What holds up when a brief gets serious

What people ask before they trust a profile

Quality on Talentack is not a badge we hand out. It is the sum of small, checkable things: who wrote the summary, when the availability window was last updated, whether the references still pick up the phone. These are the questions we get most often from candidates and hiring managers alike.

Who writes the profile summary?

The person themselves. We do not rewrite it into recruiter language or pad it with keywords. A short paragraph in the candidate's own voice tells a hiring manager more about how someone thinks than a polished third-person bio.

How current is the availability window?

Profiles carry a visible last-updated date. If a window has gone stale, it shows. We would rather a candidate mark themselves unavailable than have a recruiter send a brief into a void, so the field is easy to change and hard to forget.

What counts as a work reference here?

Someone who can speak to a specific piece of work: a former client, a studio lead, a project manager. Three referees who know the details of what you delivered hold up better than ten names who only remember you were on the team.

Do you verify skills or seniority?

No. We do not issue scores or rank people against each other. Seniority bands are self-declared and the portfolio strip is the evidence. Hiring managers read the work and the references, then decide for themselves.

How does a direct brief reach me?

A recruiter browsing by skill cluster or work setup sends a brief straight to your profile. No inbox queue, no agency middle layer. You see the scope, the timeline and the setup before you decide whether to reply.

Can I keep more than one profile?

Most people run one and keep it current. Freelancers who split their time between, say, front-end work and illustration sometimes keep two, each with its own portfolio strip and task list, so a brief lands in the right place.

Still weighing whether a profile is worth the upkeep? The help pages walk through setup, and you can reach the team through contact if something here is unclear.

What people say after a brief actually lands

References on Talentack are checked, not collected. When a hiring manager asks for a referee, we expect that person to have worked with the candidate on something specific, in the last few years, and to be reachable. The quotes below come from people who have either sent a brief through the directory or stood as a reference for someone listed on it.

"I stopped asking for a CV. The profile told me the tools, the availability window and who to call. That is the whole first call, done before the call."

Hiring manager, product team, Cape Town

Talentack quality — "I was asked to stand as a reference for a designer I had worked with two years earlier. Because her profile listed the project and the exact role she played, I could answer the call in five minutes instead of guessing."

Studio lead, Johannesburg

"Three referees who can speak to outcomes beat ten names I have to chase. That is the standard here."

Freelance developer, Durban

"The availability field saved a whole round of emails. I knew before writing the brief whether the overlap worked."

Operations lead, Pretoria