Why is it hard to find a job?
I am searching for a job for almost a month. It is very hard for me to find a job because some of the provider is seeking for a worker with oDesk History. Why is it hard to find a job?
OFFTOPIC -- By the way, I had been invited for an interview and the provider message me that I am hired, now, the day that he message me I rapidly work and I finished it for about 38mins. I submit the screenshot and he no more reply to my message. But I didn't pass the docx file, thanks to God, but my effort in making that docx turns into dust!! Hmmp.. -- OFFTOPIC
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Poll
What is the scariest part of freelancing?
No work stability
48%
No health insurance and other benefits
20%
No colleagues to work with
5%
Not earning enough
21%
Other (please comment)
6%
Total votes: 818
jakecastle 63 posts - Philippines - Joined May 10 2009
(Hay naku arnold di ka nagiisa.) Sigh. Arnold your not alone. And yes you were scammed. Truth is whomever that person could still convert it to text via OCR. (tang ina niya) Just wanted to share my experiences as newbie here on oDesk. Please visit my blog and read about my experiences.
Sincerely,
JFMC
http://odeskpinoynewbie.blogspot.com/
angruck 22 posts - United States - Joined Nov 13 2008
To the original poster I have seen some pretty iffy buyers here & I have seen some awesome ones!
& @ jakecastle I love your blog I visit often & read and check out the video's
vjustice 64 posts - United States - Joined Oct 14 2009
Well The biggest reason is that there are over 300,000 providers on odesk and only 9,000+ jobs. So the compitition is fierce. Its what we call a Buyers Market right now.
And as for your one job offer being a scam? Hard to say. Odds are if it was a fixed price job and they did not have a verified odesk payment method. Yea it most likely was a scam. I would wait till Monday or Tuesday and if you have not heard back from the buyer by then I would Contact Odesk Support, and bring the matter to their attention. While they can not get your money on a fixed price job they can keep an eye on that buyer and look for a pattern of that kind of behavier.
Vitale
jakecastle 63 posts - Philippines - Joined May 10 2009
I coult be wrong butch, but I don't think Odesk offers any mediation whatsoever for fixed prized jobs. Your right butch, it's a buyer's market all right.
margaretphillips 218 posts - United States - Joined Feb 18 2007
Vitale did not say that odesk offers mediation, he mentioned there is no guarantee of payment, but they do want to know who does not pay.
arnoldarieta 10 posts - Philippines - Joined Sep 18 2009
Yea, there's a note from oDesk about Fixed-Prices. Now, I'm searching for a job that is oDesk verified. Until now, I don't have a job. If you are interested to me, invite me on any interview, my specialization are Photoshop, Data Entry, Typist, Transciptionist, and HTML.
jakecastle 63 posts - Philippines - Joined May 10 2009
kababayan. Just wanted to share my blog. True to life xp on odesk.
http://odeskpinoynewbie.blogspot.com/
also will send you an invite to become an affiliate on the provider affiliations if you want.
arnoldarieta 10 posts - Philippines - Joined Sep 18 2009
I am a month member here but I don't have any job yet. I visited your site and it was cool huh. Sure please invite me. Thanks!
mariaelenatorral 1 post - Philippines - Joined Sep 04 2009
May I be one of the provider who can have an invitation from you?I have no jobs yet,pls help me nman ohhh,pls invite me to become one of an affiliate on the providers affiliations,ha?pls...
mfuntanares 2 posts - Philippines - Joined Oct 05 2009
Hi its so hard to find a job... I am new here.. =<
arnoldarieta 10 posts - Philippines - Joined Sep 18 2009
Yah, its very hard, I am a month old member here and I dont have any oDesk History. Other providers is looking for a worker that has an oDesk History.
thumper234 2 posts
Maybe I received so many replies and all with excellent skill sets because I clearly defined what I was looking for how I paid and what my expectations are I would never ask for a working file of the end product until A) I am happy with the end result 2) I might ask for a small portion of the file at random to ensure it is workable and will print.and 3) The person concerned has been paid.
My experience has been in the past that if I pay upfront or a deposit to get "into the pipeline" that I am the one that ends up out of pocket
so it works both ways one really has to build relationships to get over that barrier
arnoldarieta 10 posts - Philippines - Joined Sep 18 2009
Maybe, but other provider don't like any upfront payment. But if I request for an upfront payment and the provider accept it, I am secured that he is a good and not a scammer.
rj_decastro6 16 posts - Philippines - Joined Jul 30 2009
Hi arnoldarieta! It so sad that you had been scammed by a buyer but I hope this will not cause you to quit in oDesk. There is a lot of opportunity here in oDesk. With more effort and patience, you will soon land on a job worthy of your time. Like the others say here, look for odesk verified payment method in the jobs you are applying. Chances of not getting paid without it is so high.
I saw you profile accouny and it is a little bit of incomplte. you may try to add your work to your portfolio to prove your skills and add more details in the resume part. And since you are just starting, you may also want to lower your hourly rate. And later you can raise it as you get oDesk experience. If you want some more tips, you can visit http://odeskguide.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/10-tips-when-applying-for-a-job-in-odesk.
Thank you and I hope I helped you in this small way.
