I don’t work at oDesk, but I use it all the time. I start a new online business about every six months, and therefore need a lot of talented people to help me pull it off- 90% of the work for my companies is done through outsourcing with oDesk. I’m a buyer, and I want to share with you some tips to make yourself stand out from the crowd and command top-dollar for your skills.

Here are ten tips to make more money off people like me:

Applying for jobs

1 – Hide your (other) skills
When applying for a job, try not to copy/paste the same generic cover letter. A lot of times, I’m asking for something specific – like an ActionScript 3 programmer, and the cover letter I get would say “I’m an expert in HTML/CSS/PHP/FLASH”. That’s great, but I was looking for an AS3 pro, not anything else. Talk about the skills you have for this job specifically and you have a much bigger chance to get booked!

2 – Repeat the job
Almost always I hire the person that repeats back to me exactly what I want – in their own words. It makes me feel they are confident about their understanding of the job and I plan to interview with them right away!

3 – Good English skills don’t matter…
… when I’m not looking for a writer. On those types of jobs, tell me what variables you need me to define for you to come up with for a more accurate quote. I’m more than happy to reply using the interview feature. That hire button just got one step closer!

The interview process

4 – Talk timeline
Every buyer is a little nervous to go over budget. If you have enough information about the job, and can give an accurate timeline that you can commit to keeping, you will stand out from the rest. Follow through by sticking to that timeline? Five star feedback and re-hiring are now guaranteed.

5 – Present related work
I love a good portfolio, but don’t have time to go through a full list of work you did before. If you send me one link of something very similar to what I’m looking for, that’s enough for me. If your previous work isn’t directly related, give me a few items that combine to show the skills I need for this job. Still at a loss? Apply for a different job that is a more direct fit for your talents – this will let you command a higher rate and deliver phenomenal results!

Hourly jobs

6 – Work with a plan from the start
I’ve been a freelancer myself and my hourly rate was 70 EUR ($100 USD) while I was still in college. Not because I was a good programmer (I’m honestly not) but because I started every job with a plan. I used the four C’s (Cloud – Create – Contstruct – Control, which you can read more about in my book) with every client – and all of them were raving about the work, simply because I always started every e-mail with what ‘development phase’ we were in next.

7 – Please document
You’ll be surprised how few people document their work and how much more I’m willing to pay for someone who does. There are plenty of free scripts out there that you can use to quickly generate something that looks good. Explain what you did and the buyer will love you for it and fight to keep you on the team. I know I will!

8 – Say when you’ll work on it
Even if I trust you completely on the job and hired you 10 times before, I’m still a little anxious to know when exactly you will start on my job. If you specify when you’ll start working, I have some peace of mind, even if it’s close to the deadline.

Fixed price jobs

9 – Communicate about progress only
That’s all I want to hear about. Of course, too little communication is bad but too much communication is bad too. Keep in mind, every time you contact the buyer, you need to give a little update on your progress and you will become a keeper!

10 – Be honest
If you missed a deadline or did something wrong, be honest about it and I would still give you a 5-star rating. I love honesty more than anything and I love to give a second chance. (But not every buyer is the same. Get to know your buyer, build trust with them, and they are more likely to value you, your honesty, and your work.)

Don’t go yet: I want to be a better buyer, too! In your comments, please tell me: what makes a good buyer?

Ruven Meulenberg’s company is currently creating a video-game through oDesk. He is the founder of GuiMags, the author of “The Unplugged: Join a new breed of software developers that don’t use computers. Much” and he blogs twice a week on TheWayOfTheUnplugged.com.

A few months ago, we listed out the Top 100 Freelance Blogs. The blogs on that list are people who have found success through freelancing and are kind enough to share the tips and tricks they’ve learned with the rest of us. Many of the top blogs – Freelance Switch and Freelance Folder, among others – also tap into the expertise of many freelancers in diverse fields for a comprehensive view on the freelance experience. In the spirit of those blogs, we’ve asked freelancers to take part in a panel to discuss the factors contributing to their freelancing success.

Thousands of people try to get started with a freelance career every month, but find that it’s hard to promote themselves, get jobs, and build a strong reputation for securing ongoing work. While many dip their toes in the freelance waters, only some rise to the top. These individuals surveyed below are some of the best from around the world – including freelance software developers, freelance designers, and virtual assistants.

Top providers were surveyed on the following factors to freelancing success and the results compiled for you. Each factor was scored on a scale of 1 – 4 for importance to success and the consensus or standard deviation of answers is displayed alongside each factor.

The freelancers that contributed to this post are from several different countries and include programmers, designers, writers, and virtual assistants. All of them have exceptional feedback scores and have been very successful in their freelance careers. Meet the Panel of Experts.

Profile Factors

Job Selection Factors

Job Application Factors

Freelance Work Factors

Availability

3.40	Yaroslav Zagorui	Before starting job, determine your hours of availability. And be online in these hours
High importance	Tamara Bentzur	Working in different time zones, I never know when a client will need to reach me. I keep my IM clients open at all times.
0.63
Medium consensus

Meet the experts and take their advice if you’d like to succeed in the freelance arena.

