Welcome to today’s blog on freelance instructional design jobs! Isn’t it nice getting together every week like this? We really cherish your company. As a matter of fact, we’re going to go ahead and send you a standard “billion-year best friend contract.” Ya know, just to make sure that we’re friends forever. It’s not a big deal.

Got ya! As much as we DO want to be your friend for a billion years, it’s not great practice to sign any old contract, silly! Boy, is your face red!

Today we’re going to chat about where to find all the right contracts. Freelance instructional design jobs are available to you right this very moment if you just know where to look.

Sometimes, the classic methods of job searching just don’t work. Manifesting a job opportunity on a full moon, making a wish upon a star at the bidding of a singing cricket, or asking Santa for a side gig are all methods we’ve tried and can tell you usually don’t work out. It’s not like IDLance formed because we performed a sacred ritual to the Goddess of Instructional Design. And it’s not like that Goddess happens to be a giant, all-knowing bunny named “Jellybean” that lives in the sky. That would be just ridiculous…HAIL JELLYBEAN!

OK, let’s check out some of the best places for you to find a freelance instructional design job now!

Have Agency

First up, agencies! Let’s get a lay of the land here. In your freelie journey, it's important to know that there are different types of agencies, and they’re all useful for different purposes. Just like people like to say of their children, we like them all and each one is special in their own way. (In this case, we really mean it. We don’t have a secret favorite!)

L&D Consultant Networks

First up, L&D Consultant Networks. The “L” and “D” stand for “learning" and "development” and not "lollipops" and "donuts." It would be deeply embarrassing to reach out to an agency for a confectionary consultation, and we definitely did not do that one time.

To put it simply, L&D Consultant Networks are “expert corporate training folks.” Some examples include "Clarity Consultants", "TrainingFolks", and "GP Strategies." They are known for being exactly what they’re called: a consultant network chock full of L&D professionals who are waiting in the wings, ready to design, develop, or deliver learning solutions to clients in need.

Companies will pay the big bucks to work with an L&D Consultant Network firm because they know they’ll get vetted contractors at the drop of a hat who will produce high-quality results! That’s you!

You’ll want to have a decent amount of experience under your belt before riding the L&D train to “Jobs Town." If you can show this agency a portfolio of 4-5 eLearning courses that you've designed and developed for different clients (preferably with Storyline and/or Captivate), then your chances of being accepted into the elite crew are greater. Choo Choo! Board that train, freelie!

Cross-Industry Learning Content Providers

Next up, Cross-Industry Learning Content Providers, or CILCP for short. Just kidding, no one calls them that. You’d have to be Jellybean to be able to pronounce that! HAIL JELLYBEAN!

These are the “all learning things” folks. Examples include "AllenComm", "Cinécraft Productions", and "Inno-Versity." They’re cool “do it all” agencies that will likely do any L&D work for any industry.

They’re usually staffed by 7-8 full-time employees who can do most of the work they bring in. But sometimes they get swamped and that’s when they’ll be making the decision on whether to hire more full-time employees or contract out to freelies like you!

What’s nice is you don't have to be an expert in the client’s industry for a particular job with these types of agencies – but if you've worked in a couple of different industries in the past, definitely let them know. Their needs may include skills like copy editing, voice-over work, graphic design, or Storyline development to name just a few.

Specific-Industry Learning Content Providers

Lastly, we have Specific-Industry Learning Content Providers. They’re the “corporate training for one thing” folks. Here are some examples of these cool cats: "Root (A Part of Accenture)" (leadership and change management industry), "Avsoft International" (aviation industry), and "Healthcare Academy" (healthcare industry).

These are the agencies you may not find through all your L&D and eLearning research. BUT – they are still L&D agencies! They just specialize in specific industries.

Cold Calls, Hot Moves

Now that we’ve done a quick overview of the types of agencies out there, let’s talk about makin’ it happen. Ya know, gettin’ in the door, makin’ the moves, landing the j-o-b. (We’re winking at you so aggressively that our cornea has detached. BRB.)

Once you narrow down which agencies you’d like to start contacting, just do it. Making cold contact, or cold calls, is not as awkward as it sounds and agencies are always expecting it. It’s not like you’re calling to inquire about lollipops and donuts!

