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Diane's avatar
Diane R Community Member

Is it my profile??

Hello,

 

Are there any "seasoned professionals" on Upwork that could take a look at my profile and give me constructive feedback?

 

I have submitted 25 proposals and have not heard back from any of them, yet.  I did have 3 other offers to submit but they were scams.  This is my first attempt at working on Upwork and my only experience is in the traditional realm of job searching:  LinkedIn, resume, etc...

 

Thanks to anyone that would be willing to take a look and let me know what you see!  

 

Diane

 

 

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Mary's avatar
Mary W Community Member

Diane, I looked at your profile and have a couple of minor suggestions.  Use complete sentences.  The client initially only sees the first two or three lines of your profile, so make them sell your expertise.

 

I would not say that you are a grad student.  Makes you sound young and inexperienced and just looking for some extra bucks. You want to highlight your skills and experience.

 

BTW, the client initially only sees the first couple of lines of your proposals, too, so don't waste that valuable real estate.  Address their needs and how your talent and skills will solve their issue.

 

It takes a while to get going so don't be discouraged!

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12 REPLIES 12
Mary's avatar
Mary W Community Member

Diane, I looked at your profile and have a couple of minor suggestions.  Use complete sentences.  The client initially only sees the first two or three lines of your profile, so make them sell your expertise.

 

I would not say that you are a grad student.  Makes you sound young and inexperienced and just looking for some extra bucks. You want to highlight your skills and experience.

 

BTW, the client initially only sees the first couple of lines of your proposals, too, so don't waste that valuable real estate.  Address their needs and how your talent and skills will solve their issue.

 

It takes a while to get going so don't be discouraged!

Diane's avatar
Diane R Community Member

Thank you so much, Mary W!  You make some excellent points.  I will review and revise.  

Diane

Mary's avatar
Mary W Community Member

You are most welcome!

Melanie's avatar
Melanie M Community Member

I really like your profile, but I agree with the others who have responded -- lose the last paragraph.  Best of luck to you. It can take a little while to get started. I came onboard here July of 2016. I wrote a lot of proposals and ended up experimenting with different styles and approaches until I found what worked for me. Freelancing is a side gig for me, but I am getting enough assignments to keep me plenty busy.

 

By the way, I was raised in Little Rock and am a graduate of Little Rock Central High (c/o '82) I see you attended college there. Did you also graduate from high school in Little Rock? If so, which one?

Diane's avatar
Diane R Community Member

Hi Melanie,

 

Thank you for the feedback!  I am slow to make the changes due to holidays & job offers!  Yay!

 

I did not graduate High School in Little Rock but my daughter did:  Central High School, Class of 2016!  🙂  I'm pretty sure the school looks exactly the same as when you attended with a few minor additions to enhance the "Little Rock Nine" and the museum across the street.   It is still one of the most beautiful in the country, I think.  

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Diane

Scott's avatar
Scott B Community Member

I really think it's a good profile. Professional and exhibits a strong positive attitude. However, I absolutely would delete this sentence immediately:

 

"I am eager to find an online position that makes the most efficient use of my limited amount of time"

 

You are giving the impression that you don't have much time for clients. Additionally, rather then focusing on what you have to offer or your passion around the work, you are focusing on what the platform and client can do for you. This one sentence really takes away from the message and vibe you were doing well in conveying. Fortunately that should be an easy fix. I also agree about getting rid of the student bit.

 

Diane's avatar
Diane R Community Member

Thank you, Scott!  

Funny:  when I see the sentence that I wrote, I'm appalled.  What was I thinking??  Lol!

It takes a village, eh?  

Happy Holidays!

 

 

Precious's avatar
Precious D Community Member

I reviewed your profile and it looks great to me.  I am also new to Upwork and submitted almost 30 proposals before I heard back from 1 client.  Yesterday I read a post regarding the number of people actually on upwork and the number of jobs available.  I also noticed that when searching for jobs it automatically selects "US only."  A lot more jobs pop up if you deselect this option.  Also, I make sure I filter by "payment verified" to make sure the person or company is sincere about hiring.

