This post is actually an excerpt of an article I submitted to Helium comparing oDesk and eLance. I pulled all the comparison data but here’s some helpful hints!
Current Economic Crisis
We have hit a current unemployment rate of 7.2 percent as of December 31, 2008. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics release that was published on January 9, 2009 in a period of only four (4) months, 1.9 million people have lost their jobs.
When you combine this frightening statistic with the increased cost of gas to get around, increased cost of food and clothing, it’s not that difficult to understand that people are going to have some challenges living for too long on unemployment.
Sadly, more people who are unemployed with begin having difficulty paying their mortgages, they’ll possibly lose medical benefits and many will drain their savings while they’re unemployed just to make everyday ends meet.
Transferable Skills
Fortunately, in today’s high-tech environment, most of us have what I like to call ‘transferable skills’. These are skills that you can take from one job and bring with you to begin seeking jobs in another field. For example, those who have worked in customer service often have keen data entry skills. Many who have worked in the financial services industry for instance are accustomed to writing reviews for clients, and the list goes on and on.
One of the first things you should consider when you’re considering looking for freelance opportunities is to clearly set out for yourself (you will need it later) exactly what skills you have available. This can help you further narrow down the type of work you’ll be able to do.
Update your Resume
While you are seeking freelance opportunities, this is a great time to sit down and bring your resume up to date. Regardless of whether you decide to pursue brick and mortar opportunities or freelance opportunities, this will help you prepare a fair overview of what you have to offer to potential employers or potential clients.
When you are preparing your resume make sure you don’t overlook such things as special projects you took on while with an employer, any training you participated in and other facts that can add to your credentials.
Create your online presence
You might be wondering how you will go about marketing yourself since it’s not like you can actually walk into a persons room and explain everything to them! This is true – this requires establishing yourself as a presence in the online marketplace. You are probably wondering how you would go about this. For starters, you can start with a profile at oDesk and beef it up! Put as much relevant information into your profile as you possibly can especially focusing in on your skills.
A) A blog - set up a free blog and do a thorough “About Me” page that talks about your skills and includes relevant parts of your resume. Thorough profiles, resume and a good about me page will help you get started. I personally recommend putting your name in the tags of each posting you put on your blog.
B) LinkedIn – LinkedIn is actually a networking and job site. However, for those who are looking for Freelance opportunities, they offer a free profile, online resume and they also offer you the ability to request references from prior business associates, employers, etc. This is a perfect way to set up a link to your resume and provide references immediately for potential new employers and if you’re looking for Freelance opportunities it allows you to have instant credibility. Once you set up your profile, search the network and find out if others whom you have worked with in the past in any capacity are signed up and request that they provide you recommendations. Not everyone will, but some will and you’ll soon develop instant credibility and you’ll have references to offset your lack of feedback.
C) Social Networking – I am not as familiar with social networking as I probably should be but I do know enough about them to recommend that you set up profiles with one or more of them. You can even create a YouTube video that is a resume of sorts that talks about you, talks about your personal goals and your skills which can be linked in job postings.
Beginning the job hunt
The first thing you need to do is be realistic. Chances are it’s going to take you as long (or longer) to find a freelance job than it may take you to find a new job at a brick and mortar establishment. Remember that all freelance opportunities are global and you’re often going to compete with people from all over the globe. This means that rates may be low, you may find yourself bidding on jobs that upwards of a hundred people are going to be bidding on. Don’t get discouraged. If you believe your skills warrant higher rates, stick with it and let people know why you’re worth the extra rate!!
Applying for jobs
One of the things that will help you stand out here at oDesk is a good strong cover letter. Each position you bid on you should write a unique cover letter, it should clearly detail why you’re the right person for a job and you should also refer to parts of the job posting as they are appropriate. If you are asked for a sample of your work in the posting, you should make sure you include the sample as well.
Above all else, be consistent, keep applying for jobs and make yourself stand out each day! You can succeed at freelancing if you are consistent and stick with it!
