How To Use Upwork Effectively

Upwork is a global freelancing platform where businesses connect with freelance professionals so as to connect and collaborate remotely for work.

Found in 2015, when Elance-Desk rebranded to Upwork Global Inc., the company is based out of San Francisco, California, and has over twelve million registered freelancers and over five million registered clients. Upwork features jobs for millions of freelancers around the world be it as a web developer, a writer, or an accountant.

To create an Upwork account one needs to create a detailed profile which would include a link to your accounts, a profile photo, your title, an introduction video, a list of all your professional skills, an assessment of your English skills, your employment history, and details about your education.

While these are the basic requirement to create an Upwork profile, it doesn't guarantee an approval, nor does it makes sure that you get high paying projects. In order to get your Upwork profile approved one needs to make sure that all the provided information is correct and up-to-date.

Nonetheless, the response at Upwork is not always ten on ten. There are indeed a few things you need to keep in check or you can do to ensure that your Upwork profile gets approved.

1. Make sure you are providing authentic personal data

When one is using an online platform many get apprehensive and think it is best to hide their identity and/or not provide personal details.

However, when working on Upwork, the platform asks for complete authenticity and transparency. This not only helps them filter out spam and bots but also provides their clients' security that they are not recruiting scammy freelancers who will loot them.

Thus, Upwork makes sure that the profile is authentic and automatically rejects a profile that they deem to be is inappropriate or inauthentic.

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For this make sure that you use your real name and not your pet name. Also, make sure that the profile picture you are uploading is of yourself and not that of celebrities, animals, abstract, etcetera. Further, use a real email address, phone number, and address as these would be authenticated.

If all the provided information is correct Upwork support will verify your information and approve your profile quickly. Please note that Upwork support may ask you to provide your government-issued identification card or a utility bill as address proof or they might call you on the provided number to verify the details.

2. Your Upwork profile needs to be 100% complete

It's common practice that when you join a freelancing jobs site, you do a quick registration and decide to come back to complete your profile later.

While this is ok to an extent, there are higher chances that you will take days if not weeks to go back and complete the profile. With so many incomplete profiles, many think the person is not active and reject them.

Thus, either complete your Upwork profile in one go or get back to it when you have a good amount of time so as to complete it to 100%.

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3. Make sure that you have taken Upwork's readiness test

In order to hire you, any company would check if you meet certain criteria and understand certain things.

The Upwork readiness test tests those criteria and checks whether you are ready for Upwork and have a clear understanding of how the platform works.

In order to get Upwork approval, you need to clear the readiness test which in turn will provide you with a guide about everything that you need to know as Upwork freelancer and how to get started. It will also provide you information about the types of freelance accounts the platform has, how they work and how one can get hired on Upwork.

Further, they will also provide you with information about getting paid on Upwork and how to withdraw your funds once the client has made their payment.

Thus to make sure that you understand these terms and condition, they will need you to clear the readiness test before clearing your profile for approval.

4. Take skill tests that are relevant to your job profile

To add authenticity to your profile also take additional skill test that will showcase your skills and demonstrate to your future clients how you bring an advantage for their work.

There are over a hundred skill tets that you can take and cover a large range of topics such as SEO, basics of copywriting, Bookkeeping, Virtual Assistant Skills, Internet Marketing, grammar, etcetera.

Take as many of these skill tests as you can as it will enhance your profile and highlight that you are proficient in your work.

These skill tests are an advantage to your profile so make sure you take all tests that correspond with the skills and that you want to market to your employers.

What is more, you also have the choice to hide the score of the skill tets where you score below average and only publish scores of those tests where you've scored favourably.

To take these Skills tests, click the Find Work tab and then click on the Tests icon. You can also search for relevant tests by Keyword search provided there.

5. Make sure you have only one Upwork profile

Many a time one creates multiple profiles as previous profile got rejected or they have forgotten their login details.

While this is a common practice before you make a new profile make sure you have deleted your previous profiles as the system might suspect you to be a fraud and thus reject your profile.

6. Find a client to hire you via Upwork

What many don't know is that Upwork has a program called 'Bring Your Own Freelancer' or BYOF which allows their clients to directly hire freelancers that are not on Upwork.

If you can get once such client to hire you via Upwork, your profile would automatically get approved as it proves to Upwork that your skills are valuable and that you would be an asset to their clients.

For this the client that has hired you will need to send you an email that has his or her contract terms and once you accept his invitation to join his team, your profile will automatically be activated.

7. Join an Upwork agency

While above seems like a feasible idea, it is not easy to get a client to hire you directly unless you know someone who is hiring.

Thus, you can alternatively join an agency which will get your profile automatically approved.

An agency is a team of freelancers that are already on Upwork and just like with Upwork clients, your profile is accepted as soon as you accept their email invitation to join their agency.

What one must know is that an agency works differently from independent freelancers and have a different set of term and conditions. So make sure you understand all the ins and outs of an agency before you sign up as an agency freelancer.

8. Build your profile around skills in demand

While I write this as the very last point, it is one of the most important steps when it comes to getting your profile accepted and selected by clients.

It's highly advisable that you time and again take a look at your skills and see what skill is in high demand.

Use this research to your advantage and sharpen your Upwork profile so as to stand out to clients. Take Upwork's above-mentioned skill tests so as to build your profile in a manner that expresses your expertise clearly and makes sure that the clients know that you possess the work skills they are looking for.

If you are able to do this well, then you will not only get your Upwork profile accepted without much struggle but would also be able to get higher paying jobs on the platform.

These points will give you a higher chance of getting your profile approved and also a greater chance of attracting high paying projects on the world's most popular freelancing website, Upwork. Have you had any experience on this website? Share it below! We'd love to hear from you!

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FAQs:

Q. Is Upwork free to use or they charge anything for these services?

A. Up work is a totally-free-to-use-tool. It's a platform where freelancers connect with potential projects easily, without any brokerage fee or money being charged.

Q. What kind of projects can be taken up using Upwork?

A. There's no limit to the kind of projects you can do through Upwork, just about any project that requires a computer can be taken up.

Q. How important is an Upwork profile for a freelancer?

A. Upwork is a brand in the freelancing world. It's like LinkedIn for corporate individuals. It helps you with visibility, credibility and skills assessment. So yeah, to have an Upwork profile is quite pivotal in your freelancing journey.