Margie Miguel Virtual Assistant Quezon City, Philippines 1,061 hours – 28 clients

Yaroslav Zagorui Designer Lugansk, Ukraine 2,402 hours – 54 clients

Jay Jaro Designer Cavite, Philippines 2,714 hours, 69 clients, 4.96 feedback

Henricus Wendy Data Entry Professional Serpong, Indonesia 1,249 hours, 43 clients, 4.90 feedback

Valerie Martin Graphic Designer Lafayette, LA, USA 1463 hours, 64 clients, 4.94 feedback

Teodolfo L IT Management Professional Paranaque, Philippines 2,135 hours, 25 clients, 5.00 feedback

Atul Arora Website and GUI Designer Patiala, India 5,402 hours, 189 clients, 4.81 feedback

Matt U Freelance Writer Vancouver, Canada 1,501 hours, 21 clients, 4.99 feedback

Krishna Acharya Web Developer Kathmandu, Nepal 1,315 hours, 29 clients, 4.98 feedback

Milan Kaneria WordPress Developer Pune, India 1,087 hours, 17 clients, 4.90 feedback

Victor P PHP / Ajax Developer Tiraspol, Moldova 1,628 hours, 13 clients, 4.99 feedback

Liz Mendiola Online Researcher Quezon City, Philippines 1,560 hours, 35 clients, 4.97 feedback

Tamara Bentzur Transcriptionist Jordan Valley, Israel 2,147 hours, 57 clients, 5.00 feedback

Thanh Nguyen Web Developer HCMC, Vietnam 1,620 hours, 63 clients, 4.91 feedback

Cornel Iakobcsuk SEO Specialist Timisoara, Romania 3,381 hours, 28 clients, 4.98 feedback

Whether you are new to the world of freelancing or are a seasoned veteran, there are a number of things to be considered when bidding on an assignment.

I have conducted many interviews through oDesk, and have seen some rather appalling behavior from potential providers that have cost them their chance to ever work on an assignment for me, while others don’t even make it to the interview process.

I will briefly review the proper etiquette for providers to adhere to when applying for positions through oDesk.

Cover Letters. This is the first impression you will have on a prospective employer.  Bidding on an assignment through oDesk is no different than applying for a job.  Your cover letter should highlight requirements or duties mentioned in the job posting.  One of the quickest ways to get your application rejected is to send a generic cover letter that does not focus on any of the posted job requirements.  I will not consider a provider for an assignment if they do not take the time to mention what qualifications they possess that pertain to the project I am hiring for, or why the position interests them.

If you have questions regarding the assignment, it is OK to ask as long as it is done respectfully and tastefully.  I have seen questions in cover letters that read more like  insults or police interrogations rather than a simple inquiry.

Qualifications.  If there are tests available for your skills, take them, and apply only for positions that you are qualified for.  If a project requires that you are proficient with Linux, but all you know is Windows, do not apply.  You will be wasting the Buyer’s time and they will remember you for doing just that.  This could cause you to be immediately rejected for future assignments they have available and could harm your reputation on oDesk via feedback.

Availability.  If you are backlogged on assignments or are not available during the Buyer’s requested hours, then do not apply unless you state your availability for the project in your cover letter.  This may or may not be something the Buyer can work around.

If you land an interview with a prospective client, you will need to give them a reason to hire you over other potential providers.  If you initiate contact with them, be professional and courteous.  If they have stated specific hours of availability in the job posting, contact them within those hours.  A client will most likely frown upon a request to chat at 2:00 a.m. if they are available from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.  Do not repeatedly message or nag them.  Simply state that you are responding to their interview request and politely ask them to contact you at their convenience.

Kristen Laws is a freelance project manager on oDesk.  She is the owner/operator of Runelady.com

I’m new at oDesk, and like most providers, the first couple of months were extremely frustrating. I posted repeatedly, but never seemed to get any jobs. Once in a while I’d get interviewed, but it never resulted in job offers.

All this changed for me after I had an awakening. The result was a new approach to writing cover letters. It’s simple, and seems to work, assuming you’re really above average in your field.

To quickly summarize my approach – Research. Give. Describe. The giving part may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s effective. Just try for yourself.

9 Things to Do When Writing a Cover Letter

1. Save your Powder
Look for openings with either few bids, or requiring skill-sets you absolutely master. The ideal job post for a newbie is one where the buyer is from your area, ethnic group, or connected to you or your interests some other way.

2. The Hook
Find an angle, or ‘hook’. The best bids are ones where you can learn something about the buyer, the site, project, or company. Many posts give specific details. So do some research. For example, looking at website projects, if there’s a URL, visit the site, find a problem/opportunity, and address it specifically in your cover letter. Use search engines like Google to find relevant information that may help you stick out.

3. Give
You need to give now in order to get later. The newer you are, the more time you should spend writing each cover letter. I’ve spent as much as 3-4 hours per piece, giving a lot of detailed information, basically providing a taste of my knowledge and experience.

