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nbardo88
Community Member

Starting to lose hope...

I have only been on Upwork a few months and im already starting to lose hope. I have put in several purposals where I qualify for their job but I have either gotten scammed or not acknowledge at all. It is extremly hard landing your first job here to boost your profile up. I have tried several things to change my profile, my hourly rate, etc and nothing seems to help. I am a committed and hard  self driven worker so this is very frusterating. Is there anything I can do to help me land my first job?

15 REPLIES 15
yitwail
Community Member

Nicole, your profile mentions 2 years of Shopify experience. So perhaps you can create a portfolio item for a Shopify site you worked on, with the client's permission of course. Likewise, if you have social media clients, perhaps you can feature them in your portfolio. I'm not saying this will land your first job, but there's no harm trying.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
nbardo88
Community Member

Thank you for the tips, I will look in to updating that information. 

lionsneil
Community Member

Have you taken any of the tests that Outwork offers to add credentials to your profile, without the need to land any jobs?

 

I'm in a similar situation to you, and I've been trying to incorporate tests into my routine.  It can be somewhat disheartening when you write detailed applications for many jobs, and don't get chosen for any of them...  Just remember, you're not alone.  I have a strong feeling that the majority of new UpWork freelancers have a difficult time landing their first gigs.  

 

I'm not sure that I should be offering any advice, considering I haven't been selected for a job yet, but I have thought of a strategy that may help you get past the first one.  If you're fluent in English (or another language), try taking the English tests to prove to project posters that you're capable.  If you do well on one or two of them, they should show up at the top of your test list in your profile.  Try submitting proposals for data entry, proofreading, or writing jobs that may be smaller than you would normally consider.  If the job is something you're not drawn to, chances are your competition will have the same feelings.  In the applications, make sure that you clearly point out the test scores for the related category tests that you just Aced.  Hopefully they will take a look at your profile, recognize that you're new, but still worthy, and give you a shot!  

 

Obviously, the less freelancers who submit proposals for any given project, the better your odds of being chosen.  To land your first one, aim for the less popular, lower dollar tests that you can prove your skill set with test results or work in your portfolio.

 

Hopefully that helps a little, at least.  I'm right there with you!  Let's keep going!  Good luck.

@ Neil --

 

Re-read the OP's post, and please re-consider some of your suggestions about what the OP might offer as skills (e.g., proofreading). Not meant to be a slam, just obvious and rational advice.

Thank you so much for your input. I have taken some test and I am going to tweak my profile a little bit more. You gave excellent advice and I wish you luck in landing your first gig as well! 


Neil S wrote:

Have you taken any of the tests that Outwork offers to add credentials to your profile, without the need to land any jobs?

 

I'm in a similar situation to you, and I've been trying to incorporate tests into my routine.  It can be somewhat disheartening when you write detailed applications for many jobs, and don't get chosen for any of them...  Just remember, you're not alone.  I have a strong feeling that the majority of new UpWork freelancers have a difficult time landing their first gigs.  

 

I'm not sure that I should be offering any advice, considering I haven't been selected for a job yet, but I have thought of a strategy that may help you get past the first one.  If you're fluent in English (or another language), try taking the English tests to prove to project posters that you're capable.  If you do well on one or two of them, they should show up at the top of your test list in your profile.  Try submitting proposals for data entry, proofreading, or writing jobs that may be smaller than you would normally consider.  If the job is something you're not drawn to, chances are your competition will have the same feelings.  In the applications, make sure that you clearly point out the test scores for the related category tests that you just Aced.  Hopefully they will take a look at your profile, recognize that you're new, but still worthy, and give you a shot!  

 

Obviously, the less freelancers who submit proposals for any given project, the better your odds of being chosen.  To land your first one, aim for the less popular, lower dollar tests that you can prove your skill set with test results or work in your portfolio.

 

Hopefully that helps a little, at least.  I'm right there with you!  Let's keep going!  Good luck.


This is a recipe for getting the "too many proposals, no job, get out" email.

Could you please elaborate?  How does anything that I said in my response relate what-so-ever to your statement, "too many proposals, no job, get out"?

 

I suggested that the OP explore topics that would fit her skill set, and allow her to score highly on the tests.  In no way did I encourage anyone to spam clients, nor did I suggest that she try to submit as many proposals as possible.  Maybe she would be submitting less proposals with considerably better cover letters...

 

Less competition submitting for any given project equates to better odds of getting chosen.  Again, I don't understand how that would get anybody kicked out of anything.  

 

I'm not sure if you meant that the Upwork moderators would say "Get Out", or if you were referring to the clients who receive the proposals.  I'm fairly confident that Upwork would not want to punish a new user for submitting additional, quality proposals.  From a project owner's perspective, based on the OP's writing on this one post, I can tell that any proposal that she would submit would be of higher quality than the majority of people who respond to any given project.  As someone who is hiring people to help them, it should always be expected that there will be some less than stellar communication, but again, I don't think that is the case here.

 

Why be so negative?  The goal of this section of the forum is to help support and encourage new freelancers.  What value have you added to this conversation?

