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MichaelJ
Community Manager
Community Manager

Tips for Getting Started on Upwork

Getting started on Upwork can be challenging. Here are some top tips that can help you succeed.

 

Complete Your Profile

First, it can be very helpful to complete your profile 100%. It’s important to understand that there are certain sections that must be completed in order to reach 100%. You can even technically exceed 100% completion. The more fields you complete on your profile, the better your chances of winning work. Also, your profile must be 100% complete in order to qualify for badges such as Rising Talent and Top Rated. Check out this help article for more information on the numerous ways you can reach 100% or more completion. I also recommend this article about why a great title and overview can make a difference.

 

Set Your Profile Visibility

Second, we recommend updating your profile visibility. Once you’ve crafted the perfect profile, you’ll want clients to be able to see it. When setting your profile visibility, you have three options: Public, Only Upwork Users, or Private.  If you set your profile to private, it will be excluded from the Upwork marketplace and search engines. This means clients won’t see you when they search for freelancers. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to set your profile visibility to Public or Only Upwork Users.

 

Submit Proposals

Third, submit proposals! This may seem like an obvious step, but it’s one that often doesn’t receive enough attention from new freelancers. By regularly submitting proposals for projects that fit your skills, you not only increase your chances of winning work, but you also prevent your profile from being automatically set to private, which can happen if you are inactive from the platform. As you submit more proposals, you will also learn what does and doesn’t get the attention of clients. Also, remember, that you may have to submit more than 5 proposals before you win your first project. Persistence is key. To help improve the quality of your proposals, I invite you to read about how to create a proposal that wins jobs and take in this proven advice from freelancers on Upwork. Also, check out this great article about How To Get More Jobs on Upwork in 2022!


Cheers,
Mike
ACCEPTED SOLUTION
MichaelJ
Community Manager
Community Manager

For help with your profile, check out this peer feedback thread and consider joining an Upwork Academy Coaching Cohort!


Cheers,
Mike

View solution in original post

849 REPLIES 849
4862a10b
Community Member

Hi, Mike!

I would love if you had the chance to review my profile.

bamres
Community Member

Hi Mike.

thanks for the tips

have been a menber a year now but been on and off

can you please review my proflie and let me know what need to be fix

thank you 

Micheal

MichaelJ
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Ogunleke,

 

I reviewed your profile and have some suggestions:

  • Remove "Hello, my name is (Ogunleke Micheal Olajide)". Your name is already on your profile and the beginning of the overview is precious real estate. The beginning of your profile overview displays in prospective client search results and it’s your first 200-character pitch. So, your first sentence should include clear, relevant information about your primary skill sets and expertise.
  • Your profile overview is short compared to the average. Upwork’s research shows clients see it as a positive signal if the profile is well written and comprehensive. Therefore, consider crafting your overview as a pitch to prospective clients. 

    • Help clients understand your abilities better by listing information about your skills and experience in an original and creative way. 
    • Focus on how you can help clients achieve their goals. For example, expand on who you are, the services you offer, and what you’re most passionate about. 
    • Be clear on your expertise and mention specialized software or tools. 
    • If appropriate, let your personality shine through (include some excitement), and show your qualities and praise the work you do, instead of focusing on yourself.
    • Other examples of information you can include are past accomplishments and projects, preferred working style, and your business’ values (e.g. I believe in strong communications or thorough upfront planning), industries or lines of businesses you have worked in before, and the types of clients you have worked with before (start-ups, solo entrepreneurs, large businesses, etc.). 

To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview. 


Cheers,
Mike
rockcy
Community Member

Highly informative 

rockcy
Community Member

This is highly informative, thanks for sharing! 🙂

388d0c31
Community Member

Really a great post for newbies. I will add: Also if possible we need to add few projects so that clients can get idea about our service competency, budgets and delivery time.  

Minhazul Asif
c0e86009
Community Member

This is great mike, I recently came onboard and was lost for a bit, will definitely read through your suggestions, thanks. I would appreciate your opinion of my profile, would appreciate corrections and tips to help me get my first job here.

AMY E
167ac944
Community Member

Hi Mike, 

I am new on Upwork. I am doing work hard to build my Upwork profile kindly check my profile and give me your feedback 

bb7694fc
Community Member

Thanks, Mike.... Please i am new on the platform. I want you to help me review my profile and give me the necessary guideline to make it perfect.

 

thanks in anticipation.

ahamednajir
Community Member

Thanks a lot mike 

Hi Joanne! 