4. Always Sell Benefits, Never Features
Don’t spend more than a couple of lines writing about your skills, knowledge, or experience. That’s what your profile is for. Focus on the buyer’s needs and what you can do for them. Especially important, is why you can do the job better (or differently) from other providers.

5. Show Instead of Tell
Instead of claiming to be smart or good, or whatever, try to show it indirectly in your response. For example, don’t tell the buyer how well you can write, simply produce a mind-blowing cover letter. This works much better, because when reading a well-written piece, the buyer does not have to take your word for anything, it’s obvious you write well. If it’s a technical skill, instead of saying how brilliant you are at it, simply outline your approach to the task and show that you’re in full command of the subject matter.

6. Substantiate
Try to back up claims or statements with links to reputable industry sources in your cover letter.

7. Affirm
Always mention that you understand the job requirements and really desire to do the task. It’s obvious, but often overlooked.

8. Carefree Giving is Not Working for Free
So what if you gave something away (tips or advice) for free to ten buyers, as long as 2-3 of them will either hire or bookmark you? Don’t ever work for free though. Never offer to give anything for free. That comes off as cheap. Just help out where you can and don’t expect anything in return.

9. Basic Structure
To give away the farm here, your cover letter should be structured like this: quick intro, hook, details/gift, affirmation.

The double motif in all the above is simple. The first is something we all heard in writing class: don’t say something directly when you can describe it. Instead of writing “He was so happy”, it’s much more effective to describe “The way his eyes sparkled as the dumb grin spread across that boyish face of his…”

Second is the concept of carefree giving. I can’t stress it enough. But you need to be able to give freely, without seeking compensation. For many of us, it may be doublethink at the beginning, but since humans seem to have an amazing capacity for simultaneously holding conflicting beliefs, it shouldn’t be difficult with just a bit of practice.

Giving like a miser will backfire, it’s easily perceived as manipulative. You need to give in a carefree manner, like a child, if you want all the candy so readily available at oDesk.

Boaz Sasson is a freelance SEO consultant on oDesk. If you are interested in writing a guest blog post, email stories@odesk.com

At oDesk, as in the real world, it’s hard to get hired without experience – and hard to get experience without getting hired. The best solution at oDesk is to use your portfolio to show off your skills.

Unfortunately, many of us don’t own the work we’ve done. In the forum discussions, you’ll find people lamenting that the work they’ve done is confidential, and can’t be used in the portfolio. I know just what they mean: I write for hire, and much of what I’ve written is out there with someone else’s name on it. Whether it’s the blog owner who likes to let it be assumed that the CEO of the company writes his own blog, or the web developer who rightly gets credit for the website she paid me to write, I can’t show my stuff.

The way around this obstacle is to create something new. Even if you can use your work-for-hire, you may still want to create something new to show your talents in ways your commissioned projects don’t. There are two very easy ways to get your work online where you can show it off to prospective buyers:

1. Give it away. There are lots of people out there who will be happy to publish your good-quality work. I wrote a lesson plan for Valentine’s Day which was just posted at HotChalk, a PR6 domain for teachers. It also went out at the top of their email newsletter, which goes to thousands of teachers. They’ve given me an odd headline, as you can see in the screenshot, but I can live with that.

I do a lot of blogging for the educational market, so this is a good showcase for my skills. It’s also a good showcase for my linkbuilding – the client whose link I placed there is happy about that quality link and the newsletter, you can bet. I have links to other websites in the post as well, and if none of them were my clients, I’d still have evidence that I can place quality links.  I’ve done guest blogs at SEOMoz.org, one of the most respected SEO forums. This is evidence of my skill at writing and at SEO.

Web designers can submit sites in exactly the same way that writers can submit articles. In addition to the places linked here, you can easily find sites that will accept free content by searching with the terms “submit article” or “submit site.” The higher the PageRank the better, so submit to the most respected sites you can, but don’t hesitate if you’re a beginner – everyone can find a good match somewhere.

2. Grow your own. If you’d rather have more control over your content, or you don’t want to wait for the submission process, you can create your own website for free. Make a free blog if you’re a writer, at Blogger, Wordpress, Weebly, or any of the many other platforms. If you’re a designer, use ZeroCatch or Bravenet to show off your skills. A word to the wise – when I look at designers’ work, I always look at their code. Just as writers should always proofread their work before publishing it, designers should make sure their stuff looks good under the hood as well as on the screen.

Don’t make buyers take your word for your skills.  Show off your products, so they can choose you with confidence.

Rebecca Haden is a freelance copywriter on oDesk.  If you are interested in writing a guest blog post, email stories@odesk.com.

A recent perspective discussed how to write a killer job description, designed to bring highly qualified providers rushing at you from all over the world. Now we’ll look at what to do if, uh-oh, it works.

1. Your first order of business is to smartly sift though the candidates queue. Some tips:

• Include a specific instruction or “captcha” in your job description, such as, “Include two URLs to previous jobs in your cover letter.” Applicants who don’t follow instructions, reject immediately.

