Can I get a profile review, please?

georgecoa1020 · ‎06-22-2018

Hi,

I'm just trying to start working on Upwork and I would love a review of my profile if possible. Any constructive and specific constructive is more than welcome.

Best of all,

George

petra_r · ‎06-22-2018

@George C wrote:

I'm just trying to start working on Upwork and I would love a review of my profile if possible. Any constructive and specific constructive is more than welcome.

George, is there much demand for copywriters in your native languages?

Why don't you have a portfolio?

There isn't much wrong with your profile (other than the slightly awkward / translated sounding English) but "writing" is a very crowded category, where most new freelancers never win a single contract.

You are also trying to position yourself in a very difficult sector of that market. The clients with the half decent budgets will want a native English speaker. Your English is great for general use, but nowhere near "English Copywriter" level.

The clients who will consider a non-native have a choice of hundreds of thousands of freelancers with roughly equivalent or better English, but far lower rates.

There is really nothing on your profile to demonstrate any background in copywriting (which is a world away from blogging.)

Unless there is a market for copywriters in your native languages, I'd rethink the whole focus of your profile.

georgecoa1020 · ‎06-22-2018

Can you please make me understand what is "awkward" about my English skills? I've received a grade of 7.5 in the IELTS academics exam, where the maximum is a 9. So I don't consider my skills "bad". A grade of 9 is barely reached even by natives, so I want a more detailed argument about this.

jr-translation · ‎06-22-2018

It reads very mechanical. A text can be 100% correct when it comes to grammar and vocab but it does not spark something.

petra_r · ‎06-22-2018

@George C wrote:
Can you please make me understand what is "awkward" about my English skills?

For example:

"Maybe you own an existing offer and want to see better ends."

or

"How others are hitting the gym, or going out for a run, I decided that "karate" is my thing."

Your IELTS result is great. It does not make you a copywriter, or a native (level) English speaker. I never said your English is "bad" - it isn't, far from it. But speaking English as a foreign language well does not equal being a copywriter, let alone in a foreign language.

You asked for feedback, that's what you got. I am sorry if it was not what you wanted to hear.

georgecoa1020 · ‎06-22-2018

Is exactly what I wanted to hear, thanks for the feedback. At least I know what I need to improve.

tasamil · ‎06-22-2018

Spacing - paragraph formatting. (Good thing you don't have a wall of text there, but it's not supposed to be one sentence - one paragraph. In general, you will need this, whatever you decided to do, here or in RL.)

I tend to agree with others, but on the other hand, I was surprised so many times. Based on what I see here, I think you will probably invest a lot here, in terms of your time and energy, and gain very little, but one can never know really. In general, imo, modesty and self-criticism (or even a realistic view of oneself) is not really a virtue in this modern world where you have millions of people with inflated degrees, experience and awesome personal PR. While someone is being modest and self-critical, someone else who doesn't have 1/10 of their skills will score far better in life. So yes, I would say, you should keep that self-confident attitude, even if you dont have anything to back it up. With that said, IELTS or whatever is nothing to tout about. Iow be self-critical, but keep that in private.

doremif · ‎06-22-2018

I'm new to UpWork too so take my opinion as one from a fellow newbie:

First I just want to point out that your IELTS score is not displayed on your profile (the Certificatation section only has the name IELTS). If that's how you want it to be shown then by all means, but if you're proud of the score maybe you'd like to mention it somewhere. I do agree with Petra though that a 7.5 on IELTS (or even 9 for that matter) doesn't really make you stand out as a professional English writer/copyediter. You mentioned how "even natives" rarely get a 9, but you're not competing with the average native English speaker - you're competing with those specialized in the use of this language, often with some relevant education background and years of professional experience.

*Just as a reference, I have friends from high school and college with IELTS/TOEFL scores in that range who I wouldn't even consider "fluent" English speakers; they're usually good with grammar and spelling but not idioms, colloquialisms or cultural/literary references. I took my TOEFL before junior year in high school and got 114/120, and I still hesitate to think of myself as near-native now, after another 2 years of high school taught by native speakers + 4 years of college in the US.

I also agree that you need a portfolio, or at least more details for your "Employment History" and "Education" sections that speak to your skills. Or links to some sample writings?

Anyway I think you may want to approach this from 2 perspectives: whether you actually have the skills/qualifications to do what you want to do, and whether your profile properly showcases those skills/qualifications. I think both are a bit lacking here.