Can you please also check mine. Because I'm also having issues with this "invitations" thing. Before, I got job invites everyday, and recently, no job invites, even I have submitted proposals. Hoping to be considered. Thanks! 

167ac944
Community Member

Hi Mike, I am new to Upwork. Upwork give me Rising  Talent but now Rising Talen is gone. What happened and why is Rising Talent gone? please help me

MichaelJ
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Muhammad Asif,

 

I still see the Rising Talent badge on your profile. If you have questions about the requirements for that badge, please visit the help center.


Cheers,
Mike
domitila22
Community Member

Hello Mike,

 

Thank you for the information. 

I am not quite new to Upwork, but I have never received a job. I have received 2 proposals but no work. 

Please review my profile and help me build it so that I can get jobs. 

Thank you, 

Domitila

Hi Domitila,

 

It's important to keep submitting proposals. It can take many proposals to win your first project, but many freelancers find that it becomes easier over time. 

 

I reviewed your profile and have some suggestions:

  • Your profile overview is short compared to the average. Upwork’s research shows clients see it as a positive signal if the profile is well written and comprehensive. Therefore, consider crafting your overview as a pitch to prospective clients. 

    • Help clients understand your abilities better by listing information about your skills and experience in an original and creative way. 
    • Focus on how you can help clients achieve their goals. For example, expand on who you are, the services you offer, and what you’re most passionate about. 
    • Be clear on your expertise and mention specialized software or tools.
  • The beginning of your profile overview displays in prospective client search results and it’s your first 200-character pitch. So, your first sentence should include clear, relevant information about your primary skill sets and expertise.
  • Your profile overview is difficult to quickly scan and understand what your primary services and experiences are. It might help to organize it with paragraphs: for example, have your introduction paragraph, a separate paragraph for skills, and one for experience. In this way, you might emphasize certain areas, but use caution with adding lists of skills with few to no related work examples because clients may question the sincerity of your skills list.

To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview.


Cheers,
Mike
biswaskallol
Community Member

Hello Mike

 

Please could you do review my frofile and everything is okey? Please suggest how to improve my profile and getting rising talent.

 

Thanks

Kallol

Hi Kallol,

 

Thanks for message. I reviewed your profile and suggest changes to the beginning of the overview. The beginning of your profile overview displays in prospective client search results and it’s your first 200-character pitch. So, your first sentence should include clear, relevant information about your primary skill sets and expertise. To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview. 

 

As for Rising Talent, please review this article.


Cheers,
Mike

Thank you for your tips, I will definitely work on it.

f55085f3
Community Member

Hello Mike, I'm a new member, thank you for your post. I received a new offer, but the correspondence is not conducted through the UPwork messenger, but through personal mail, is this normal? Or maybe scammers

Hi Mult,

 

Please know that sharing contact information before a contract has started is against Upwork’s Upwork's Terms of Service and that all communications prior to the contract starting must take place on Upwork. We also encourage you to let us know if a TOS violation has happened by using the Flag as Inappropriate option throughout the platform. You can learn more about user reporting here.

 

Please check this post for the freelancer resources and tips for avoiding questionable jobs that we put together to help freelancers make decisions whether to work with a client or not. You may also want to check this help article to help you stay safe on Upwork

 

~ Nikola
Upwork
3e0b2007
Community Member

Yea, This is very excellent information for me . I'm a new freelancer in Upwork so I think it's very helpful for me.

Thank you so much.😍

9429386e
Community Member

Hi Mike,  I will like you to help me review my profile if there is anything I need to improve on

 

Thank you

MichaelJ
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Idris,

 

I notice you haven’t added any pieces to your portfolio. Your portfolio is one of the most important profile components that clients review. Our research shows that missing portfolio pieces can be a negative signal for clients. Consider adding a few relevant pieces. It might help in getting more profile views and high-quality job invites.

 

To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview.


Cheers,
Mike
lauletta_paz
Community Member

Hi Mike! 

I don't understand what is the difference between "active proposals" and "offers". I got an active proposal from a job posted , but I don't know when to start the work oficially, because the profile sent me the .dwg file trough DM. 

 

Thanks! 

Hi Paz,

 

An active proposal is just a proposal on a job that is still active (not filled or closed), not an offer. You shouldn't begin work until the client sends you and offer and you've accepted it.


Cheers,
Mike
hasan_tasnimul
Community Member

Hi Mr. Mike! Do you have a few seconds to check my profile? And give me some important tips to improve my profile and make it good for my client. 

