I often get asked where I find my clients and I’m fortunate enough to say “through my blog” however this doesn’t really help those who don’t have clients coming to them.

So below I’ve compiled a list of the best resources for freelance job searching. They are resources that have genuine jobs on them and are not agency scams or masks for a website signup service. The 13 listed here are in no particular order as they all have their own charms.

1 –  Simply Hired

This is a massive website that has somehow managed to pull in nearly one quarter of a million employers every month. It is loaded with thousands of jobs, many of which are design jobs. Adverts can run for as many as thirty days, which means a lot of what you see on the website will be expired, but that is all the more reason to check the website regularly and nab jobs before other can get a look in.

2 – Behance Job List

Behance is a great place to show off your portfolio. It is highly populated with other designers of all types, which means there is a lot of competition. It also means it attracts a lot of people wanting design work. You can search the job listings for freelance work you think will suit you.

3 – Coroflot

This website offers job listings if you just want to hop on and find some work, and it offers the opportunity to upload your own profile and allow employers to come to you. It is not a big website or internationally renowned, but it is a hidden secret amongst people wanting design workers.

4 – Krop

On this site there are designers with various ranges of talent and skill. It means that every now and then you are going to be undercut by a designer that is far less qualified than you. Still, this is a good place for designers of all skill varieties, experience and qualifications, and it a good place to network and build up a client list.

5 – Smashing Jobs

This website pulls in over 5 million+ users every month so there is a lot of eyeballs here. Most of the jobs posted are for freelance designers of one variety or another. There are some very big companies using the website to find fresh talent, as well as agencies and startups from all over the world.

6 – Fresh Web Jobs

This is a website with a very low user rate, but this gives designers an advantage. There is very little competition on this website, which means you stand a high chance of success if you apply for one of the jobs when they appear. There are no fake or dummy jobs on this website, which means the jobs you see are all real.

7 – Authentic Jobs

This board has been around since 2005, run very well by Cameron Moll and it’s trawled by some very big companies. There’s a wide range of jobs listed here. At the very least you should take a look at the website once per week to see if any big fish are posting jobs.

8 – AIGA Design Jobs

This is a website that offers a lot of design jobs. There is a lot of competition for the jobs on offer, but they are posted by serious employers. You are not going to find a lot of employers posting adverts and abandoning them. Most of what you see is live and relevant, but there is not much of it when compared with other websites. This is not particularly a bad thing, since with other sites you will find yourself applying for lots of jobs that do not exist. At least with this website you know you are applying for a real job with an interested employer.

9 – Freelanced 

Freelanced is a freelance social media network, which means you can build your credibility the same way you do on other social media networks. It is good for people that are competent designers and highly experienced but that are also new to the freelance world and do not have much of a reputation yet. The design does need updating though.

10 – Guru

This is a large website that has a lot of design jobs on a regular basis. There are often a few jobs on here that pay very well, and the better the reputation you earn, the more you may ask for your design work.

11 – Mashable Job Board

An excellent and reputable website with a ton of job options!

12 – Craigslist

Don’t be afraid of checking the jobs section here. Check out the “web / info design” or “art / media / design” listings.

13 – UpWork

Simply create a profile and put yourself out there. This is a great way to build up your portfolio, make some extra cash and build up your experience.

14 – Hubstaff Talent

A new place to find talent!

Actionable Steps from Here

1. Bookmark all relevant job boards
2. Find at 3 jobs that match your skill set
3. Apply to the jobs.

See also, how to get your first design job and how to get design jobs as a student or novice. And more ways to make money online here.