Being a freelancer: what recruiters think you do vs. what you actually do.
16 Nov 2018
Reading time ~1 minute
This is no secret that I’m actively looking for a job — as of right now at least. And in a few interviews I’ve recently landed, a recurrent “question”, not to say an obvious concern, came up from my interviewers once in a while. It encouraged me to write a few words describing the hidden side of running a small business…
“So, I can see you’re working as freelancer for more than 3 years now, aren’t you afraid of getting back to a corporate life?” is the most common way I’m asked. Although subtle, it often underlines a bit of a concern in the recruiter’s voice. Occasionally, the question is turned quite more frankly: “there would be things like.. you’d have to be at 8am in the office and respect some offices rules, you know”, or “you will have direct synergies with your coworkers around and often face customers”, as if I was a lazy, mad, sectarian antisocial. 
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing my past / future interviewers here, and I can’t blame them for trying to tickle me on any potential vulnerability that could matter for the position. I’ve been sitting on this recruiter chair, too. I always take this matter with understanding and a bit of amusement, detailing how running a small business is what you can consider a real job and why it’s probably more demanding that some could guess — except maybe for those who’ve been on this dark side too. It’s just frustrating when the person in front obviously doesn’t seem to believe you.