Hi Tasnimul,

 

I took a look at your profile and have some suggestions. It's great that you've included an intro video! I have some suggestions for some potential improvements. I feel it might be a little too long to keep clients' attention. This article gives suggestions for how long each part of your video should be. It's also a little bit difficult to hear you. Consider filming a video indoors where there would be less external noise. I also suggest using a tripod or placing the camera on a table or chair so that it doesn't move.

 

I think you're profile Overview is off to a good start. The beginning of your profile overview displays in prospective client search results and it’s your first 200-character pitch. So, your first sentence should include clear, relevant information about your primary skill sets and expertise. To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview

 

I hope this helps!


Cheers,
Mike
5722229f
Community Member

Hi Mike,

I am new to Upwork and have completed my profile.  However, for some reason the two sample articles I uploaded to my profile won't open up.  The description is there but when I click to open the article it is not there.  Can you help me with this or recommend someone who can? Thanks

Kathy G

 

MichaelJ
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Kathleen,

 

I'm sorry you ran into that issue. This was caused by a bug, but we recently released the fix. Could you please remove and reupload the files? That should resolve the issue. 


Cheers,
Mike
dev_shahed
Community Member

Hello Mike,

Thanks for your important information. I'm quite new on Upwork, so all the time I'm searching for helps so that I could be a professional on my field. Would you please review my profile and give me a feedback, that would be great for me. Thanks advance.

 

Hi MD Nur,

 

I reviewed your profile and have a couple of notes:

  • The beginning of your profile overview displays in prospective client search results and it’s your first 200-character pitch. So, your first sentence should include clear, relevant information about your primary skill sets and expertise. Right now, you introduce yourself and provide your name in this space. This is unnecessary as your name is shown clearly both in search results and on your profile. Consider revising to make better use of this valuable space.
  • You list many skills, but do not provide information on the types of projects you work on. Clients are not necessarily well versed in the various programming languages. Help them to understand why they should hire you by providing information on the types of projects you work on.

To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview.


Cheers,
Mike
raphael_muchiri
Community Member

Hello Mike,

 

I found the tips you shared to be helpful. Would you be so kind to review my profile and give me some feedback. I would really appreciate. Also, I am having trouble getting my proposals accepted by clients. Thanks.

 

Regards,

Raphael

Hi Raphael,

 

I like your profile, but I have a few articles you might find helpful in making it even better and improving the success of your proposals:

I also recommend this video (a recording of a recent webinar) which provides proposal tips. You can also find other great videos on Upwork's YouTube channel.


Cheers,
Mike
bjit
Community Member

Mike J, Thanks for your help.

bjit
Community Member

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

dilawarsaleem
Community Member

Hi mile, 

hope you're doing good.

I am young Architect, i have plenty of practicing experience.
I am new to Upwork but am struggling to get projects, maybe something important is missing in my profile.

Can you please go through my profile and help me improve my profile to get project!

Hi Dilawar,

 

I reviewed your profile and have some suggestions:

  • The beginning of your profile overview displays in prospective client search results and it’s your first 200-character pitch. So, your first sentence should include clear, relevant information about your primary skill sets and expertise.
  •  Use bullets and other delineators to organize the list of skills/services on your profile
  • You say, "Just send a message I will reach out to you immediately!" Be honest when making promises about your response time. Are you really available to respond 24 hours/day, every day? Consider revising or removing this. Clients expect timely responses from talent who list themselves as being available for work (which you do); so, this statement may be unnecessary and has the potential to disappoint prospective clients.

To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview.


Cheers,
Mike
da3b0e51
Community Member

Thanl you

 

tosinaina
Community Member

Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for the guide.

 

Can you please help me review my profile? I would really appreciate your feedback.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Thanks

 

Abayomi A.

Hi Abayomi,

 

I looked at your profile and have some suggestions:

  • The beginning of your profile overview displays in prospective client search results and it’s your first 200-character pitch. So, your first sentence should include clear, relevant information about your primary skill sets and expertise. Currently, your first sentence reads, "MY GOAL IS TO HELP YOU SUCCEED." I believe that goal of all well-meaning talent is to help their clients succeed; so, you are not providing any unique value with this statement. Consider revising it to make better use of this valuable space.
  •  In your second paragraph, you continue to talk about wanting the client to succeed without yet mentioning the services you offer. Consider revising this paragraph or removing it.

Overall, I suggest a stronger focus on your specific skills and the outcomes you provide. To give a clear impression you’re the person the client wants to talk to, here are some additional tips for writing a great Overview.


Cheers,
Mike
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