Viadeo, France's leading professional social network (PSN) with 10 million members in the country, has launched a new service aiming to bring freelancers and project coordinators together. The new platform, known as Viadeo Freelance, is central to the company's "New Vision" positioning and is designed to facilitate meetings while providing a strong sense of transparency and trust, prioritizing quality and foregrounding recommendations and skills.

With today's job market in a state of constant change, Viadeo is an influential player in current developments, providing members with tailor-made solutions allowing them to fulfil their professional aspirations.

Viadeo Freelance is founded upon a simple observation: in 2014 there were over 700,000 freelancers in France, with the total increasing by 85% between 2004 and 2013. Now, with this new service, Viadeo's 550,000 self-employed members have access to a dedicated space prioritizing meaningful interaction with project coordinators.

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While many traditional marketplaces are based on bidding systems, Viadeo Freelance sets itself apart by prioritizing quality and creating dependable working relationships based on trust.

The platform brings together freelancers and project coordinators in a manner that is both simple and effective. Professionals looking for external expertise can publish their projects for free and offer them to freelancers on the portal.

For their part, freelancers can set up a profile on the platform and find projects matching their area of expertise free of charge. In order to contact potential clients and offer their services, meanwhile, members must take up a monthly subscription to Viadeo Freelance costing €19.90/month with no long-term obligation.

"The number of freelancers has exploded in recent years and Viadeo Freelance is a response to this new situation," explained Anne-Laure Meens, Strategic Marketing Manager at Viadeo. "We're looking to support self-employed workers by offering them every chance of finding high-quality projects. At the same time, we're also helping project coordinators by allowing them to select experienced professionals who are easily identifiable on our network. Viadeo Freelance represents the future of entrepreneurship and is built upon our core business: the network."

The power of the Viadeo network: "Digitized" trust

The community-based system underlying Viadeo Freelance is the very DNA of the project, capitalizing upon Viadeo's considerable knowhow in the area.

The new interface enables freelancers to mark themselves out in their area of expertise, allowing them to display previous experience and skills acquired and, above all, to highlight recommendations provided by members of their network.

"Word of mouth is the method of choice for companies looking for a freelancer," explained Julien Janson, the Product Manager behind the project. "Using Viadeo Freelance, self-employed workers can publish recommendations provided by former clients, providing a guarantee of credibility and reinforcing the trust that a project coordinator has in them. This represents the true power of the Viadeo network."

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