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If you have never freelanced on Upwork, elance, freelancer, etc then you ought to know that after submitting your job application and it captures the attention of a potential client, they will most definitely feel the urge to look at your profile.
Your Upwork profile acts as your link to prospective clients.
In this blog post (it will be a long one but totally worth it) I will walk you through some of the tips and tricks that I used and continue to use to this date to make my Upwork profile appealing and most of all, a profile that helps me land jobs either by job invitation or when I apply.
i) Upwork Profile Picture
This is based on a true job invite.
In early 2013, I received a job invite because of my profile picture. Yes! That’s me, holding my pet (Fluffy). To this date I work with that client and I always receive 5 star feedback all the time.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words and your Upwork profile picture ranks even higher. It acts as a direct communication tool establishing a connection between you and a potential client even before official communication.
Yes! You may not know this, but if you have checked out a profile of any freelancer with an avatar, logo or no picture at all, then you will note that they haven’t worked as many jobs as they would like or they have no jobs at all.
A good Upwork profile picture is a picture of your face, and as a note, a smiling face is friendlier, hence attracts clients easily.
You need a job, right? We all need jobs, and for you to get a job, it is always important that you create an Upwork account using your real names. Upwork is not another social site where you can use the funkiest or crazy name that you think of. It is a global job marketplace. Your names are important in case you need to verify your account and also in case of a name conflict. I have been in a position where i needed to provide my Identification Cards and Mobile number because my name was similar to 28 other names on Upwork.
iii) Professional Title
Your professional title comes just underneath your Name. It accurately portrays the type of jobs you’re looking for. Check out the picture below to see how a professional title differs from a not so professional title.
Unprofessional versus Professional Title
TIP:A professional is likely to give you higher search ranking on Upwork when clients search for that specific requirement.
iv) Skills
My main reason for joining Upwork was (and still is) because I had a skill to offer to the rapidly growing online market. Always ensure that you add relevant skills to your profile. They help boost your chances of getting hired.
Tip:Most skills added to your profile come with a test. Ensure that you take the test for that skill for you to rank higher on Upwork search results.
How much to charge per hour is always a major question, and there are lots of factors that come into play.
My take: Add an hourly rate that you believe is worth your skills, you are comfortable with (you will not end up being over-exploited), and you are not chasing away clients i.e. never set a rate of $1/hr or $100/hr.
The average rates that you will always see on Upwork range from $3.33/hr – $30/hr but the extremes are also available.
You can also compare different profiles of freelancers in your field and set competitive rates.
Tip:If you are a newbie on Upwork always begin with an average hourly rate and in the future as you get more contracts and feedback increase your hourly rate.
vi) Profile Overview
Your profile overview should include detailed information about your skills, experience and above all what can you do or what you have to offer to potential clients to make their job a success.
Tip 1:Avoid indicating personality traits such as kind or hardworking. The client wants to know how hiring you will make a difference and ensure the delivery of their work just as they would want it PERIOD.
Tip 2: It is no crime to compare different Freelancer profile in your field and see what they have included in their profiles. Remember, just do not copy paste their profile overview.
vii) Tests
Upwork Profile Test Scores
I do not like taking tests, and I bet no one on this earth loves to. They freak me out. That said, tests are important on Upwork, and to some extent, mandatory for certain jobs. I have landed jobs on Upwork, because I rank top 10 in a test.
To be honest, most of the times I do not need to apply for a job, I receive job invites because I have a good score on the tests that I have taken that apply to what a client needs.
Note 1: Take as many relevant tests as you can and ensure that you pass in all of them. This portrays that you understand the job field you are in and are capable of producing excellent work.
Pass the tests and indicate them on your profile. A check mark appears on all tests that you have taken and passed. This works wonders on your profile and future earnings
Most of the clients outsourcing for freelancers on Upwork are from English speaking countries, and almost all jobs that you will see on Upwork are in English, period.
Note 2:Take and Pass at least 2 English tests. The reason to take English tests is simple and straight forward.
It gives your client confidence that the freelancer they have hired can read, write, speak and understand English.
Who wants to hire a freelancer that has now sample or portfolios to show? No one. A sad fact, but it is the truth.
Lacking portfolio items on your Upwork profile is like having no experience or referees to back you up on your job application.
Always include portfolio items that you have personally worked on and if the work belonged to client ensure that you have the clients permission to use their work as sample items.
Portfolio items include Images, Attachments, and Links.
Upwork Portfolio Items
In addition to these, please avail certifications if you have any and indicate your employment history.
These are plus points because everyone likes employees who have experience.
Final take: Keep updating your Upwork profile with relevant information as often as possible, take more relevant tests and if you feel you are worth more than your current hourly rate, by all means, increase your hourly rate.
