information to the booking, specifically to the contract at the end of the booking form

Once you have completed the booking, this will be sent to the freelancer for them to review and agree to.

From the start date, we will start generating timesheets for the freelancer to complete, ready for your review.

Note: Once a contract has been agreed, we cannot change its content. If any changes need making, you will need to raise a new booking. Please contact us in these instances either via the chat function or at hello@yunojuno.com.