The learning career: how job affects freelancers’ future career opportunities. Name:

Abstract

Freelancers, as compared to traditional employees, carry much more personal responsibility to keep learning throughout their careers, maintaining a healthy level of employability. Doing so is especially important for them too, as they are frequently faced with having to present themselves to new clients. This research aims to find out which jobs are most useful to freelancers in this respect, by interviewing a diverse group of Dutch service freelancers. We found that searching out jobs that are challenging, maintaining positive contact with clients, building a network, especially online, and the ability to process feedback, both positive and negative are most important