Why a client hires a freelance
Clients hire freelance medical writers to meet needs their internal staff cannot cover, and weigh the writer’s availability, document experience, subject knowledge and ability to work with the team.
Capacity, time and budget
Companies that employ medical writers pay them whether or not they are busy, so their priority is to keep internal writers occupied; freelance opportunities arise when staff are unavailable or lack the required qualifications. Time pressure can make a last-minute assignment attractive to a freelance while salaried writers may be less eager to add it to an already long day or working weekend. When workload increases, the choice between recruiting staff and commissioning freelance work depends partly on whether the increase is permanent or temporary: employment entails salary, payroll taxes and benefits, whereas an overflow assignment costs the price of that job.
Preferences vary by company and financial climate: some favour employees, while others limit head count and use freelances or small medical writing suppliers. One medical writing business owner describes redundancies during a financial crisis leaving staffing gaps that increased external work, with the possibility that renewed staff recruitment could reduce freelance demand again.
An emergency and tight deadline can create a first opportunity when a client’s usual freelance pool is unavailable. One freelance business owner treats clients’ first calls as signs that suitable staff and familiar freelances have already been exhausted, making the client nervous about an untested provider. Familiar writers are contacted first for their demonstrated writing ability and reliable execution.
Hiring criteria
A September–October 2009 online survey attracted 466 respondents, including 405 freelances and 61 clients; about a third of the clients worked at medical communication or education agencies, about a third at pharmaceutical, biotechnology or medical device companies, six at publishers and the rest at other commercial or nonprofit organizations. Clients were asked to select and rank the four kinds of information most important when hiring a freelance, with document-type experience the leading concern.
Among the 51 clients answering that question, the counts selecting each item and assigning each rank were as follows; a lower average rank indicates greater importance among those selecting the item.
| Information | Selected in top four | Rank 1 | Rank 2 | Rank 3 | Rank 4 | Average rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experience with specific document types | 44 | 23 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 1.64 |
| Years of freelance experience | 11 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2.18 |
| Therapeutic area experience | 42 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 4 | 2.26 |
| Years of medical communication experience | 42 | 6 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 2.60 |
| Willingness to work onsite | 9 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2.78 |
| Highest academic degree | 23 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 3.00 |
| AMWA certificates | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Incorporated business status | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.33 |
| City and state or province | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3.71 |
| Non-AMWA credentials | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4.00 |
| Willingness to travel | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.00 |
In eleven open comments, clients most often named relational qualities: team fit, flexibility, receptiveness to feedback, personality, working under pressure, working well with others and cooperation with project needs; two preferred a writer recommended by a trusted colleague. An editor can have several suitable writers for one project, so not being chosen need not be taken personally. In a professional-network discussion reported in 2011, editors and managers also named professionalism, flexibility, document-type experience and commitment to teamwork as desirable qualities.
The survey’s 61 clients also selected their three main document or service needs: 36 chose journal publications or congress presentations, 24 editing, 19 regulatory writing, 16 unaccredited clinician education and 13 writing for patients or the public. Accredited continuing medical education, advisory board reports and other internal documents, conference coverage, copywriting, grant writing, project management and sales representative training each appeared among the top needs of fewer than ten clients.
Subject knowledge and writing skill
A question about experience with a specific drug or disease may conceal a need for a particular kind of communication, so discussion should establish the project’s objectives before emphasizing product knowledge. For example, a request for kidney cancer immunotherapy samples might elicit a phase II journal article when the actual need is gaming questions for an exhibition supporting a new indication; promotional and exhibit-writing experience, even in cardiology, would then be more relevant. Writers should emphasize the targeted style needed and remind clients that rapid learning and review of the latest research are part of the work.
A freelance should be honest about lacking recent subject experience and explain that the writer works with industry experts to make the communication factual, relevant, accurate and suitable for its audience. One experienced writer is willing to invest some unpaid learning time for an unfamiliar subject when the project is large and desirable.
One freelance distinguishes learnable therapeutic information and writing mechanics from an inherent communication talent that is nurtured and perfected over time; existing clients can be offered as references for how quickly and well the writer learns. Another considers that there may be little scope to persuade a client already convinced subject knowledge matters more: the writer can describe successful assignments across subjects and offer a comparable sample, but continuing beyond that may appear to be begging.