Worker Experience and Contact Info

Now on to the second part of this series.  I will discuss the elements on the last two tabs that you will find when you edit your profile – Worker Experience and Contact Info.

Worker Experience

• Self-summary – This is a short description of what you can do and what you can offer the clients.  It is an exposition of your title.  If your title contain the words ‘data entry’, expound how you are a great data entry person on your self summary.  Do not talk about being a writer if your title doesn’t say ‘writer’.  You have to be consistent or you risk coming off as confused.
• Ideal Job – Write the job you most want to be hired for.  If you can’t decide, you can write more than one.  Just make sure they actually match the job categories you chose under ‘worker details’.  I warn you though, don’t list too many ideal jobs.  The element is called IDEAL job, not ANY job.
• Skills – List the skills you have, separated by a comma.  You may be tempted to include all your skills, but you should limit them to the top 5 skills you possess.  You want to spark the interest of potential clients, not bore them.
• Work Experience – List your work experience that is related to the kind of work you would want as an online freelancer.  Anything that you think enhances your trade will be worth including.  If you think you don’t have any work experience, think again.  Have you ever done any pro bono/volunteer work?  A college project or your practicum, perhaps?  On-the-job trainings?  All these qualify as work experience.  If you really have none, don’t fret.  It’s not the end of the world.  Many successful online freelancers started with no work experience.
• Website(s) – What qualifies as your website?  A blog you maintain is your website (blogspot, typepad, wordpress, etc.). Your social networking profile is not.  A website you helped design or put up, but is not your own, is not your website.  If you have any, you may list them under ‘work experience’.
• You should hire me because – You can go to town promoting yourself in this area!  Tell potential clients why they should hire you over others, why you are worth the rate you posted.  List your skills that you weren’t able to include under ‘skills’.  Sell yourself (well, not literally, of course!).

Contact Info

• Email, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, ICQ Chat – List all the venues potential clients/employers can reach you at.  Try to be online as often as possible, especially if you are applying for a job.  The more accessible or easy-to-contact you are, the higher your chances of getting hired for a job.  Nothing is more frustrating that getting an email or message for an interview, read it a day (or several days) late, and find out that the employer has hired someone else.  If you have the time to check your facebook account, there is no reason you can’t check your email.

There!  I hope that with these two articles, you will now be confident enough to complete your profiles.  Always remember that an empty profile = an uninterested user (or so it appears).  Nobody would want to hire someone who can’t be bothered to complete a simple profile.  At least, I won’t.