how to be an attractive freelancer on
oDesk so I got a great question for one
of my YouTube viewers love you guys GMR
who wrote in the say Evan I’m looking
for your tips on how to be an attractive
freelancer on oDesk I’m hoping you help
me for this stuff
thanks and believe so bonus tips there
for you j-mart news and believe in your
question this is really important so I
love oDesk I’m a big fan I’ve hired lots
of people throw at us and spend lots of
money on oDesk it’s one of the most
important tools that I use to run my
business and for finding people to help
me with what I’m doing here’s what I
look for okay as an employer as somebody
who hires a lot of freelancers here’s
what I look for in my hiring process
okay first of all is did you answer my
question so in every job application
that I put out there I always make it
one big ugly paragraph and in the middle
I ask some kind of question it’ll be you
know how many Twitter followers do I
have how many Facebook fans do I have
something really basic and simple but
easy to find right you can if you type
in Evan Carmichael Twitter you’ll find
my account you can tell me how many
followers I have it’s really the figure
out didn’t you read my posting or not
because there are so many people all no
desk and these are the people you’re
going up against there are so many
people on Odette’s who just applied for
every single job out there and don’t
actually ever read the posting so I
don’t pay attention to your your cover
letter much I don’t pay attention to
anything until you’ve answered my
question and I ask put it in the first
line of your application and so when you
submit your application if that’s not
the first thing in the line there then
then you’re gone you’re you’re cancelled
from my process I’m not gonna even read
anything that you sent me because you’re
wasting my time right you didn’t read my
job posting and so I’m not gonna waste
time
reading your application that’s the
first thing okay second thing is your
picture
and this may seem very superficial but
we connect with people the only thing I
have I can’t meet you so the only thing
I have is your picture and what I want
to see is a happy person okay now for a
lot of cultures having a smiling picture
is strange and maybe against your
culture and and that’s okay
what I would tell you though is think of
who you’re selling to because a really
serious picture is is bad when you’re
selling to a North American market if
you want to sell to North Americans if
you want North Americans to hire you
then we’re more likely to be receptive
to a smiling picture than a serious
picture right now it doesn’t be this
huge big goofy silly smile but I want to
see a smiling professional picture
that’s how most of our pictures are
that’s what we connect with so you know
that may not be what you’re used to but
if you want to sell to the North
American market you’re gonna have a
better chance with a smiling picture I
want somebody who looks professional
right if you know wear a suit wear a
professional looking top Elise maybe
you’re in shorts whatever I don’t care
but I can only see from here up make it
professional
right I’ve had people who’ve applied for
for jobs who have sunglasses on or in a
tank top and looking on some beach right
like ah why would I hire you right like
it’s already a strike against I don’t
want somebody professional so smiling
professional picture number two next
thing isn’t looking at your feedback so
I want somebody who’s gotten good
feedback from other employers that they
work with if you look at my feedback
from the people I’ve hired it’s it’s
five stars across the board because I
work really hard to provide a great
experience for the people who I work
with on oDesk
and I want people who will work really
hard for me as well and so I will look
at did you get good feedback from your
past clients or not and hopefully you
are right you want to make sure you’re
blowing away your customers giving great
work and hopefully they give you a good
feedback score as well so we’re card to
over deliver to your customers so they
say wow this person is amazing
next I’m going to look at your skills
and what tests did you pass so you know
if I’m hiring somebody to be a PHP
programmer for me for example you know
I’m not an expert in PHP so how do I
know if you’re any good at PHP or not I
want to see you pass the test
so take the test and practice for them a
lot of people know does he said who
you’re going up against right and maybe
you you see the test you take the test
you don’t prepare for it at all and you
end up in the bottom 50% or the bottom
20% I’ve seen some of them you know how
bad that makes you look right those
tasks are one of the only ways again
since I can’t meet you in person those
tests are one of the only ways that I
have to to see that you’re really good
at what you do so study practice take
the test and it will help you stand out
there are some oDesk employers who
that’s the first thing they look for
they look for the people who’ve gotten
the top 10% in the various tests so that
can really help make you stand out so
practice and take the test the next
thing I look for is how prompt is the
person okay I want you to be fast and
responding to me so if I’m writing to
you and I have some questions for you to
clarify and see who I’m gonna go with
how fast are you in writing back to me
now I’m not really fast and responding
but I want you to be fast and responding
to me but if you’re taking a day two
days three days to write back to me it’s
probably over I mean you gotta have
something else that’s amazing about you
to get the job because I want someone
who’s reliable and fast and a lot of
times people who you know employers like
myself have had a hard time with oDesk
people it’s been that they’re just
unreliable and you know they drop off
the face of the earth they go away for
two weeks like where were you without
any explanation so you ease that fear by
responding quickly to people you may not
even have the answer right if somebody
asks you for something that you have to
do some work to find the answer just
write back to say I got your message I’m
on it I’ll be looking for it I’ll
respond to you as soon as I find an
answer just let me know you got it and
that you’re working on it makes a huge
difference
again because I can’t meet you face to
face you know I can’t shake your hand so
I’m only going on the limited
information that I have and the last
