6 Ways on How to Land Jobs as an oDesk Freelancer

I just achieved a milestone being an oDesk freelancer – 1,000 logged hours. I’ve been registered for the site for nearly two years now but I’ve only been actively freelancing for a little over a year. Aside from being an oDesk freelancer, I also freelance through other freelancing sites like Freelancer.com and Fiverr.

It’s actually easy to start becoming an oDesk freelancer. Just register an account (which takes only a few minutes including verification), complete your profile (by providing relevant information, uploading files of your portfolio, and taking tests), and start applying for job posts. But what’s more important is how to land jobs as an oDesk freelancer. This article will then help you with that through 6 ways.

Complete your profile

First of all, you need to register. So if you’re not yet registered, you can do so when you click this link - oDesk registration.

Completing one’s profile at oDesk is vital. This allows clients to learn everything about you including your skills, experiences, and qualifications. You need to write a detailed description of your objective and work experiences, upload files showcasing your skills at the portfolio section, include your highest attained education, and write down as many information as you can where they are asked. But when you do list information about yourself, make sure that they are accurate and true. There’s no point in bragging about something you can’t back up with facts.

Take tests

What’s great with oDesk is that the tests offered are free. Another freelancing site only provides basic tests free of charge. Additional examinations to prove your skill and expertise are available with associated costs. So as an oDesk freelancer, you can take tests in order to increase your chances of landing a job. In case you fail, you can always retake the same test. You are only allowed to do so after three months though. Until then, you can always choose to hide the test results in private if it is not satisfactory. You can show it in a public status once you have earned a good score.

Apply like crazy

Bid allowance is provided for a reason. That is for you to use them and obviously bid. So you should utilize your allowed bid in order to land a job. Use everything and apply again for a new job post whenever the bid count refreshes. This occurs if a previous application is declined or is awarded to you. Some oDesk freelancers even clear up space by deleting applications which are not responded to after a few weeks or a few days. It depends on your discretion.

When your bid is declined, don’t be discouraged. It only means your rate, experience, qualifications, and etc. is not what the client is looking for. No offense. Just continue applying and you will land a job in no time.

Make your applications impressive

When applying, don’t copy paste the same cover letter every time. Make an original application letter specifically written for a job post. Refer to the project and mention how you can contribute towards making it a success. Anyone can get annoyed with application letters that are not even related to the project. So be careful what you say, otherwise your application will be marked as “spam.” Some clients even require you to write something to prove that you read the whole description. Failing to do so will mean another “spam” mark for you. So make the most out of your application letter by making it impressive.

Don’t be ashamed to start with low rates

Starting with low rates is nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone starts from the bottom. You will eventually be able to work your way up as you acquire more logged hours and earn positive feedback through the site while learning more about your chosen freelancing field (i.e. writing, etc.) as you continue to work online.

Some get stuck with humble rates due to a number of reasons. Some are not confident enough about their skills. As you progress being an oDesk freelancer, your skill is honed or improved and you learn new tricks and techniques to be more effective and efficient in your job. So I don’t believe that there’s any reason for anyone to doubt themselves, especially if they’re exerting enough effort to get better in their freelancing craft.

Some service providers on the other hand have a notion that low rates will guarantee landing jobs. This is not always the case. Some clients can pay competitive rates if quality work can be guaranteed. Some buyers will even associate low rates with poor quality. But sadly, low bidders do dictate the freelancing game and acquire more projects than high bidders. Being the latter, you will expect to be entrusted with only a few hours on a project and earn an income out of accumulated hours from varying projects and different clients. You’d be lucky to be hired for 40 hours or more by one single buyer alone.

Learn 

I mentioned that your skill will improve as you continue working as an oDesk freelancer. But you can only learn as much as you would like to. Learning gives you the edge over enumerable competition in the freelancer market. You will be able to offer more services and will be knowledgeable about what buyers need. When I was starting as a freelancer, I only wanted to be a writer but writing for the web is vast. You have to know various web writing styles including article writing, copy writing, web content, blog posting, reviews, press release, Ezine articles, and more. I learned all these over time.

But aside from being a writer, you should be flexible and offer other services too like search engine optimization, social media marketing, web design, and so on. (Please see the hire web services page for everything I am at your service for - update: I've removed that page). I’ve learned all other services by being a freelance writer online. It helps land jobs because some clients require knowledge of related services before hiring you to write for them. By knowing other freelancing jobs, you can also be able to apply for more job openings too and not stick to only one freelancing industry or category.

Conclusion

Try these 6 ways on how to land jobs as an oDesk freelancer and I’m sure you’d be on your way to getting more projects awarded to you, more clients to work with, and of course greater earnings as a freelancer.