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gledys2309
Community Member

New at Upwork, needed some help!!!!!!

Hello My name is Gledys **edited for Community Guidelines** I have been in Upwork for 4 months and I have only got one job. Can you help me with this? 

Can you get me some tips to improve my career at Upork?

 

Also I havea another question.

 

Sometimes when I am going to apply for a translation job, the client attachs one or more documents, do we have to translate this document? 

9 REPLIES 9
AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Gledys, 

 

You may want to check out these articles from our Hiring Headquarters to help you create proposals that win jobs, and help you boost your career on Upwork: 

A lot of the freelancers in the Community has shared that it would be best to focus more on what you can do for a client, and how you can help them with their project. You may want to consider revising the overview to a more client-centric approach. Hopefully, these tips will help you with your Upwork career.

 

As for your question about the documents attached to job posts, you may want to check the job post and check with the client directly if they want to do a paid test job by translating the document they attached. 

 

Good luck!


~ Avery
Upwork

Thank you for your reply.

You have said this: 

 "As for your question about the documents attached to job posts, you may want to check the job post and check with the client directly if they want to do a paid test job by translating the document they attached"

 

1) Can I send a message directly to a client? If yes, How can I do this?

2) If I apply to a job with refunded connects if client doesn't hire me, how much time does it take to know if they have hired me or not? I mean there is a number of days to know if I got the job or not?

3) If I apply to a job without refunded connects if client doesn't hire me, is there a way that I can know that I was not hire?

4) What are the benefits if I upgrade my account? Can I get jobs easily? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. You can message the client via your proposal you send for their job posting. In your proposal, you can tell them your fee to do their sample job. You should not do any work for a client without being officially hired. Clients are not supposed to ask you to translate documents as part of a free sample or free test to include with your proposal. So my advice would be to NOT work on any attached documents until the client has officially offered you a contract and you have clicked the button to accept.

2-4. There is no number of days. You know you were not hired when the client doesn't message you and hire you. 🙂 Some clients wait days to answer you, some hours, some weeks, some never respond. I almost never hear back if I'm not hired. Seriously, send your proposals and forget about them. You can view archived proposals that were denied, but since many clients don't bother to respond, I don't find it very useful.
If a client closes a job without hiring anyone OR Upwork closes it for a violation, you automatically get your connects back. You can view this in your connects history. You do not get them back if a client hires someone else or the job expires by itself.
But honestly, they are refunded so rarely that I would not rely on them. Consider connects a cost of doing business and try to keep enough on hand that you can apply to all the jobs you'd be a perfect fit for.
Unfortunately no one "gets jobs easily" here. We all are sending or have had to send dozens and dozens and dozens of proposals before getting a job, or in between jobs. Whether or not you invest in an upgrade is up to you.
The best way to increase your chances (IMO) is to have a high enough connect balance that you can apply, apply, apply to the perfect jobs for you whenever you see them. I do that by buying connects as needed because now I'm often busy enough I don't have apply to a lot of jobs every single week. Some people upgrade their account. It's really up to you.

Excellent

Thank you for the time you took to reply my questions.

 

Thanks a lot

 

I Will work on it and thank you again.


Gledys C wrote:

Excellent

Thank you for the time you took to reply my questions.

 

Thanks a lot

 

I Will work on it and thank you again.


With your experience, you should focus on technical translation to start with. You will find that most translators on this platform have no formal background in linguistics and you bring that along with an MA in engineering. Make that your selling point and do not jump on low budget jobs that do not require any special experience.

Hello Jennifer R,

 

Thanks for your approach about my career at Upwrok. About not  jumping on low budget jobs that do not require any special experience, it is a little difficult because with my experience and background I haven't found even a general translation, so I think a need to make my reputation first in this plattform, because I can have all the studies but if people do not hire me, I can't grow.

 

It seems like I am invisible, I applied nobody sent even a interview or at least an invitation.

I know it's tough. Translation is so saturated and undervalued, many clients will find just about anyone to do it cheaper, so it's hard to compete that way. And the race to the bottom is not one you want to win anyway. My main services are English editing and proofreading, but I also really enjoy and am qualified for some French to English translation. I send proposals frequently, but since what I do is more general, I don't get to translate for Upwork clients very often at all (despite offering a very low rate for industry standards). If you offer $.08 a word, they'll find someone to do it for $.02 (and then have to hire someone to "fix it"). So, I think specializing is probably a great idea for you. Put relevant pieces in your portfolio from your studies, or ask friends if you can translate something of theirs and put it in your portfolio to show off your expertise and skills. These don't have to be things you were paid to translate, just examples of your work.

 

You want the clients who value what you do. They're still on the platform. You just have to find a way to stand out to them through what you can offer because they're not the ones looking for the lowest rates.

Gledys, 

 

Jennifer made an excellent suggestion about an engineering niche. I would also add education. And you should up your rate to at least $20.00; certainly not lower than $15.00 per hour. 

 

Also, it would be good if you could add some translation samples to your portfolio. It does take time to get traction on Upwork, but keep trying and don't go for entry-level jobs.