• Reject ridiculously low or ridiculously high rates/bids — deal with serious people only.

• Remove providers with below-average feedback. Anyone under a 4.0 is in the bottom quartile of all providers. Tread carefully. Of course, a brand-new provider will have no feedback, and that’s natural. If you like her portfolio, give her an interview. If that goes well, you may have discovered a new gem before anyone else!

2. Once you narrowed down the candidate queue, carefully read each provider’s profile.

• Work history and feedback are very telling. A provider who has had only one job, but has billed 500 hours and is still in progress, is keeping her buyer very happy. If a provider has 20 one-hour or one-day jobs on his record, pay close attention to the tasks and feedback. (Hint: you can click on a job opening and see the original job description to compare.)

• Check to see whether he has passed relevant tests. If an interesting candidate hasn’t yet taken a test pertaining to your job, invite him to interview and ask him to take it — it’s free and shouldn’t take more than an hour.

• Review portfolios for the quality, style and range of their work. If someone doesn’t have a portfolio — request one.

3. You can also use the provider search to find more great candidates. Tips on how to do it, and why to bother:

• The best providers are often also very busy — not too surprising. Many of them don’t spend time searching for new jobs. You’ve got to make the first move and send them an invitation.

• Start with the criteria you entered in the job description, then narrow or expand the list by changing the parameters. Entering keyword ‘PHP’ will yield about 17,000 results. More stringent criteria, like “search titles only,” feedback score (set to “at least 4.5”), last activity (to “within 30 days”) and tests passed (to “PHP5 test”) narrows the list to around 300.

4. Now you’ve just got to interview effectively:

• Coordinating across time zones can be confusing at first — consult a world clock when necessary.

• Offer any method of communication you are comfortable with (email, IM, Skype, phone, etc.) and make yourself as available as possible.

• Communicate in the medium the job will require. If you’ll expect written reports daily or weekly, include an email exchange that lets you see the candidate’s clarity and thoroughness. Hiring a customer service rep? Of course you’ll want to hear his phone manner.

• Probe into past or current assignments (you saw them on her profile), ask about anything in the profile that struck you as unusual.

• Prepare a quiz or a set of test questions and give the same ones to all interviewees.

• Give a few finalists a test job. Set a limit to the time to keep costs down, get some real-world proof of their abilities, and show the candidates that you value their time.

The hiring process can be overwhelming, especially when presented with as many as 50 candidates. Few bosses look forward to the task. But there’s a lot of talent on oDesk, and a focused approach can bring fast, successful results. Happy hunting!

PS. We always appreciate your feedback on how we can help you address these challenges — participate in our forums.

So you’ve focused your profile, updated your portfolio and learned to write a persuasive cover letter, all to land an interview with a buyer. Now what?

Here are some tips for effectively interviewing with remote buyers:

• First, the obvious: Be prompt, polite, professional and prepared. Consider the “Four Ps” the unofficial code of conduct in the oDesk marketplace.

• Be flexible. Time zones and communications preferences can be tricky; be willing to adapt to a reasonable time and the method — email, Skype, IM — that the buyer prefers.

• Given that, try to schedule your interview for when you are at your best. Do not interview at the end of your day, when you’ll be tired. Better to wake up early for an interview than to stay up late.

• If you are working on another job, make sure to stop at least an hour before your interview. You want time to wind down, get a fresh start, review any relevant materials, and make sure you’re giving your best.

• Make sure you won’t be disturbed — especially if you’re on the phone (or Skype) and at home, don’t let background noise or interruptions make you seem unprofessional.

• Bring notes. Have at hand examples of past work that are relevant to this job, and have pertinent links and reference contacts at hand.

• Double-check your portfolio. If there’s anything relevant to this particular opportunity that you’d like the buyer to see, get it into your portfolio or be prepared to otherwise direct the buyer toward it.

• Ask the buyer about his experience with providers. What bugs him about providers? What has he valued in remote workers in the past? Discuss how your strengths can make you the kind of worker he’s looking for.

• Are you willing to do a paid sample project, maybe an hour or two of paid work? Suggest a “test job” yourself if the buyer seems to like you, but admits she’s not yet sure which of her final candidates to select. Just being confident in your own skills sends a good message.

• If not a paid project, how about a very quick test, free? If you can quickly provide a small, customized demonstration of your skill set, it might be a worthwhile investment of time — particularly if the job has long-term potential. Just be cautious and don’t give away your work.

• Don’t undercut yourself. If the buyer doesn’t ask you to negotiate over your rate, don’t offer to knock it down. If the buyer brings up rate issues, compromise if it’s worth your while. Suggest a trial rate that goes to full price after you’ve proven yourself, or take the pay cut but build in a bonus for reaching agreed-upon targets.

• If you finish the interview promising to provide additional information or a link to an extra portfolio piece, do so promptly and include a thank-you note.

• Even if there’s nothing more to “deliver,” follow up on your interview with a short and friendly thank-you note. You may also add a line or two (but no more) to strengthen a point in your interview.