Best Regards,
Rikki
pcledera 51 posts - Philippines - Joined Feb 19 2009
Hi Mga Kabayans,
It is always the case when you are new to any freelancer sites, no job history (zero work hours) and no feedback. When I started on oDesk it took me more than 2 months before I got awarded my first project.
Pero instead of being discouraged and magmukmok sa isang tabi, I did the next best thing - improve my profile (although di naman sya ganun kaganda), add samples to my portfolio at pinagbutihan ko ang pag gawa ng proposal, read all the relevant topics on the community forum for tips and the most important (to others it may sound cheesy) I prayed like i never did before in my entire life.
At that time I was out of job for almost 4 months with bills piling up (dami nang utang) and desparate to find anything, in anyway, in any form, whatever basta kumita. then I stumbled upon oDesk. But still it took me 2 more months to land a project (a $15 fixed price project)but I've worked extra hard to please the client to earn a nice feedback but to my disappointment, wala akong nakuhang feedback. But after a week or two, He hired me again for another assignment and that started it. If you care to peek at my profile and check my work history, it is there and would you believe until now client ko parin sya.
To cut a long story short, dito ako nag start sa oDesk, dito ako nagkaroon ng lakas ng loob na sumubok sa ibang site, armed with the knowledge I've learned from oDesk, plus the fortitude to do well. Ironically, in my almost 10 months as a freelancer, mas naging successful (not quite) ako sa ibang site kaysa sa oDesk.
So, tyaga lang at wag mawalan ng pag-asa mga bro! Try to improve, learn new skills, create compelling proposals that would stand out from the rest and convince buyers/clients to choose you from hundreds or thousanda of providers on the net.
And most of all, don't forget to pray!
Hope in my own little way I did lessen the burden on your respective shoulders of not yet finding the morale boosting first ever work assignment on oDesk.
Cheers!
Patrick
msayno 112 posts - Philippines - Joined Feb 05 2008
Thanks Patrick for this quote... it reminds me of simple things most often forgotten. Hope people find wisdom in it like I did
Cheers!
pkalimuthu 474 posts - India - Joined Mar 07 2008
I could not understand it completely, though.
pcledera 51 posts - Philippines - Joined Feb 19 2009
I apologize Pothi that I did not wrote it entirely in English, the thread was posted by a Filipino and I subtituted some "Tagalog" (Philippine language)words instead of English because I was groping for the right English words to best describe it. At that time I was overcome a bit by my emotions trying to empathies and assuage/alleviate my countrymen's frustrations, desperation or even despair of not getting their share of the pie so to speak.
What I did wrote on my earlier post was to describe what and how I felt when I was starting out and very desperate of finding ways to put food on the table. But instead of being negative about it, I turn on the brighter side of things and did the best that I could to improve my profile, skills and write attention getting proposals. Have more patience/persistence, be more gutsy/resolute and determined to keep on keeping on!
Nice to know that you like it too!
Warmly,
Patrick
pkalimuthu 474 posts - India - Joined Mar 07 2008
Hi Patrick,
I could not understand only the exact words. Still I was able to grasp what you intend to say and I was touched by the feelings deeply. Your post brought back all the memories.
Thanks for sharing and your personal reply, Patrick!
pcledera 51 posts - Philippines - Joined Feb 19 2009
Thank you for the support! It is the only way i can pay back others who helped me out by simply sharing their experience and valuable tips in the community forum.
It's payback time!
mendellucero 1 post - Philippines - Joined Oct 05 2009
thanks for the encouragement, malapit nako mawalan ng pag asa d2 sa odesk thanks to you
jakecastle 63 posts - Philippines - Joined May 10 2009
today marks a very special day for me on odesk. It is now an entire month of actively searching for a job on Odesk without success. I'm still holding to hope though, but I've st my expectations straight. I just finished an interview with a foreign national who will be flying into the country next week. I pray that all my efforts are not in vain.
pkalimuthu 474 posts - India - Joined Mar 07 2008
I checked your profile to see if I could help. I noticed that during the past 30 days, you have already done two assignments! I certainly don't understand why you wrote the following...
jakecastle 63 posts - Philippines - Joined May 10 2009
On those two jobs All I earned was like ten bucks total, that doesn't even cover the darn electric bill.
avhdh5962 110 posts
Thumbs up for you Patrick....for being a "coffee"....
Wondering what I meant with this? Here's a very inspiring story that conveys the message: http://odeskmommy.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/carrot-egg-or-coffee/
God bless to all newbies!
pcledera 51 posts - Philippines - Joined Feb 19 2009
Hi Verena,
I think I've heard that before?? Tea, coffee or me?
Just a joke!!
I would like to thank you for sharing the "coffee" story, I really appreciate it and encourage everybody to read that story.
BTW, I shared my experience to this thread because of the frustrations that the original poster felt and I thought that he needs some encouragement, a little push, a helping hand to keep on keeping on. The two most important thing to have in time of crises is "Hope" & "Faith" and the rest will fall into place.
Cheers!
pkalimuthu 474 posts - India - Joined Mar 07 2008
Hi Patrick,
Looks like you know the art of living! I wholeheartedly agree that hope and faith are absolutely necessary when we have done everything from our side, but yet to succeed.
Pothi.