I value your feedback and discussion. Please join me on Facebook, Leave a comment below or Contact me.
52 thoughts on “Tips and Tricks for Creating an Irresistible Upwork Profile”
Hallo David, you have a wealth of information here. Thank you. My profile has stuck at 80% finished! I want to know what to do again to get it to reach 100%
Hello Dorothy, thank you for taking time to check out my blog post. Highly appreciated.
There are many reasons why any odesk profile does not get to 100% on odesk. The 2 most common reasons are ; lack of a profile picture and Inadequate Tests (It is Mandatory to take the odesk readiness quiz/test and at least one or two other tests – I recommend English (U.S. and U.K.) tests). Please keep me updated on your progress, I will be glad to help you to get your profile to 100%.
Hi david quite informative info right thea, am new in odesk and my profile is at 80%, and I have done the odesk readiness test , and also the English test and passed,the only thing am yet to do is to attach any previous work, am still not able to apply for any jobs,usually I get a message saying my application quota is finished yet I have neva applied for any job. What could be the problem?
Hello Jane,
Thank you for taking your time to read my blog post and I am glad that the info is informative. 🙂
Firstly, I would recommend you ensure your profile is 100% complete. Once it is at 100% your job quota will increase. With regard to your issue, what application quota does it indicate ? Have you applied for any jobs? If yes, and you have not been hired then the job quota should automatically reupdate after 24 hours (normally).
Kindly let me know if that helps.
Have you taken any odesk tests ? For example an english test. Have you added any certification to your profile ? You can add the oDesk readiness test.
Have you added any portfolio/ sample items? Sample work is very important as it works as back up to prospective client that you have worked on projects previously. Kindly check on those few aspects and I believe your profile will be at 100% within no time.
Yes, I have taken a number of tests, two are ticked on my profile!
I have tried adding the Odesk Certifications Results in the profile, but this option does not appear in the dialogue box for editing certifications. How do I do that?
I have added work samples to the profile and completed the employment history. I have also added a little on the other experiences box… Thank you very much.
That’s awesome.
Kindly get in touch with me via the contact page and I will be able to help you with the certification.
You are most welcome Alex. Now you can craft a profile that is irresistible to most if not all clients.
P.S. I should take you on a head to head of 3 FIFA 15 games 🙂 🙂 #Winner_Takes_All
Thanks Ann for your comment. Highly appreciated.
I am happy when I get to know that someone somewhere is benefiting from the content I am putting out there. Thanks and share widely.
Hi David, awesome insights here, well am a newbie, only started working on Scribie last month and also interested to venture into Upwork, now my most challenging bit is the portfolio items. Being new to transcriptions, what portfolio items do i post now? hehehe. Even this job samples manenos is just making it more complicated for me.
This is very informative David, I will try and take as many tests as possible to pull-up my profile %ge, its stuck at 85%. Atleast i have an idea on what to do. Thanks David, this info is timely.
Great tips David. Am now at 65% and clueless on how to proceed. Kindly help. I have put my profile picture in place, skills, education and work experience. Working on the tests now.
Hi, this is very informative. My query is am new with no experience, how will your proposal look like, yet you want to bid for jobs. What happens?? Can you indicate that you dont have experience? thanx
Hi Dr. David. Thanks for this information. God bless you. Am just very green here. Learning before I even start. I believe this will be a great lead in developing my profile.
Hallo David, you have a wealth of information here. Thank you. My profile has stuck at 80% finished! I want to know what to do again to get it to reach 100%
Hello Dorothy, thank you for taking time to check out my blog post. Highly appreciated.
There are many reasons why any odesk profile does not get to 100% on odesk. The 2 most common reasons are ; lack of a profile picture and Inadequate Tests (It is Mandatory to take the odesk readiness quiz/test and at least one or two other tests – I recommend English (U.S. and U.K.) tests). Please keep me updated on your progress, I will be glad to help you to get your profile to 100%.
Good stuff David. Extremely valuable info.
Thanks Sheeroh for taking your time to read my blog post. Highly appreciated.
And yes, the info is a gold mine. 🙂
Hi david quite informative info right thea, am new in odesk and my profile is at 80%, and I have done the odesk readiness test , and also the English test and passed,the only thing am yet to do is to attach any previous work, am still not able to apply for any jobs,usually I get a message saying my application quota is finished yet I have neva applied for any job. What could be the problem?
Hello Jane,
Thank you for taking your time to read my blog post and I am glad that the info is informative. 🙂
Firstly, I would recommend you ensure your profile is 100% complete. Once it is at 100% your job quota will increase. With regard to your issue, what application quota does it indicate ? Have you applied for any jobs? If yes, and you have not been hired then the job quota should automatically reupdate after 24 hours (normally).
