What Is Guru?

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If you’re looking to hire a freelancer for a short-term, one-off, or longer-term project, Guru is a great place to find talented individuals. Guru is a freelance job board where companies can find help and freelancers can find work.

Key Takeaways

• Guru is a freelance job board for employers to find help and freelancers to find work.

• Guru is designed for both employers and freelancers and has evolved over the decades to better suit changes in the market for both sides of the coin.

• Guru is fairly easy to navigate and intuitive for posting jobs and for searching for work.

• Charges for Guru are paid by the employer for each invoice. There is an option to have that money refunded if payments are made by wire transfer or eCheck.

What Is Guru?

Guru is a job board that’s designed to connect freelancers with companies or individuals looking to hire someone. Guru claims to provide a unique way for people to connect and collaborate to get work done.

The company started in 1998 and has offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Noida, India, and continues to work to bring people together across the globe for working relationships. The company has been around a lot longer than some other organizations that offer a similar platform, and they’ve changed over the years to provide the tools and support that users demand.

The company lists its mission as: To bring Employers and Freelancers together from around the globe to get work done.

Guru’s stated vision is: To help build a better world that’s interconnected for prosperity and wired for peace.

The Guru proposition is: Connect, collaborate, and get work done in a safe and flexible online environment.

Who Is Guru For?

Guru is for freelancer workers and for people who are looking to hire them. It’s open to anyone who wants to sign up, so there are no limitations on who can be a part of this online job board community.

Guru has a focus on writers, designers, programmers, and developers, but you can also find many other freelance professionals on their site. Posting a job on Guru is free, and employers can post unlimited jobs, giving them access to more than two million freelancers. Freelancers can search through many job postings around the globe to find work that fits their skills.

How Does Guru Work?

To get started on Guru, you just have to hop over to their website. You’ll first select if you are a freelancer or if you’re an employer. Then you sign up. It’s easy to do if you use your social media accounts and tie them to the sign-in, so your data is already populated. If you don’t want to take that route, you will simply have to fill in all of your information.

If you’re posting a job, you find the right button and begin entering your job post. You’ll begin getting quotes from freelancers once you post, but you can also begin searching for a freelancer with the experience you want. Use objective performance data to find people who match your desired qualities.

There is no matching that’s done by Guru, unlike other sites. This means you have to rely on finding freelancers yourself or by them finding you and sending in a quote.

Once you’ve selected a freelancer or approved a quote, you can speak with them through the Guru email and work out all of your terms. You will want to complete a scope of work so the terms are written down, and then have both parties sign and agree to the terms and the timeline.

When you’re all set, and you’ve hired someone, you’ll get a dedicated WorkRoom where you can communicate freely and privately to work on the project. You can use your WorkRoom to add people to the team, manage files, boost productivity, track progress, communicate, and more.

Guru has a built-in SafePay feature that smooths the payment process. There are four ways to pay, credit/debit card, PayPal, eCheck, and wire transfers. For freelancers, the benefit of SafePay is that the money is put into the account before work begins, they do not get to access it until the work is approved and finalized, but they can see that it’s there waiting for them.

Pricing of Guru

For freelancers and potential hires, Guru is free. For employers, there is a 2.9% handling fee for each invoice. However, if you live in the United States and have the ability to use eCheck, or you live in the U.S. or any other country and use a wire transfer for payment, you receive all of that handling fee back.

There’s never a charge to freelancers on the site, whether they simply are signing up and looking for work or they’ve found work and are getting paid.

The charges on Guru go to the employer, and they’re charged a percentage of the invoice as a processing fee. There is the opportunity to have that charge returned to them if they use eCheck or a wire transfer to make the payment.

Guru Competitors

As you might have guessed, there are many job boards out there that offer a similar service. Guru has been around a long time and has adapted to fit the job market, but there are some other companies that are new on the scene, creating a lot of buzzes. Each has different features and payment structures, so it’s a good idea to search around to find just the right fit. These are some Guru competitors.

• Upwork. Upwork offers free job postings to employers and then charges freelancers on the money they make. There are optional upgrades employers can make that will tack on fees.

• Fiverr. This relative newcomer is getting a lot of buzz due to social media marketing. It’s free for job postings and charges the freelancer a percentage of the money they make on each job or gig they get.

• Freelancer. Freelancer is another long-standing place for employers and freelancers to connect. To post a job is free, but if you hire someone and the job is completed, there are fees. There are also fees for upgrading and adding elements to your contract.

Guru FAQ

1. What is Guru?

   Guru is a job board that connects employers with freelancers. It’s been around since 1998 and has headquarters in Pennsylvania and Noida, India. The platform has adapted to the marketplace over the years and is one that freelancers often like.

2. What does Guru charge?

   Guru is free for freelancers, and it’s free to post a job listing. Charges happen once an invoice is paid and the charge is assigned to the employer. The charge is assessed at a 2.9% handling fee for the invoice. The good news for employers is that if they use eCheck in the United States or they pay by wire transfer, that fee will be refunded.

3. What is a Guru WorkRoom?

   Guru offers WorkRooms or private spaces where employers and freelancers can communicate and collaborate. A WorkRoom can also include other people if multiple people are needed to complete a project.

4. Does Guru charge freelancers?

   No, Guru doesn’t charge freelancers. Unlike many other job boards, freelancers can sign up for free and don’t have to pay a percentage of their earnings to the platform. Charges are passed on to the employer.

Author

Kristin Kizer

Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.