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tammymckinney
Community Member

How Can I Land My First Job??

I'm sure this is a common question, but I just can't seem to get the ball rolling here and I'm wondering if anyone has any additional advice for landing my first job(s). I know I have skills to share, and I have worked hard on my profile and on researching how to write effective proposals. But, I'm not quite getting anywhere yet. I have real-world experience, and was able to get permission to add a few of the things that I've done to my profile, but certainly not all of it. 

 

I did receive results from one of my proposals, but the person contacted me via my personal cell phone and refused to work through the UpWork platform. Not wanting to break any rules or put myself into a scamming situation, I declined to move further. Maybe that was the wrong move?

 

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated! 

6 REPLIES 6
purplepony
Community Member


Tammy M wrote:

I'm sure this is a common question, but I just can't seem to get the ball rolling here and I'm wondering if anyone has any additional advice for landing my first job(s). I know I have skills to share, and I have worked hard on my profile and on researching how to write effective proposals. But, I'm not quite getting anywhere yet. I have real-world experience, and was able to get permission to add a few of the things that I've done to my profile, but certainly not all of it. 

 

I did receive results from one of my proposals, but the person contacted me via my personal cell phone and refused to work through the UpWork platform. Not wanting to break any rules or put myself into a scamming situation, I declined to move further. Maybe that was the wrong move?

 

Any further advice would be greatly appreciated! 

_________________________________________________________________________

Welcome Tammy.  Have you viewed all of the information regarding landing your first job within the "Help and Support" areas and within this Community? There sincerely is a wealth of information within these two areas.

 

Your decision to decline to move further with the individual who refused to work through the Upwork platform was indeed the correct decision. If you would have accepted, you would have been in violation of TOS (terms of service.) The potential Client was in violation for attempting to not work on the platform.  


 

datasciencewonk
Community Member

Content and copywriting are saturated sectors on Upwork. Going by what Upwork reveals in their FL'er search function (I'm always tentative about this data, but it's a benchmark, even if it's tenuous), there are over 97,000 "writers" on Upwork. Meanwhile, a job search yields over 13,000 for the writing category.

 

So, you're going to need to figure out a strategy for standing out from the crowd. This is usually achieved by initially focussing on a particular knowledge area/expertise. 

 

 

Thank you! This was very helpful. I really do want to focus on healthcare writing, but have found that there aren’t many jobs listed in that realm. And since my WRITING background is in business and copywriting, I have been focusing there. I’ll have to work at finding my niche and spend my energy there.
gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

What Kat said. Also, I recommend rewriting your profile. All good freelancers love new challenges and are creative and flexible. I don't know what "uniquely diverse perspective" means. In any case, your background in health care plus freelance writing experience does not add up to anything unique. It does, however, equip you to operate in a smaller subset of writers where you can figure out how to specialize, if you are inclined to.

 

It would probably be worth your while to search for FLs on UW who are successfully doing the kind of writing you want to do. See what kind of credentials and experience they have and study how they are positioning themselves.

 

Good luck!

What Kat and Phyllis said ...plus, before you bid, read all the info here https://community.upwork.com/t5/New-to-Upwork/bd-p/New_to_Upwork

Thank you! I appreciate your constructive criticism as this is exactly the kind of thing I needed. I’ll spend some time making my profile more specific and try to let go of the generic verbiage. 🙂
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