XING launches marketplace for freelancers

• Maximum range: More than 600,000 freelancers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are XING members
• Make the right decision faster: Both project owners and service providers can gather information in advance and get references
• Well received during beta phase

Hamburg, January 28, 2013 – Today XING is launching XING Projects, a marketplace for freelancers and project owners. This new feature provides companies with a quick and easy way of finding experts for upcoming projects. XING Projects is free of charge for freelancers who have access to new projects every day and can simply submit an application if they find one of interest. Businesses can also use this feature for free until the middle of this year. After that time it will cost 195 euros for 30 days. XING Projects can be found in the top navigation bar and is available to all XING members without having to register separately. Non-XING members or users who aren’t logged in can access and search XING Projects by going to

www.xing.com/projects. Posted projects can also be found via search engines such as Google.

Demand for freelancers higher than ever thanks to shortage of skilled workers

Thomas Vollmoeller, CEO at XING AG, said: “We’re seeing that a lot of companies on XING are suffering due to a shortage of skilled workers. XING hosts more than 600,000 freelancers – including software engineers, mechanical engineers, and graphic designers – which is more than any other online platform in the German-speaking countries. Bringing people together is the essence of XING, so it was only logical for us to expand this marketplace and offer businesses another way of finding the right people for their upcoming projects.”

Around 100,000 freelancers and project owners used this new feature during the beta phase spanning several months. During that time, a five-digit number of projects from various industries such as IT, telecommunications, sales, and engineering were posted in XING Projects with an average tender period of six months. An external survey conducted in September 2012, i.e. during the XING Projects beta phase, showed that 91% of the people asked said that they use XING to advertise their projects, thus making it by far the most used online acquisition tool for freelancers. The nearest competitor was only named by 31% of those polled.

Thomas Vollmoeller added: “The feedback we received during the beta phase was far beyond our expectations. We’re really happy that XING is already key to helping freelancers acquire new projects. We want to build on this and make XING even more useful to our members.”

XING Projects ensures transparency for both freelancers and project owners
XING Projects is really simple: The project owner describes his project along with the skills required and then publishes the ad with a click of the mouse. XING then presents the project owner with a list of suitable freelancers and the project is immediately made available to all XING members who can then submit an application if they’re interested in getting involved. Conversely, XING members will be shown projects matching the information they entered in their profile. What’s really clever about this feature is that it’s integrated into the XING platform, meaning that both project owners and freelancers benefit from XING’s social structure as they can look up their potential partner before getting in touch with them for the first time. They can even get references about potential partners by contacting people already connected to them on XING.

XING Projects will be rolled out today and will continue to be developed over the coming months. On top of that, it will also be integrated into other parts of the XING platform and given more prominent positioning. About XING
XING is the social network for business professionals. More than 12 million members worldwide – with more than 6 million in German-speaking countries alone - use XING to boost their business, job, and career. XING is a platform where professionals from all kinds of different industries can meet up, find jobs, colleagues, new assignments, cooperation partners, experts and generate business ideas. Members can meet and exchange views in over 50,000 specialist groups, while also getting together at networking events. The platform is operated by XING AG, which was founded in Hamburg, Germany, in 2003, has been publicly listed since 2006, and listed on the TecDAX since September 2011. In December 2010, XING acquired amiando AG, a Munich-based company and Europe’s leading provider of online event management and ticketing. The acquisition of kununu GmbH, the leading platform for employer reviews in German-speaking countries, allows XING to extend its position as the social recruiting market leader. Please visit

www.xing.com for more information.