Once you’ve made contact, you’ll want to get the low-down on each agency you’re interested in. You’ll want answers to questions like, “What quality of work do they produce?” and “What’s their reputation?”. Use this info to make some decisions on whether you’d like to work with them. If you decide “not right now” – don’t close any doors! You never know when things may change.

Just like any other organization, agencies can morph (in both good ways and bad ways) over time.

(Fun fact! Jellybean can also morph).

If you end up working together, congrats! Having a healthy relationship with an agency you trust is worth its weight in gold.

Reach Out to Your Former Employer

Ok, we have no doubt that the title of this section has your body just a-quivering with consternation. Deep breaths! Now, this is quite a large topic and one that we cover in great detail over at IDLance. So, consider this just a lil’ taste of a much bigger, tastier meal.

That being said, you’ll definitely need to assess your standing with your former employer before proposing they hire you as a freelancer. This is, of course, assuming that you’re still into doing business with them after all this time. Did you leave on your own accord? Were you laid off? Straight up fired?

If you left on good terms, there will be every opportunity to reconnect after a bit of time passes. If you were let go on bad terms, you should wait a much longer time to approach your former employer for freelance stuff. This allows for natural selection to take its place. Given enough time, at least a good chunk of the leaders who made the decision to give you the chop will have moved on to other orgs or at least other departments. Them’s the facts of life! And in this case, it works in your favor. Huzzah! Praise Jellybean!

Before you approach your company, try and find out what it would be like to work for them as a freelancer. When you were still at the office, you did your due diligence and found out about any freelance relationships the company currently has. Now that you can keep everything out in the open, contact those fellow freelies!

You’ll also want to write up a proposal that outlines the following: your amazing testimonials, specific advantages the company will experience (money saved from paying for your benefits!), how much money they’ll save (they’ll only pay you for your productive time!), your flexible availability, an easy transition plan, and then tell them again how much money they’ll save (no paying for you to waste away in meetings!).

Chairman of the (Jobs) Board

Hanging in there? Need a snack or a Capri Sun Mountain Cooler? It’s the lifeblood of freelance workers everywhere. We can even punch the straw in, if you’d like. You have a lot on your plate and we understand how difficult it is to get the straw into that dang juice pouch.

Ok, job boards! Let’s just get down to business with this one. No unnecessary fluff over here (Fun fact! Jellybean is VERY fluffy while also…scaly?).

Here are a few job boards that have been known to include instructional design and eLearning opportunities.

Indeed: We recommend setting up an account. This popular tool has a pretty cool notification system and you can filter your search to find only “remote” and “contract” roles!

SimplyHired: You also need an account for this one. There’s no notification system, but they’re in cahoots with Indeed since they are owned by the same parent company.

Google Jobs: This one’s gonna save you time. In fact, it’s our favorite because it basically aggregates all the rest of the job boards into one search.

Tips n’ Tricks

Sometimes even the most seemingly simple things can feel so daunting. Job searching online is one of those things. We wish it didn’t have to be so exasperating, but we’re here to help you navigate the good, the bad, the ugly, AND the annoying.

Here are some tips to keep in mind while you’re searching via job boards that will hopefully calm your anxiety and make things a bit smoother.

1. Beware the super long job form! Sometimes job applications via these boards lead to filling out absurdly long forms that make you wonder if you’re being punk’d. If we’re being brutally honest here, we will tell you that we just ignore these opportunities. Because if they wanna make us fill out long applications AND submit a resume AND ask for a cover letter AND request a DNA sample AND offer up our first born as collateral, then we get a bad vibe. Their loss!

2. Stay fresh! Update your resume every month and file it in a folder on your computer by month and year. Make sure to back it up via an external hard drive or your Cloud of choice or even email it to yourself!

3. Don’t box yourself out! There are going to be days where all you see are full-time and salaried ID jobs. You can still apply to those. Yup. Even if you don’t want to be full-time/salary anymore. Wanna know why? Because if a recruiter or hiring manager from that company reaches out to you, you will then have that person's name and contact info! You can always decline the full-time role BUT you can ALSO offer your freelance services to that person in case some contract work comes up for that company in the future. Sneaky, we know.

In Conclusion

And that's that! Your freelance instructional design job search should be off to a great start if you put some of these hot tips into action! Oh, and about that friendship contract…we were doing some thinking. It would be okay with us…if you’d…still like to sign it?

HAIL JELLYBEAN!