 

Good luck to you.  It's not your profile in my opinion.  I do creative work and was very detailed on my profile, only to find other users with profiles that say "I'll do my best to make your project as dope as I can" and had earned thousands here - go figure!  

Jennifer's avatar
Jennifer D Community Member


@Precious D wrote:

I reviewed your profile and it looks great to me.  I am also new to Upwork and submitted almost 30 proposals before I heard back from 1 client.  Yesterday I read a post regarding the number of people actually on upwork and the number of jobs available.  I also noticed that when searching for jobs it automatically selects "US only."  A lot more jobs pop up if you deselect this option.  Also, I make sure I filter by "payment verified" to make sure the person or company is sincere about hiring.

 

Good luck to you.  It's not your profile in my opinion.  I do creative work and was very detailed on my profile, only to find other users with profiles that say "I'll do my best to make your project as dope as I can" and had earned thousands here - go figure!  


 You're missing out on plenty of great job opportunities, then. There's a myriad of reasons why clients don't verify their payment method before posting their first job, most of which aren't because they're not "sincere about hiring".

Diane's avatar
Diane R Community Member

Hi Jennifer,

 

Thanks for the comments regarding clients who have not verified their payment method.  I was surprised to see your feedback because of the various training articles that ***seem*** to emphasize this precautionary measure due to multiple scams and such.  

 

Can you elaborate or point me to another article or discussion that will clarify the benefits and, specifically, the risk of working with unverified clients?  My understanding (very little!) is that if we do work with unverified clients and they do not pay us, there is no recourse through Upwork??

 

Happy Holidays!

Jennifer's avatar
Jennifer D Community Member


@Diane R wrote:

Hi Jennifer,

 

Thanks for the comments regarding clients who have not verified their payment method.  I was surprised to see your feedback because of the various training articles that ***seem*** to emphasize this precautionary measure due to multiple scams and such.  

 

Can you elaborate or point me to another article or discussion that will clarify the benefits and, specifically, the risk of working with unverified clients?  My understanding (very little!) is that if we do work with unverified clients and they do not pay us, there is no recourse through Upwork??

 

Happy Holidays!


 Hi Diane,

 

There's a difference between submitting a proposal to a client without a verified payment method, and doing work for a client without a verified payment method. The first is a good idea, the second is a terrible idea.

 

As many successful freelancers here in the forums will tell you, they enjoy working with clients who don't start with a verified payment method because it often means the client is serious about finding a specialist who can help solve their specific problem that they haven't been able to solve in-house. Also, newer clients are often happy to be guided by the freelancer.

 

This does assume that 1) you are a specialist commanding good rates, and 2) you are experienced with how Upwork works and are confident in guiding a client who may be confused. In general, I don't recommend that new clients and new freelancers work together, because if something does go wrong they don't have the knowledge and experience to fix the problem. So because you're new, you may still want to work with experienced clients until you get your head around all the ins and outs of the Upwork system.

 

Doing work for a client without a verified payment method is a terrible idea, though. If you do win a job with a client who doesn't have a verified payment method, you should definitely wait until they verify it before you start. Otherwise you have no payment protection.

 

(For a bit more background, I'm a client, not a freelancer. I didn't verify my payment method when I posted my first job because I had no idea if I was going to be able to find what I wanted here in Upwork, and verifying it needed input from both my boss and our accountant. But once I found the freelancer I was looking for, I verified it before they started work. That freelancer is still working with me over 5 years later and I now have nearly $200k spent on Upwork across dozens of freelancer contracts.)

Diane's avatar
Diane R Community Member

Thank you for taking time out to review my profile and leave your suggestions, too.  I took your advice and have now learned more about setting the proper filters.  Much easier!  I have finally begun to receive some invitations and have accepted a small p/t - but hopefully long-term - position with a start-up.  I love start-ups! 

Best of luck to you, as well.  Please let me know if I can help you out some time!

 

Diane