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Arun's avatar
Arun K Community Member

Can someone review my profile

Hello Upworkers !

 

I am a newbie to upwork and I have submitted 19 proposals till date. It has been six days and I still didn't receive a single response from the client. I write compelling proposals and even came top 20% in the upwork tests. 

 

Am I doing something wrong? If so,what can I do to further improve my profile and increase my chances of landing that first job?

 

And for you top rated freelancers, how long did it take to land your first job?

 

Thanks,

Arun.

32 REPLIES 32
Cheryl's avatar
Cheryl K Community Member

Arun, I sent you a message with profile feedback.

Arun's avatar
Arun K Community Member

Hello Cheryl . I checked my inbox but I don't think I received any message from you. Do you mind resending it to me? 🙂

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun.

 

 

Cheryl's avatar
Cheryl K Community Member

Well, as someone else suggested I told you to fix the lead because it was meaningless word salad. It was also inconsistent with the niches in which you say you work. Why did you think you were an academic writer?

 

In general, I would either back off promoting your level of expertise as an expert until you are or fix all the rhetorical and grammatical errors on your profile and portfolio sample pieces.

Magdalene's avatar
Magdalene N Community Member

Hello. Can someone help me to review my account if it is worth giving me more jobs. It's my second month to be in the platform and I am in dire search of a client.

Ali's avatar
Ali K Community Member

Hi Cheryl,

Can you review my profile? 

https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~017d07d43ab74868e9

 

Rehan's avatar
Rehan S Community Member

Hello Cheryl,

Could you please also review my profile?

Robin's avatar
Robin H Community Member

Hello Arun,

 

I went through your profile, I have some feedbacks (this is my perspective):

 

First of all, keep your profile info brief, like you're starting with "If you're looking for a professional writer ....", I would say, it should be "I'm a professional writer ....". Also remember that, the profile info you write should directly connect you with the client reading it, once he starts, he keeps on reading it...

 

Now coming to the heading: "Professional Academic Content Wordsmith" I don't know, if this is engaging, but I would say, this is your first impression, so make it very engaging...

 

Look for other writers profile and get some idea, how do they write it, because the first thing client would see in your profile is how impressive it is, because, this will show how you will deliver them...

 

Now coming to your Portfolio section: It would be great, if you could add one more somehow.

 

This was my perspective 🙂

I might hire you for my new blogging site, I will have to review your profile once again, before I revert back to you on this...

 

Good luck!

 

I hope this helps!

 

Thanks!

Arun's avatar
Arun K Community Member

Thank you so much for your valuable feedback Robin. I'll try modifying and tweaking my profile as per your suggestions.   😄

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun.

Robin's avatar
Robin H Community Member

You're welcome!

 

Good luck!

Arun's avatar
Arun K Community Member

Also what do you think of Ms.Petra's perspective? Should I take down some portfolios?

Robin's avatar
Robin H Community Member


Arun K wrote:

Also what do you think of Ms.Petra's perspective? Should I take down some portfolios?


Well, she is the most experienced here and checks the details that most of the contributors here can't, I would say, she must have checked every detail of your profile... She would be able to explain this better, I guess.

 

All the best!

Cheryl's avatar
Cheryl K Community Member

In your first portfolio piece, fix the typo in the first sentence.

Then diagram the second sentence and correct it. I find that diagramming a sentence is the best way to correct my mistakes when they aren't obvious to me.

"We can see famous celebrities
giving speeches that they are succesful because they just "followed their
passion"."

Robin's avatar
Robin H Community Member


Arun K wrote:

Thank you so much for your valuable feedback Robin. I'll try modifying and tweaking my profile as per your suggestions.   😄

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun.


I think, there are some silly mistakes in your portfolio, I think, you need to improve your skills a bit, also, in writting, I have seen that, people do make some silly mistakes, for that I would suggest to use auto correct spelling, work on your grammar, you would be good.

 

Good luck!

Arun's avatar
Arun K Community Member

Yes I'll be sure to do that . Thank you Robin. I also sent you a message so be sure to check it out.

 

Regards,

Arun.

Ali's avatar
Ali K Community Member

Hi Robin,

Can you review my profile?

https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/~017d07d43ab74868e9

Thanks.

 

Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Arun K wrote:

Am I doing something wrong? If so,what can I do to further improve my profile and increase my chances of landing that first job?


You need to proofread your profile overview and take down and heavily edit your portfolio pieces, they are literally littered with mistakes.

When clients consider hiring a freelancer whose English is not native, they want to see whether any claims of fluency are true.

 

I would also seriously think about whether fake reviews of fast food places (which even sound as fake as can be) are a good idea to have in a professional portfolio if you want to be taken seriously.

 

When they look at portfolio pieces like yours they won't consider you unless their English is poor enough not to spot all the spelling, grammar, punctuation, word choice, etc mistakes.

 

Arun's avatar
Arun K Community Member

Thank you for your valuable feedback Ms.Petra. Since I'm just starting my freelancing career there are bound to be mistakes in my profile. What I don't understand is that you claiming that there are spelling mistakes and poor grammar in my portfolio. It would be really helpful to me if you could pinpoint exactly what those mistakes are. 