 

I hope you cheer up and have a decent Saturday.


Neil S wrote:

Could you please elaborate?  How does anything that I said in my response relate what-so-ever to your statement, "too many proposals, no job, get out"?

 

I suggested that the OP explore topics that would fit her skill set, and allow her to score highly on the tests.  In no way did I encourage anyone to spam clients, nor did I suggest that she try to submit as many proposals as possible.  Maybe she would be submitting less proposals with considerably better cover letters...

 

Less competition submitting for any given project equates to better odds of getting chosen.  Again, I don't understand how that would get anybody kicked out of anything.  

 

I'm not sure if you meant that the Upwork moderators would say "Get Out", or if you were referring to the clients who receive the proposals.  I'm fairly confident that Upwork would not want to punish a new user for submitting additional, quality proposals.  From a project owner's perspective, based on the OP's writing on this one post, I can tell that any proposal that she would submit would be of higher quality than the majority of people who respond to any given project.  As someone who is hiring people to help them, it should always be expected that there will be some less than stellar communication, but again, I don't think that is the case here.

 

Why be so negative?  The goal of this section of the forum is to help support and encourage new freelancers.  What value have you added to this conversation?

 

I hope you cheer up and have a decent Saturday.


Because if you start spamming the platform for any job without targeting anything, she's going to find herself suspended with the "too many proposals no skills yadda yadda" email. And good luck coming back from that. It happens, but rarely.


Neil S wrote:

Could you please elaborate?  How does anything that I said in my response relate what-so-ever to your statement, "too many proposals, no job, get out"?

 

I suggested that the OP explore topics that would fit her skill set, and allow her to score highly on the tests.  In no way did I encourage anyone to spam clients, nor did I suggest that she try to submit as many proposals as possible.  Maybe she would be submitting less proposals with considerably better cover letters...

 

Less competition submitting for any given project equates to better odds of getting chosen.  Again, I don't understand how that would get anybody kicked out of anything.  

 

I'm not sure if you meant that the Upwork moderators would say "Get Out", or if you were referring to the clients who receive the proposals.  I'm fairly confident that Upwork would not want to punish a new user for submitting additional, quality proposals.  From a project owner's perspective, based on the OP's writing on this one post, I can tell that any proposal that she would submit would be of higher quality than the majority of people who respond to any given project.  As someone who is hiring people to help them, it should always be expected that there will be some less than stellar communication, but again, I don't think that is the case here.

 

Why be so negative?  The goal of this section of the forum is to help support and encourage new freelancers.  What value have you added to this conversation?

 

I hope you cheer up and have a decent Saturday.


Not sure how you feel comfortable going from "not sure if I should be offering any advice" to arguing with an UW veteran who's sitting on a 99% JSS and $300k in lifetime UW earnings. 

 

To the extent that the goal of this board is "to help support and encourage new freelancers", what better way to do that than by warning them of serious pitfalls and correcting the record when someone lacking experience or knowledge offers misguided advice? 

mystudiomke
Community Member

Nicole,

 

One, don't lose hope - we have all been there. The key is staying optimistic and consistent. I can't take a look at your profile but I would highly encourage you to see what others successful freelancers are doing in your category. Take a look at their profile summary, links and then brainstorm what can you do to make your profile. Also learning how to write an awesome proposal.

 

I wanted to share this podcast link, where an Upwork freelancer struggles in the beginning and after the several proposals she was able to land her first job. https://archilancing.podbean.com/e/008-freelancing-from-bangladesh-as-your-main-income-with-sadia/

 

Hope that helps!

Lila

Thank you for your input. I will give that podcast a listen and I will do some research on how to better my profile, I probably could work on my cover letters so I will aslo look into that. 

gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Your profile is Private now, so I don't know what field you are in and can't offer specific comments. But I second Lila's notes. Search for FLs who are successfully doing what you want to do, and study how they are doing it: their profiles, their experience and credentials, their rates, the types of projects they're doing, etc. 

 

Choose carefully when spending your connects. Submit your proposals and don't look back. It's highly unusual to hear back from a client unless they are interested in hiring you. I came here with 20+ years of FL experience and it took six months to feel like I was starting to get a little bit of traction, and over a year to start getting busy. 

 

Meanwhile, spend time studying the support materials that help you understand how the platform works, contract terms, billing, payments, etc.

 

Good luck!

I didn't realize my profile was set to private, Does this mean no one can see it even after the proposal is submitted?


Nicole L wrote:

I didn't realize my profile was set to private, Does this mean no one can see it even after the proposal is submitted?

 

______________________________________________________


Your potential clients will be able to see it when you send a proposal, but if you want anyone in the community to give you any advice on it, you will need to set it to public. 

kinnari33
Community Member

Yes! I have had the same issues. I spent a WHOLE day with one company. Do not work with anyone who claim they are with **Edited for Community Guidelines**. They will tell you to download telegram then they send you a job offer but its all Spam! Wasted all my time!!! So frustrating. I am trying to email UpWork to inform them and also let them know they are trying to pay off the platform but I can't seem to figure out how to email support. =/

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