Advice please - new to Upwork!

sbailey_uk · ‎02-18-2021

Hi there,

I am new to Upwork (I did sign up a while back and applied for a few roles but heard nothing, and then family circumstance changed and I wasn't actively looking for work. Now I am looking for a few hours a week) and have submitted a few proposals but heard absolutely nothing back.

I don't believe that I am necessarily the best person for the roles I have gone for, but they are roles that I believe I am a very strong fit for due to previous experience, and ones that I am passionate about too. I have portrayed this through my cover letter as best I can and I would have hoped to hear back from a few of them.

I haven't got example of my work to show which I fear may be holding me back, but my examples are physical and not digital. I am currently employed (as a freelancer) by a previous employer and am really keen to branch out into other areas but am having little luck...any ideas or helpful suggestions would be so appreciated!

Many thanks,

Sarah

colettelewis · ‎02-18-2021

Sarah B wrote:
I don't believe that I am necessarily the best person for the roles I have gone for, but they are roles that I believe I am a very strong fit for due to previous experience [...].

_________________________________

Sarah, I very much hope you did not put, or even imply, this in your proposals! You actually should believe you are the best person for the jobs you apply for and give the reasons (briefly) why.

The other thing to remember is that the sell is in the first couple of lines of your proposal, which is all a client sees initially. So you need to grab his or her attention in these two lines to encourage them to read further and even then, keep it short and to the point.

prestonhunter · ‎02-18-2021

Sarah:

There is a difference between being the "best person for this role" and being "the best person in the world with a certain skill."

When you carefully consider jobs on Upwork and then pick ones that are right for you and apply to those jobs on Upwork, you PROBABLY ARE THE BEST PERSON for that role.

By that, we mean that out of the freelancers who applied to that job, you're probably the best candidate. The client maybe has 5 to 10 people who applied. YOU applied because you know you can truly help this client. YOU are not one of those freelancers who randomly applies to every job they see. You probably ARE the best person that is available to the client. Be confident.

Maybe if the client has a million dollars to pay a freelancer for this task, he could find somebody who could do an even better job. Maybe if the client had infinite time and interviewed every person on the planet, he could find somebody better. But that is not the reality of the situation.

Don't compare yourself to other candidates.

Talk about what the client cares about.

The client DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU.

Don't talk about yourself. In your proposal, just talk about the three things that clients care about.

The client cares about three things:

- himself

- his project

- how you are going to make his life better by working on his project.

sbailey_uk · ‎02-19-2021

Hi Preston - thank you for your time and feeback.

I think I need to be a little more direct with my 'I can do this for you because...' and really push myself to sell myself.

I had wondered if my expereince is too broad, in that I havent (yet) specialised in a certain area. I have areas that I want to drill down into and so will big up my experience and ability in those fields. Fingers crossed!

Thank you!

sbailey_uk · ‎02-19-2021

Thanks Nicola - and no I absolutely didn't put that! 🙂

I really do apply for jobs that I know I can do, and where I am pretty passionate about the subject matter too. I will work on trying to get that across more, and maybe try and be a little more conscise in my writing...

Appreciate your time to comment!

martina_plaschka · ‎02-19-2021

Sarah B wrote:
Thanks Nicola - and no I absolutely didn't put that! 🙂

I really do apply for jobs that I know I can do, and where I am pretty passionate about the subject matter too. I will work on trying to get that across more, and maybe try and be a little more conscise in my writing...

Appreciate your time to comment!

Do you have any prior work such as flyers or something nice and shiny to put into your portfolio? Nothing wrong with a little attention-grabbing to make clients linger a little longer on your profile. Your field has huge competition, so I definitely would specialize, but only if you have good examples to back it up.