 

After reading your review , I went through my portfolio a dozen times and I still can't find any spelling mistakes that you mentioned. By definition “a native user of English is someone who has learned and used English from early childhood. It does not necessarily mean that it is the speaker’s only language, but it means it is and has been the primary means of concept formation and communication.” (source: stackexchange.com). I have been speaking and writing in english ever since I was born. So your statement of me claiming that I'm not a Native English user is confusing to me. Note that I never claimed to be born in an English Country like the US.

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun.

 

 

Cheryl's avatar
Cheryl K Community Member

If you want to be hired as a writer, your profile must be representative of your work and it must be flawless. Whether you are just starting out or not, understand that flawless is the new standard for you.

 

When people see the term "Native" it implies that this is the first language you learned and probably is the one in which you are most skilled.

A native probably wouldn't ever say "Ms.Petra"  #1 because Ms is used with a last name and Petra is her first. You don't use a period because it isn't an abbreviation. You absolutely use a space between the Ms and the name.

That's just to start.

I'm not picking on you, I am pointing out the little things that you might be doing in your proposals that turn people off or make them think you say you have skills you don't possess. Like saying English Country, when the c in country should not be capitalized.

Arun's avatar
Arun K Community Member

You're right Ms Cheryl , I really didn't notice these mistakes . I will keep an eye out for any errors that I might make in the future. Thanks for your awesome feedback 🙂

Christine's avatar
Christine A Community Member


Arun K wrote:

You're right Ms Cheryl , I really didn't notice these mistakes . I will keep an eye out for any errors that I might make in the future. Thanks for your awesome feedback 🙂


If you ask for feedback, you should take it on board and try to learn from it. And if you want specifics, it's also not correct to put spaces before punctuation marks, which you've done 8 times just in the opening paragraph of your profile. This is not nitpicking - it's a very basic and glaring mistake that I would not expect a professional writer to make, and if I were a prospective client, I would not go beyond reading that paragraph before ruling you out as a potential hire. I don't mean to be harsh on you, but you don't seem to get it.

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member


Arun K wrote:

Since I'm just starting my freelancing career there are bound to be mistakes in my profile.

 


This is not the right mindset. Your profile needs to be flawless from day 1, otherwise how do you want to build a reputation?

Why you feel the need to advertise yourself as a writer, when you consistently refuse to follow the simplest rules of spacing and punctuation is just beyond me. This is bound to end badly. 

Martina's avatar
Martina P Community Member


Arun K wrote:

Thank you for your valuable feedback Ms.Petra. Since I'm just starting my freelancing career there are bound to be mistakes in my profile. What I don't understand is that you claiming that there are spelling mistakes and poor grammar in my portfolio. It would be really helpful to me if you could pinpoint exactly what those mistakes are. 

 

After reading your review , I went through my portfolio a dozen times and I still can't find any spelling mistakes that you mentioned. By definition “a native user of English is someone who has learned and used English from early childhood. It does not necessarily mean that it is the speaker’s only language, but it means it is and has been the primary means of concept formation and communication.” (source: stackexchange.com). I have been speaking and writing in english ever since I was born. So your statement of me claiming that I'm not a Native English user is confusing to me. Note that I never claimed to be born in an English Country like the US.

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun.

 

 


Are you kidding? If you can't find the mistakes, which are many, how do you plan to succeed? You need a professional proofreader and editor. 

I don't want to drag you down, but you are so far removed from any chance of succeeding here that you need a wake-up call. Do you have any other skills you can market on upwork?

Petra's avatar
Petra R Community Member


Arun K wrote:

Since I'm just starting my freelancing career there are bound to be mistakes in my profile.


Since you are trying to convince people to pay you money for your writing, there simply should not be proof that you are unable to write in correct English on your profile overview and your portfolio items.

 


Arun K wrote:

 

After reading your review , I went through my portfolio a dozen times and I still can't find any spelling mistakes


That is truly tragic.

Sorry, if you can't even find the problems (apart from the fact that your word usage is way off) after going over your portfolio a dozen times (that is downright scary) what are you going to do if a client actually hires you?

 

As you can't find your mistakes yourself (not even after going over your work a dozen times...), you will ultimately have to hire an editor to fix your work before you submit it to a client. Will you be able to find clients who will pay you enough to be still profitable after paying an editor to fix your writing? (The answer, in case you are wondering, is "No.")

 


Arun K wrote:

What I don't understand is that you claiming that there are spelling mistakes and poor grammar in my portfolio. It would be really helpful to me if you could pinpoint exactly what those mistakes are. 


Seriously? Your fellow freelancers are not here to do free editing for you.

But let's just look at the first paragraph of your first portfolio item.

 

mistakes.jpg

 

It seems that you have some technical training and skills. Why don't you rethink what you want to do and use those technical skills to earn money? Or maybe write in your native language?

 

Based on what is on your profile and in your portfolio, you just don't have the "tools" (basically: sufficient command over the English language) you need to expect clients to pay you money for what you write.

 

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With all due respect, you are not a professional writer. Certainly to claim to be an academic writer, when I'm sure you copied that headline from another person's profile, you are not showing that you can write in English with proper grammar and basic spelling.

Have you searched job posts for what is going to be required of you in this field?

Native English means you were born and raised using English as a first language. You are a native English speaker, so you need to change this.

You need to focus on what you can offer clients, honestly, and not try to be something you are not just because it looks like you can make money at it.

Writing is the toughest category on UW. You need to reassess your skills.