Hiring a student as a freelancer is not a terrible idea. It is not always fair to judge an employee by experience. There are people that work 30 years in the same job and know little more about it than they did in their fifth year. Still, there are pros and cons to taking on a student as a freelancer. Here are some of the pros and cons for you to ponder.
Pro – Cheap Labor
Hire a student and he or she will have a tight budget. It will mean the student is a little more desperate for money than your average worker and may be willing to work for less than most others. This is a definite perk as the student may also work for less money and still keep coming back for more.
Con – May Be Unreliable
Cheap labor sometimes means unreliable, but there is also the fact that a student doesn’t need the money as much as he or she thinks. There are times when a student will throw his or her hands in the air and claim they give up. They then realize that the money you sent them was only a perk or distraction for them and you never hear from them again.
Pro – The Student May Be Brilliant
There are brilliant people in the working world right now, and there is a good chance that they were students one day in the past. The future brilliant people are currently students right now. There is a chance you will come across one of them when you hire students. The great thing is that you get the labor at a fraction of the cost you would get it if the student was qualified.
Con – May Be Under Qualified
In other words there may be other workers out there that are able to do a better job because they are qualified whereas the student may simply be under qualified. It may even be that they lack the skills that people in the working world have because they simply have not finished that part of their qualification yet.
Pro – May Be Willing To Go The Extra Mile
There is a chance that your young student is going to be fresh and ready to go the extra mile more than a person that is older and maybe a little more cynical.
Con – May Have An Over-Inflated Ego
There are some students that think they rule the world. They think they know the best and they find evidence that they are with a keen confirmation bias. They may be very difficult to work with.
Pro – The Student May Be Honest Because He Or She May Be Idealistic
There is a chance that your student may be bright eyed, fresh and very honest. That is not to say that students do not lie because they do, and it is not to say that older people will lie because they may not. It is simply possible that your idealistic student is very honest.
Con – A Student May Dedicate More Time To “Get Even” With You!
Some younger people have spent their lives getting their own way from their parents and manipulating their parents. They bring these skills over to their employers that are supposed to beat it out of them (not literally obviously). If you are the first real employer the student has had then you may be in for trouble.
Pro – Every Year There Are Always Students There To Hire
Every year you are going to get new students coming into college. They are just as poor as the last students and there are just as many that are hungry for work. It is almost a disposable workforce.
Con – Your Current Student May Disappear After A While
A student may be unreliable because he or she does not need the money to honor any commitments such as kids or a mortgage. If a student walks out on you then it is not as if the student is going to miss bill payments or have to quit college. It is not uncommon for students to take on work and then disappear when the work gets hard or boring.
Pro – Students May Be Willing To Do Physical Work For Less
They are younger and many want to remain physically fit so that they can find a partner and have more sex, they also need the money, which means they may be willing to do more physical labor for less.
Con – Students Can Be A Little More Whiny Than A Worker That Has Mouths To Feed
There are many students that think life is a lot better than it actually is in the real world. As a consequence there are some that are more prone to whine at an employer and make excuses, which can turn into a hassle for the employer.