Kindly let me know if that helps.
David Mbugua, Thanks for the information. New on Odesk and working on completing my profile. What is job Quota, on Odesk?
You are most welcome Joy. Job Quota is the number of jobs that you can apply to on odesk. What is your job application quota ?
No idea. Have no idea. How do I find out? Currently editing my profile, using your tips here…
Have you taken any odesk tests ? For example an english test. Have you added any certification to your profile ? You can add the oDesk readiness test.
Have you added any portfolio/ sample items? Sample work is very important as it works as back up to prospective client that you have worked on projects previously. Kindly check on those few aspects and I believe your profile will be at 100% within no time.
Yes, I have taken a number of tests, two are ticked on my profile!
I have tried adding the Odesk Certifications Results in the profile, but this option does not appear in the dialogue box for editing certifications. How do I do that?
I have added work samples to the profile and completed the employment history. I have also added a little on the other experiences box… Thank you very much.
That’s awesome.
Kindly get in touch with me via the contact page and I will be able to help you with the certification.
Thank you… How do I reach this Contact Page?
My apologies, I am very very clueless….
You are most welcome. Here is the link to the contact page : https://www.freelancerinsights.com/contact/
Awesome insights David. Bet it enlightens lots to us newbies. Bet you cant beat me in FIFA though
You are most welcome Alex. Now you can craft a profile that is irresistible to most if not all clients.
P.S. I should take you on a head to head of 3 FIFA 15 games 🙂 🙂 #Winner_Takes_All
Good stuff Dr David Mbugua. A lifetime opportunity can always errupt.
Thanks Gerald for your kind words. I hope you learnt something.
Great infor’ here! Thanks David. My Odesk now at 85. Still targeting 100%……
Thanks Maria for stopping by. Highly appreciated. I believe you have benefited in some way. Kindly let me know how I can help you with your profile.
Great job Mbugua….thanks fr enlighting us
You are most welcome Rose. Employ all that you read into your odesk profile and you will never go wrong. Thanks for checking my blog.
Thanks for this piece. I always learn one or two things from your articles. Keep it up
Thanks Ann for your comment. Highly appreciated.
I am happy when I get to know that someone somewhere is benefiting from the content I am putting out there. Thanks and share widely.
I have web designing skills and also i have learnt how to caption video can i put all those skills on my profile. they seem to be of different fields.
Thanks Robert for inquiring on this. Yes it is possible to put all those skills on your profile.
Hi David, a friend of mine referred me here and am having difficulties signing up. I can’t locate the ‘sign up’ any assistance?
Hello George,
Thanks for reaching our. Feel free to sign up as a freelancer on upwork using the following link : https://www.upwork.com/signup/create-account/freelancer_direct
great tips using them now two questions though what is the average rate for a newbie and how do you create portfolios on upwork?
Great tips and I do value them a lot.
You are most welcome Elizabeth.
Hi David, awesome insights here, well am a newbie, only started working on Scribie last month and also interested to venture into Upwork, now my most challenging bit is the portfolio items. Being new to transcriptions, what portfolio items do i post now? hehehe. Even this job samples manenos is just making it more complicated for me.
Thanks so much David. This is is informative.
You are welcome.
You have been the greatest help in my online work. Thanks David.
You are most welcome Christine.
Great Info David. Let me start this upwork journey. Let me take the test.
Awesome Florah. Don’t be afraid to start small, you will make it in time.
This is very informative David, I will try and take as many tests as possible to pull-up my profile %ge, its stuck at 85%. Atleast i have an idea on what to do. Thanks David, this info is timely.
You are most welcome Fridah. Doing more tests and adding relevant portfolio samples to you profile normally gets the profile to 100%.
Wow, thanks for the tips, very informative.
You ate most welcome.
You are most welcome.
Thank you so much for the tips. I will apply hem and see how it goes, been stuck at 75 like forever.
You’re welcome.
Great tips David. Am now at 65% and clueless on how to proceed. Kindly help. I have put my profile picture in place, skills, education and work experience. Working on the tests now.
Hello David,
Which software would you highly recommend for handling camtasia jobs?
Camtasia. 🙂
Hi, this is very informative. My query is am new with no experience, how will your proposal look like, yet you want to bid for jobs. What happens?? Can you indicate that you dont have experience? thanx
Thanks, Xtine.
You need to do some research on what you can do first and if there’s nothing that you can do, take time and learn what you can do.
You can check out my video on how to write Upwork Proposals.
https://youtu.be/c8XUL2Xy5hM
Thanks.
Hi Dr. David. Thanks for this information. God bless you. Am just very green here. Learning before I even start. I believe this will be a great lead in developing my profile.
You’re most welcome, Mary.