If you’re prepared and relaxed — you’re both professionals, after all, and you are both just trying to find a solution to the buyer’s needs — there’s no reason for the interview not to be a success. Good luck!

Coder and Web designer Danalyn West started doing freelance Web design in 2002, but it wasn’t until last summer that she dedicated herself to full-time freelancing. She and her husband had relocated for a job that fell through after the move, leaving them both unemployed. “Panic ensued,” she says. Remembering that she’d once used oDesk as a buyer, she spent a week getting her profile as a provider in shape, and encouraged her husband to put himself online, too. “Within a week, my husband got his first job, albeit low-paying at first, and a few days later, I got my first assignment,” she says. She’s kept increasingly busy since then, and has also been an active presence in the oDesk forum and on her SavvyLancer.com blog — offering advice through both forums to freelancers and buyers, particularly regarding the oDesk marketplace.

Q:   In the six months you’ve been active as a provider, what have you learned about marketing yourself to buyers?

A: I learned that Mom lied when she said “don’t judge a book by its cover.” First impressions always count, and on oDesk, it happens with your profile and cover letter. If buyers make it past your cover letter, be able to back it up with a strong portfolio.

Q:  Any tips on developing trust with new buyers? How do you approach your first conversations with a buyer?

A: Just do the job and do it well — that’s the best way to build trust and credibility. Whenever possible, I always like to offer buyers suggestions for improvement (i.e., “Instead of doing that, you can do this and reduce the amount of work you have to manually do by X%”). I can’t tell you how many times this has won me the assignment.

Q:  When you’re choosing which jobs to apply for, what tips you off about the best opportunities, versus the ones you decide not to pursue?

A: There are two things I look for when applying to jobs:

1.  Detailed specifications about the job — I can’t properly bid on a job if all I know about it is, “I need a blog.” When buyers know what they want from the start, it makes it a whole lot easier to get the job done right!

2:  The buyer’s previous job history — If a buyer’s previous assignment history for comparable work is much lower than my current rate, I’ll save us both time by not even applying.

Q:  If a buyer asked you what he/she could do to attract the best providers, what advice would you give?

A: Be detailed in their job descriptions. Not only will it give the buyer a solid foundation to judge candidates on, it will also yield more accurate quotes (particularly on fixed-price jobs).

Q:  You started out on oDesk with a lower rate, and have steadily raised it, yet you’re still quite busy. Has it been tricky, getting your rate where you want it to be?

A: My first job was for $12/hr. Once I had that first hour logged, it put me in the “more than 1 hour” search range, and that’s all I needed to get my foot in the door. I feel I have a strong enough portfolio. I think that, coupled with my feedback score, helps prove my worth to buyers.

Q:  On average, how many buyers are you working for at any one time, or how many projects do you tend to take on in a given month?

A: I’m always working on at least two projects. How many projects I accept depends on how involved the project is. Right now, with five active projects of varying degrees of difficulty, I wouldn’t take on anything highly complex — I’d stick to things that I can knock out in a couple of days.

Q:  You’ve mentioned that you’re phasing out outside clients to focus on work through oDesk — why?

A: The short answer is that I’m a coder, not a collection agency. I absolutely love the billing system here. I like knowing when I’ll get paid, and that my payment is guaranteed. Not to mention that it has cut my Quickbooks time in half, so it’s a win-win situation!

Q:  Is the payment system what you like best about oDesk?

A: Aside from the payment system, I love the community. I’ve made some great friends through the Community Forums, some of whom I keep in contact with even outside of oDesk. There’s a lot to learn in the forums here, and I recommend them to all new providers.

Q:  Which aspect of oDesk would you most like to see improved, and how?

A: As a provider, I’d really like to see an option to favorite (and comment on) buyers. There are some buyers I’d like to make notes on, and I’d love to see those notes on new jobs posted by those buyers.

Q:  Your SavvyLancer.com site offers advice for freelancers. What motivated you to start the site, and how do you find time to keep it up?

A: I started the blog in October/November just to have someplace to write. When the Good Morning America segment aired, and provider signups shot through the roof, I decided to push forward with the site. The community forums is what keeps my topics going — I usually formulate posts late at night (after work) and schedule them for the next morning.

Q:  Beyond “making a living,” do you have any specific goals in 2009 for your work on oDesk and/or SavvyLancer?

A: The biggest goal I have for SavvyLancer is to just keep posting three times a week. Sometimes, with deadlines, family and stress, it’s easy to forget about blogging. For now, my Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule should be manageable enough without frying my brain.

For freelancing, I plan to work for oDesk … they just don’t know it yet!

A few weeks ago, a single line in a blog post caught our eye. Discussing a busy week during the holiday season, the blogger wrote, “This week is pretty packed for me. Sunday, I bought my mom a brand new wheelchair. Thanks to oDesk, I was able to save enough to buy her wheels! Now it will be easier for her to go outside.” To learn more about her heartwarming story we dropped her a line. The writer is oDesk provider Alisa E, in the Philippines. She joined oDesk this summer, quickly picking up work in data entry, link building and more.

