Getting your first job on Upwork
Getting your first job on UpWork can be really time-consuming, tiring, and sometimes with no result. I struggled a month and a half before I could get my first job on Upwork. After wasting lots of time, I realized that I'm doing something wrong. And today, I'm gonna share with you 9 tips that will help me get my job on UpWork with a 5-star rating. Let's do this What's up guys, Sirarpi here. If you are new to freelancing, make sure to check out my other video, where I talk about getting started as a freelancer. And if you are just new to UpWork, check out the other video. The link should be here or here where I talk about getting started on Upwork.
I share lots of important information so I really encourage you to go ahead and check out that video first. Alright, let's get started already. The number one thing that you want to do on UpWork is to do competitor research. You want to understand how your competitors market themselves. For that, click on the job search dropdown icon, click on Freelancers and agencies. Write down your profession. Let's look for graphic designers as I already typed that.
Let UpWork take its time to load the search results. Here's what I want to know about my competitors: Their title - do I understand what they do? As a client, do I see what I'm looking for? Next, I'd look at the profile picture - is it professional enough? Then, the first several sentences of their profile description (because that's what the clients see when they do this same search). Is it engaging? As a client, would I be interested in their experience and the profile in general? The first freelancer wrote she currently works with 10 companies. That would scare me off as a client - how much time is she going to spend on MY project? For me, the winner is this guy - he is client-centered and talks about the benefits the client will get from him. He also listed all of his skills which is very good. One very important thing to look at is the portfolio.
Sometimes UpWork shows an image from your portfolio in the search results. If you have a portfolio, it is another great way to grab attention and show the clients, hey, I'm better than others, choose me. Analyze all of this information and think about how you can outcompete them, what they don't provide that you can. Tell the client you are better than others. After analyzing your competitors, it's time to optimize your profile. Especially because you don't have any previous job experience on Upwork, it's essential to have a 100% complete profile. Pay attention to your profile description - how do you present your skills in a better way? Make sure to use the same keywords in the title and the description And provide information that will help clients choose you over others. List all of your skills you would like to be hired for. When you're done, ask your friends to read your profile description and give you feedback. Now that you have optimized your profile, it's time to look for a job. One thing I would really like to highlight here is to look for the right job.
The first month when I was getting started, I didn't find any job and I was really desperate. I started looking for any job that I could do. So in the end, I landed a job of English GrammarQuiz. And the client was happy, I was happy, I got a 5-star rating. But in the long run, I understood that UpWork recommends freelancers who have completed jobs with similar skills and ranks them higher than others. So if I want to continue as a digital marketing specialist, English Grammar is not the skill I want to be ranked for. This is why you have to be careful with the first jobs that you land. If you want UpWork to show your proposal on the first page, you have to be careful with the skills.
Before applying to a job, make sure to read all of your skills and understand that this is what you want to be ranked for Now if you are looking for a job desperately and can't find anything, it's because you randomly look for a job. But, in reality, if you want to find a job, you have to look for a job during the week and on different hours None of my clients respond to my messages during the weekend. Absolutely NOBODY. This is when I wanted to start my own research and understand if there's good timing to apply to a job on Upwork. I found out that the best times to apply to jobs on UpWork is during the week, before and after lunch hours and early in the morning and late at night. Because depending on the time zone difference, the best time for the clients can differ. But at the weekend, there's almost no chance to land a very good job. because everyone is having a rest. So my advice to you is - take a good rest during the weekend and roll up your sleeves during the week. If you don't want to waste your Connects, look for the most recent jobs only. If a job is posted a day ago, chances are that the client has received lots of proposals and is not even going to take a look at your proposal.
This is why you only have to apply to the most recent jobs. For this, you can reload your feed to getthe most recent ones. And if you don't get any relevant information on your feed, you can use the advanced search. Look for specific keywords. Narrow down your search terms. I would only change the Number of Proposals to Less than 5.
I want to make sure the. competition is not very high
The risk is that they might give you negative feedback and stuff. But the first thing that you have to do is to apply to the job, contact this person, communicate with them, understand if they are scammers or really good clients who can give you a 5-star rating. After that, read the job description carefully. Don't submit a proposal only because the title seems the perfect fit for you. Remember that not all the clients are professionals and sometimes they don't even understand what you do as a designer or a developer. This is why reading job descriptions are important. Then check out the skills the client mentioned in the job description, Preferred qualifications to see if you meet the client's needs. And Activity on this job section to understand if the competition is high and if the client is interviewing other freelancers. Jump to the client information section and check out the client location, the average amount they paid to other freelancers, and the feedback they received and gave. If you watched my previous video, .
you already know why client information is important. If you didn't, make sure to check it out because this part is really important and will leave a link in the description. Ok, so if you think that this job is a really good fit for you, go ahead and submit a proposal, write a great cover letter. Now listen to me carefully - Never EVER use a template cover letter DON'T you dare! Never do this. Personalize each and every cover letter. What they know is whether or not you can help them with what they need. I stated that I am a YouTuber, the type of content that I make and I stated that "My most important requirement is o be available during weekdays Do I want you to tell me you have thousands of years of experience? Or do I want you to tell me that you can help me and you'll be available during the week? Here's the best choice every client would go with "Hello, I am available during weekdays." "I have 6 years of experience in video editing".. And then, he asks me questions. My first reaction is to interact with this person This is the type of proposal that I want to see as a client. Just two sentences and I already want to hire this person. This is what the clients want to do. If you have previous relevant job experience, you can also give links in your cover letter
Another alternative is to attach a CV. But let me tell you no one is going to download your CV. If you want to be recommended by UpWork to other clients who are looking for freelancers with the same experience, look for short-term jobs. You will quickly close contracts and get good feedback with the skills you want and Upwork will give you more chances to appear in the search. And if you submit a proposal, your proposal will be seen at the first top ten results. This is basically everything that you have to know about getting your first job on Upwork.
