ODESK Profile Completeness Help

Completing Your oDesk Profile - Part 1

oDesk is the marketplace for online work teams, with the best business model for both buyers and providers. Their unique approach guarantees that an hour paid is an hour worked while also guaranteeing that an hour worked is an hour paid.

For buyers:

• Choose the right service providers
• Manage and pay a remote team, around barriers such as timezone and culture
• Maintain flexibility that will allow you to adjust to your business’ changing needs

For providers:

• Find qualified clients, with meaningful work opportunities
• Work effectively with a remote client
• Ensure payment is received on time and in full

Completing Your Odesk Profile

After signing up on oDesk, the next task should be completing your oDesk Profile. Filling up information about yourself and your working experiences may sound easy but let me warn you that it’s not as easy as it sounds or seems.
Your oDesk Profile is your key to success. If there’s one thing that buyers would look at, that is the Providers’ or is recently called Contractor’s profile. This is where they will learn about your past working experiences. This will be their basis for hiring you.
Most buyers rely on a Contractor’s profile. If your profile lacks information about who you are and what you can do, they would likely hire a more qualified applicant. So it is imperative to make sure that everything written on your profile is accurate and true.
Let me walk you through the process of creating and completing your oDesk Profile - The way buyers would easily notice you.
Title: Your title should be catchy, impressive and realistic. This is the first thing that buyers would lay their eyes on. Describe briefly what your strengths are or how companies / buyers would benefit from you. Also, by putting your expertise or skills on your Title would increase the chances of buyers finding your profile. For instance, when buyers search for SEO specialist, and you have that keyword on your title, your profile is most likely to pop up on the search results.
Good examples of Titles:

• Social Media Marketing Expert, SEO Specialist, Web Developer & Writer!
• #1: English Test(Sentence/Spelling) Highly Creative Blogger /Article Writer
• PHP/MySQL/DHTML/Ajax Developer/Project Manager

Portrait: Your profile photo should look professional and reliable. This may equal your credibility as a provider/contractor. Avoid using wacky photos. Remember that you are applying for a job.
Public Profile / Objective: On this part, you will be able to choose if your profile will be shown in public or privately. If you’re a starter and looking for more work, then your profile should be in public view. I also advise you to show your full name so that when people refer you to other buyers and they search for your name, they will be able to easily find you.
               


In this section, you can edit your title, hours of availability, years of working experience and rate yourself in English fluency.You should also write compelling objectives that will briefly describe yourself, what you do and how you can be an asset to the buyers.

Completing Your oDesk Profile - Part 2

Now that you have accomplished the basic information about yourself, it’s now time to show the world what you really got!
Let me tell you that in sales, whenever you’re going to sell something, you must first present the F&B or the Features and Benefits of your product or service to your potential customer. Your goal is to convince them that what you are selling would absolutely make their life easier.
Portfolio: Being on the other side of the world, showing what you can do and acquainting your potential buyers of your skills and capabilities is like a telemarketer from the  Philippines selling a Dell laptop to an English guy over the telephone. Buyers haven’t seen you and chances are, they will never get to see you personally. They don’t know who you are, making TRUST as a big issue. In order to gain their project, you must provide them with proofs so it is imperative that you make your portfolio available for viewing. Buyers want to make sure that you can do what they need you to do, so as much as possible, show them samples of your previous work.
Add the ones that you think are your most successful projects. Give it a catchy or formal title and a brief yet interesting description. In addition, you might also want to attach photos or screen shots on your portfolio to feed the eyes of your potential buyers. Or it would be helpful as well if you type in the URL where it can be found.

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Employment History: This is the part where you got to be completely honest. If you don’t, I predict that you will end up screwing every interview you’ll have.



Trying to fool buyers that you are capable of doing something that you actually can’t will surely put your reputation at risk. But what will be your your biggest lost? It’s for the great projects to slip on your hands. You won’t be able to get any work if you pretend to be Mr./Ms. Know-It-All. You’ll just put yourself into SHAME.
Be as honest and trustworthy as you can possibly be. In this Freelancing world, reputation and integrity are your greatest arsenal.
Education: For some, education is a huge factor in choosing their providers but there are many buyers that actually don’t give much weight on education because there are providers who did graduate from college but has a totally different career. For example, I am in the medical field  but I found my passion in SEO that’s why I work as a full time freelance SEO specialist.
But including a good educational background will surely add dazzle on your provider profile.
Skills: Versatility is a must. On this region, put as many skills as you want as long as you really have them. Buyers prefer providers who have a vast knowledge on varieties of  arenas because the more skills you know, the more you will be an asset to their team.
For each skill you put in, assess your proficiency accurately. Post how many years have you been practicing that skill and how good you are at it. Be as accurate as possible so that you won’t screw up when your buyer asked you to something beyond your true capabilities.

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