Q:  This is your first experience with freelancing online. What made you decide to try oDesk?

A:  My son was diagnosed with epilepsy and had frequent seizures, so I had to quit my job. My husband introduced me to oDesk. He knew someone who was working on oDesk and suggested that I give it a try so I could still work from home.

Q:  Within days of joining in late August, you’d landed some jobs that are still ongoing. That must’ve been great.

A:  I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve read in the forums that some providers take months before they get an assignment here on oDesk. I am grateful to the buyers who trusted me and gave me work.

Q:  So what did you do right? How did you approach your first attempts at getting work through oDesk?

A:  I followed the tips oDesk posted in the forum: I completed my profile, took some tests, and applied to assignments that I feel comfortable with. I try not to recycle my cover letters because every assignment is different, and when I finish my cover letter, I always ask: “Would I like to hire me after reading this?”

Q:  Is all your work via oDesk now?

A:  I work entirely on oDesk. Occasionally, I have other projects, but most of my work week is dedicated to my oDesk assignments. Nothing wrong with having regular in-office work, but nothing beats being available for your family when they need you the most. That’s what I like about oDesk—my son can just burst into the room and give me a hug while I’m working.

Q:  The wheelchair for your mom—what a great present. Have you given it to her yet, or will she get it at Christmas?

A:  Oh wow! I was so happy when I finally bought my Mom her “wheels”! Before my Mom had the stroke, she loved going outside. Someone gave her an old wobbly wheelchair but we couldn’t go far on it. Early this December, I found an ad in the Internet from someone selling wheelchairs. I took the money I saved and immediately bought her one. And I’m so glad I did! I have already given her the chair, and the look on her face was priceless. Her face lit up when she saw the shiny new chair. She didn’t mind having the gift before Christmas, she was all smiles.

Q:  For 2009, do you have any goals in terms of work or earnings?

A:  oDesk has exposed me to a lot of jobs or freelance work that could be done over the Internet. For work goals, I’ll maximize the resources found online and learn some lessons in basic web design and on Internet marketing. Personal goals, I’d like to save enough again and hopefully contribute to a feeding program for less fortunate kids. Somehow, it’s been my experience that when I give out more to other people, more blessings seem to come our way. And maybe I can upgrade my PC!

Q:  If someone who was just signing up as an oDesk provider today asked you for advice, what would you say?

A:  oDesk works! To make it in oDesk one needs to be globally competitive: be skilled and knowledgeable in your work. You need to have a lot of patience, determination, and you need to give your best in all the work that you do. Also, never lose hope!

Q:  If a brand new buyer company were joining oDesk and asked your advice in posting jobs, or hiring or managing oDesk providers, what would you say?

A:  We are here on oDesk because we want to work, and we will work hard. Let us know what the job entails, what qualifications you need, so that we know if we can live up to your expectations. Give us a chance to tell you what we can do by interviewing us, and if you do hire us for the assignment, do check on us sometimes to ask how we are doing so we’ll know if we are on the right path and so we can serve you better. We need you as much as you need us, and we are here because you are.

The global economic downturn has everyone nervous. Being an oDesk provider means that you’ve already extended your reach beyond your local market, and the amount of business passing through oDesk’s marketplace is growing exponentially. More businesses are discovering the value of remote workers, and you’re already here on oDesk, building your reputation.

There’s no better time than now to hone your competitive edge, both to increase your volume of business, and to make yourself worth more money to your next buyer. Here are 10 ways to boost your marketability — and your hourly rate — even in this economy:

1. Round up your rate so the buyer sees a flat number (consider the buyer’s markup: If your rate is $20, the buyer is charged $22.22. Raise your rate to $20.70, and the buyer sees $23).
    
2. Request feedback comments and recommendations from past buyers—sometimes happy buyers rush through the feedback process. Ask the buyers you’ve done the best work with for a quick update.
    
3. Study profiles of individuals who have similar skills to yours but charge higher rates: What do they have that you don’t, and how can you get it?
    
4. Expand your skills based on those with the highest demand — consult the oDesk Trends pages.
    
5. Take our free skill tests and get top industry certifications through our collaborators on the partners page.
    
6. Add your rarest skills to your profile. We’ve got more than 10,000 jobs posted at any time — you never know when someone is going to want your expertise at VAX Mainframe programming, or your Arabic-English translation skills.
    
7. Increase your visibility and reputation: Establish solid profiles not only on oDesk, but on LinkedIn and your professional website. Link your expanded portfolio to your oDesk profile, and link your oDesk profile back to your other sites.
    
8. Improve your oDesk profile, especially if you haven’t done so since you originally wrote it. Now you know how buyers think, so give them what they’re looking for.
    
9. Step up your job search: scour listings for things you know you’re qualified to do, write a great cover letter for each application and be responsive when you get the call.
    
10. Don’t undersell yourself and compromise your rate. It’s the buyer’s job to try to keep costs down, but it’s your job to politely stand firm on the rate you know you deserve.
     

