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thefriendlydog
Community Member

Trouble getting hired.

Hey everyone, 

I'm new to upwork. Less than a week on here and I'm having serious trouble finding work and spending my connects wisely. 

Does anyone have tips on how to identify real clients that are actually hiring US employees? 

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Thank you everyone. This is something I already knew... Sadly I've forgotten so much about American professionalism.

Thank you for the reminder, it's so much easier to do this than it is to construct a "likable guy" profile.

I hope that this freelancing venture will give me some new challenges and keeps my brain firing on all cylinders.

Thank you

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5 REPLIES 5
yitwail
Community Member

Michael, if you mean you can't find jobs worth applying for, then you'll have to be patient and diligent looking for such jobs, and perhaps also look for jobs on other freelance platforms. As to identifying clients hiring US freelancers (as opposed to employees, because most jobs posted are for independent contractors, not employees in the legal sense), any job categorized as US Only should fit the bill, and you could also look at a client's hiring history and look at the profiles of freelancers they've hired, to see how many were from the US.

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"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
a_lipsey
Community Member


Michael P wrote:

Does anyone have tips on how to identify real clients that are actually hiring US employees? 


You are on the wrong site. Most clients on this site are looking for independent contractors aka consultants aka freelancers with the right skills and expertise to complete their project. They don't care where they are located (for the most part) as long as the job gets done satisfactorily. 

 

ETA: your profile is not optimized to attract clients. It reads like a dating site profile, not as an advertisement to sell your services. You should absolutely change your profile header, because no one is going to find you searching those words. 

 

Maybe you need to rethink what you are looking for? 

marc_compte
Community Member

Others have pointed out the real problem, nobody here looks to employ anyone, not in the short run, anyway. And one week is an extremely short run. They look for somebody to execute a specific and time-limited task.

 

I think your profile needs a lot more work. Don't take me wrong, but nobody cares if the freelancer they hire likes dogs, swimming or reading books. Clients will only care about your experience and knowledge in the services you provide. Bringing happines to the work place may only be an asset when you want to employ someone (sometimes not even then), but never when you want a task done.

 

If you hire an electrician for a couple of hours do you pick the one that brings happiness to your home or the one with a long and proven experience? If you find two with the exact same prooven experience then you'll pick the happy one, but not in any other case.

 

If you want to grow at Upwork I think you should change your introductory  text completely. No need to say Hello three times, this may make you look like you are looking for something else other than work. You don't even have to say Hello once, this is not a cover letter. It should describe why you are good at what you offer and nothing else. Everything else is a waste of time for the client who is looking for a job done.

 

Also, you offer sales services but your employment history doesn't have any job with that title. You've done pest controls, breed dogs and you've been the CEO of a pest control company. The closest you get is the latter, although a CEO is still not a salesman. But even then, that is the only thing you have in your entire profile that may be somehow related.

 

In my opinion, if you want a full-time or long-term job you should search somewhere else (LinkedIn?). If you want to stay here, you need to convince your potential clients you can do a good and diligent job. You can only do that by providing proof of experience or knowledge related to the services you provide: employment history, testimonials, a portfolio, project catalog, certifications, education,... 

Michael,

 

Marc is right, but he was far too kind. Your profile is a disaster for getting work. You went from killing animals to training them, so you're obviously improving.

 

What can you do for me as a businessman? I've been a provider and a client for nearly twenty years. Tell me that you can increase my sales or my margin or my market share by doing xyz. Give examples of what you've done. I know you succeeded at sales because you built your company. What if I want to sell something other than insecticide? What will you do for me?

 

Do you understand the difference between selling services and selling products? Between selling to businesses and to individual consumers? Between brick-and-mortar and websites?

 

Raise your rate. If you don't think you're worth very much, I'm not going to argue. I pay my virtual assistant more than that. Tell clients what you're going to do for them and demonstrate a direct line between "Give me Money" and "Get these Results."

 

I want you to succeed. If you succeed you make everybody on UW look good. And if you get better I might hire you. But not until I know what you're selling. The only thing missing from your profile is everything important.

Thank you everyone. This is something I already knew... Sadly I've forgotten so much about American professionalism.

Thank you for the reminder, it's so much easier to do this than it is to construct a "likable guy" profile.

I hope that this freelancing venture will give me some new challenges and keeps my brain firing on all cylinders.

Thank you
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