u/meneerdenalien

So far I've only done freelance assignments for BE companies, but lately I've gotten a couple offers from foreign companies for either remote roles, sometimes with occasional travel, or expanding their business into the EU.

I've passed on contracts before because of liability clauses that were too vague or uncapped. Mostly with middle men who didn't have the authority to make changes.

Not really an issue, there's work enough. If they don't agree to my terms I don't sign, and if they waste my time with multiple back and forths they're on my blacklist forever.

When considering contracts with foreign entities there's another risk being the governing law and jurisdiction. Especially outside the EU, for example US, Canada, UK and Australia.

My policy is preferably BE law, at a minimum EU, otherwise no go. But I feel I might be missing out on some interesting and lucrative contracts this way.

I know plenty of freelancers who sign just about anything you put in front of them assuming 99% of the time there's no issues. I'm sure that's true but I don't want to risk being that 1%.

I wonder how everyone here looks at it, and if anyone had experiences with claims or legal battles in general, and maybe outside of BE and EU.

As a freelancer in broadly speaking IT/engineering/PM, I'm often contacted by recruiters from many different staffing agencies for the same jobs. Both big established ones and tiny new ones, both Belgian and international.

So I wonder, where do they source their jobs?

I know multiple big companies that work with an MSP (e.g. Randstad sourceright or Manpower TAPFIN) instead of managing their own external workforce. But how/where are these jobs then publicized? How to get direct access to these?

I prefer to work with end customers or MSP directly, or at least get in the door before involving a 3rd party (if required), to avoid big middleman cuts or even worse getting burned for the job.
This has worked a couple times before, but these jobs have come to me directly or indirectly from the end customer hiring team, through my network.

There's probably a lot more where I don't know people on the inside, and I'm curious how to find them.
Mostly/initially for myself, but since I have a big network of professionals in my industry I might consider playing middleman myself with fair and transparent fees (e.g. fixed fee, time limited and/or low % options).

Anyone here who knows?
Freelancers fixing their own jobs, transparent or ex-staffers?