There will always be someone with a cheaper rate than yours, and there’ll always be someone costlier. Buyers weigh costs against reputation, skill set, and experience. Set a rate that reflects your talent and your feedback score, and do everything you can to demonstrate you’re worth a that rate in your profile, cover letters and portfolio. Prove you’re worth your premium rate and you’ll keep busy even during difficult times.

There are thousands of ways you can ruin a cover letter. Buyers often have to weed through a list of 30 or 50 or 100 candidates. Every little detail that’s off irritates the person who reads your cover letter. It’s your first — and perhaps only — chance to impress a potential buyer. Mess up and you’ll be immediately crossed off the list. Providers who understand this harsh reality can use it in their favor. Want to write more refined and effective cover letters? Follow these tips to help your letter stand out from the crowd (in a good way)!

• Keep it short. If your cover letter is as long as this essay, cut it by at least a third. All the buyer wants to see is a polite greeting, a sentence or two summarizing your profile’s relevant highlights, and perhaps another sentence or two about things that don’t show up on the profile — you recently completed two projects similar to the job at hand, for instance. Then a polite closing.
• Follow directions. If you’re asked to answer specific questions or include a key word in your reply — do it! Beware of typos: Write in word processor, heed the spelling & grammar checks, and read your letter out loud. Try asking a friend to review it before you send it in — even native speakers will benefit from the feedback.
• Never use a canned cover letter. Buyers can tell. The right few hundred words will prove you read the entire job post, including the requested skills, links, and oDesk work history.
• Watch your tone. Even if the buyer writes in a casual voice, you should sound serious, yet relaxed. This is a letter from one professional to another. Don’t be funny, wordy or overly flattering. Be helpful and confident, not arrogant, and especially not needy.
• Easy on the jargon. Use technical terms correctly and cut the marketing-speak. The buyer won’t be impressed by your plans to “actualize” your “proven potential” to “deliver maximal results” to “drive customer satisfaction.” Contrary to some job-hunting guides, you cannot hypnotize the buyer with “energizing” buzz words.
• Link to examples. List and link to or attach work samples to demonstrate your aptitude for the job. If your profile portfolio doesn’t already include the relevant items, don’t forget to add them afterwards!

You’ve worked hard to polish your profile. But the buyer will never bother to look at it unless your cover letter serves as a concise, effective teaser. If Hollywood can boil a two-hour movie down to a 90-second preview, you can get your cover letter under 300 words and manage to leave your audience wanting more.

The first impression you leave on a potential employer when looking for work online is not your resume or user profile, but rather your cover letter.  Resumes and profiles are succinct listings of professional accomplishment, but don’t say much about an applicant’s personality, work ethic, interests and talents.  Therefore, a cover letter is your place to shine.

A cover letter should ALWAYS accompany a resume or link to an online profile.  Lack of a cover letter leaves buyers with the impression that the applicant is lazy or that he or she isn’t really that interested in the position.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, endless cover letters that read like a provider’s autobiography are unlikely to be read in their entirety.  Employers are generally busy people, who don’t have time to comb through a long letter and pick out the few facts about an applicant that interest them.

An applicant has an average of 20 seconds to wow an employer.  It is, therefore, the provider’s responsibility to completely read through a job description and respond to it with a letter that consolidates all of his or her professional training and experience relevant to the job.  The letter should also be used to answer any questions posed in the job listing.  A well written and pertinent cover letter demonstrates that an applicant has fully read and understood the job description and is confident of his or her ability to carry out the duties required of the position.

Cover letters should be dynamic and specific to each job position and buyer.  They should also be as concise and a maximum of one page, although half a page is the recommended length.  Limiting paragraphs to one to four sentences also makes the cover letter easy for potential employers to skim and process.

Personal introduction: start your cover letter by sparking the buyer’s interest instantly:
• Briefly introduce yourself
• Mention the position for which you are applying.
• Transition into describing the traits, qualities and experiences that will make you stand apart from other providers.

Example:
I am an expert web designer interested in the web development job you’ve posted.  I am certified in five different programming languages, and am an expert in Dreamweaver and Photoshop.  I have designed and built 80 websites to date.

Qualifications: The second section should be used to delve a little deeper into professional and academic qualifications.  Stress accomplishments rather than explaining your duties and responsibilities in past positions.

Example:
I have a Masters degree in Computer Sciences from Harvard and have worked in this field for 10 years.  I worked three years for Accenture, where I was promoted to Lead Programmer within one year of joining the company.  In 2006, I started my own web design and IT consuling firm, which currently has completed 60 jobs for 45 clients in 12 countries.

Fit: you want to demonstrate your knowledge of the company and the position being filled.  Explain why you are suited to working with the company and to the position advertised.

Call for action: end your cover letter should incite the buyer to take action:
• Request an interview.
• Ask the employer if he or she would be interested in seeing additional samples of work.
• Let the employer know that you are available to answer any questions or clarify anything that may be left unclear (although your letter should leave everything crystal clear).

Etiquette:
• If the job posting provides a name, address the letter to that individual.
• Unless you’re confident you know their gender, don’t take for granted that the person reading your letter is male; be gender neutral.
• Always re-read and check your letter for typos and grammatical mistakes.

If you follow these suggestions and don’t clutter your letter with unnecessary information, you are more likely to compose a concise, informative and successful cover letter.  It’s your personal marketing piece; treat it as such!

-Justine Bayod Espoz, Guest Blogger

Very recently, one of oDesk’s product architects based here in Menlo Park posted a job opening on our site to find an additional engineer to add to our growing team. He received a number of candidates and then had to screen and interview to find the top provider to join the team.

He found all of the profile information helpful, and reviewed feedback scores, requested oDesk tests, and looked for personalized cover letters of individuals that seemed truly motivated to do the job.

Once he had narrowed the list down to just a couple candidates. He researched their work history in more detail. He ultimately chose a particular candidate in India largely based on an example of his work. Now, this wasn’t a web developer, so he couldn’t review a portfolio of websites. He also wasn’t able to review prior code because much of it is proprietary for other clients. So, it came down to reviewing prior work on open-source projects.

Why should you care about open-source work?

1) It’s completely open. You can review the exact code, revisions, and comments made by the individual contributor.
2) It shows motivation. Open-source work doesn’t pay, so if a provider has dedicated some of their personal time to contribute to an open-source project, it demonstrates a high-level of personal motivation.
3) It demonstrates knowledge of relevant technology. For oDesk, and for almost any small tech company these days, open-source technology is critical to business operations. It’s important for any engineers to be familiar with a good number of open-source tools.

So, if you are a provider and looking to build out a robust online profile, consider finding an interesting open-source project and contributing however you can. You will always be able to share this work with anyone and demonstrate your performance. Head on over to SourceForge and figure out how you can contribute.

On the flip-side, check out what John Resiq from Mozilla has to say about Interviewing for Open-Source.

Applying for a job? You’re not alone. oDesk jobs receive an average of 12 applications in the first 24 hours. How to ensure that you’ll get a chance to interview? Write a cover letter that stands out and that shows the employer you’re seriously interested in the work.

Here are 15 tips to help you create an outstanding cover letter:

1. Read the job application carefully. The best way to ensure that you won’t get the job is to write something that shows you really didn’t read through the job description or that you don’t have the skills required.

2. Highlight relevant skills, but be brief. And while we’re at it, if you’ve taken a few skill tests on oDesk, that can help you verify those skills and impress buyers.

3. Spell check and proof-read. You’ll have someone’s attention for only a few minutes. Make sure you make a good impression. I recently saw a cover letter with someone who said they had perfect Englich. Yep, wasn’t too convinced.

4. If possible, include links to relevant work experience.

5. Be professional. Humor can backfire. You may laugh at these examples of funny cover letters, but future employers may not feel the same way.

6. Don’t cut and paste. When you’re applying to a bunch of jobs, it’s tempting to create a cookie cutter template, but employers will be more impressed when you spend the time to tailor your cover letter to the job.

7. Include your contact information and best times to reach you. Put your availability in the buyer’s time zone. Can you best be reached through Skype? Yahoo Messenger? Gchat? Let the buyer know.

8. Be online as much as possible. You never know when the buyer might be online and decide to contact you.

9. Explain your current availability. Do you currently have a few other projects going on through the system? How much time do you think you could devote to the job?

10. Be creative. Depending on the job, a creative cover letter may win over an employer, particularly if you’re going after a creative position such as a designer or content writer.

11. Suggest next actions and offer suggestions. For example, saying something like, “I can start reviewing the specifications with you. I was thinking perhaps you could consider XXX” shows that you’re thinking ahead and ready to go.

12. Offer a reference. If you’ve worked closely with a client in the past (and they’ve agreed to allow you to share their contact information), allow future employers the opportunity to learn just how great you are.

13. Be confident. Don’t say you can deliver with 110% guarantee, but be confident in your abilities and skills.

14. Ask questions to demonstrate understanding and initiative. 

15. Be persistent. So maybe you didn’t land the first job you applied to. Don’t get discouraged because you spent a good amount of time on your cover letter. Start with smaller jobs and get some oDesk experience and feedback.

See some more examples of cover letters on our site.

4 great tips on how to NOT get a job on oDesk from MobCode.

Here’s one way to NOT get a job:

Say nothing when you apply for a position. A typical flow in oDesk is that project sponsor posts a project. Developers see the project and submit their names for consideration. When applying for a position the developer has a chance to say something. It could be “please hire meâ€?. Or it could be: “I have reviewed your position and I am qualified to fill it for these reasons…â€?. But you have to say something. If you just submit your name and say nothing then you will find it very hard to get the sponsor’s attention. This is your first chance to make an impression and you choose to just sit there and say nothing.

Check out all 4 tips here and other MobCode posts on oDesk here.

Here is oDesk’s advice on writing a cover letter and interviewing with buyers.