thing I look for is I want somebody to
WoW me and it doesn’t take a lot to wow
somebody right what I what I’d love for
you to do is go visit my website and and
tell me something that you like you know
did you like something that I posted on
Twitter recently are you following me on
Facebook just show me that you actually
took two minutes out of your day before
applying to this job to actually look in
to the business that you were applying
to right sharing something like that
making it personal maybe telling me a
story about how entrepreneurship is
important to you or your family or your
dreams something related to my business
even just you saying believe in your
question makes me feel like you’re more
of an avid viewer of my videos like you
watch some of my videos you know that’s
what I stand for and so I feel more
connected to you already so you want to
do that
I call it wow in your customers but your
bear like that’s bare-bones minimum
stuff right look at the website of the
company that you’re applying to and find
one little thing that you can talk about
but yet almost nobody does it it’s mind
blowing and so that’s those are some
easy ways to stand out on oDesk against
everybody else and get the job now the
last thing for me is before I hire
somebody I usually do a series of test
projects so I’ll hire a bunch of people
again I don’t care about what your
resume looks like I don’t care any of
that stuff I want to see performance so
I hire a bunch of people to do the same
job a paid job maybe you know five hours
and you know edit this video or do this
market research something that they were
actually doing for me and then I see you
know what’s the quality of their work
you know are you doing a good job with
what I gave you with the results are you
milking me for the full five hours or if
you’re done in three you stop it at
three right someone who is doing the
full five hours it’s like you know what
you’re just milking me for those hours
you know I don’t trust you I
so I’m not gonna give you the job and
you know again are you reliable are you
responding to me quickly and am i happy
with our working relationship and I can
usually figure out after a small project
who are the five eight ten people that I
hired I want to give the full-time job
to so that’s where you can really over
deliver like crazy really while your
customers a quick example for so this is
Christina who edits my videos hey
Christina she’s watching when I hired my
video editor I forget how many people I
hired eight ten twelve fifteen it was a
lot of people and I said here’s a video
make it special make it look good and I
gave some clear guidelines and then I
also said you know do whatever you want
with it add something add some flair to
it if you want and Christina was the
only one who really made it special she
didn’t just do what I asked her to do
she also added her own touch to it and I
was so impressed that okay you know what
Christina got the job everybody else
forget about right so you really want to
make sure you’re over delivering because
it’s not gonna help you land your first
job it’s gonna help you get great you
know five star review it’s gonna help
more deals come from the same client
right it’s going to leave great
testimonials you’re going to get more
budget right so really once you get that
opportunity you want to wow your
customers as much as possible
so those are my tips for how to stand
out and be an attractive freelancer on
oDesk believe for those of you guys
watching like the video you can support
me by clicking on the link in the
description if you have questions let me
know leave a comment underneath I love
seeing your questions come in and you
can click on my face subscribe to the
channel thank you so much I’ll see you
soon
oDesk so I got a great question for one
of my YouTube viewers love you guys GMR
who wrote in the say Evan I’m looking
for your tips on how to be an attractive
freelancer on oDesk I’m hoping you help
me for this stuff
thanks and believe so bonus tips there
for you j-mart news and believe in your
question this is really important so I
love oDesk I’m a big fan I’ve hired lots
of people throw at us and spend lots of
money on oDesk it’s one of the most
important tools that I use to run my
business and for finding people to help
me with what I’m doing here’s what I
look for okay as an employer as somebody
who hires a lot of freelancers here’s
what I look for in my hiring process
okay first of all is did you answer my
question so in every job application
that I put out there I always make it
one big ugly paragraph and in the middle
I ask some kind of question it’ll be you
know how many Twitter followers do I
have how many Facebook fans do I have
something really basic and simple but
easy to find right you can if you type
in Evan Carmichael Twitter you’ll find
my account you can tell me how many
followers I have it’s really the figure
out didn’t you read my posting or not
because there are so many people all no
desk and these are the people you’re
going up against there are so many
people on Odette’s who just applied for
every single job out there and don’t
actually ever read the posting so I
don’t pay attention to your your cover
letter much I don’t pay attention to
anything until you’ve answered my
question and I ask put it in the first
line of your application and so when you
submit your application if that’s not
the first thing in the line there then
then you’re gone you’re you’re cancelled
from my process I’m not gonna even read
anything that you sent me because you’re
wasting my time right you didn’t read my
job posting and so I’m not gonna waste
time
reading your application that’s the
first thing okay second thing is your
picture
and this may seem very superficial but
we connect with people the only thing I
have I can’t meet you so the only thing
I have is your picture and what I want
to see is a happy person okay now for a
lot of cultures having a smiling picture
is strange and maybe against your
culture and and that’s okay
what I would tell you though is think of
who you’re selling to because a really
serious picture is is bad when you’re
selling to a North American market if
you want to sell to North Americans if
you want North Americans to hire you
then we’re more likely to be receptive
to a smiling picture than a serious
picture right now it doesn’t be this
huge big goofy silly smile but I want to
see a smiling professional picture
that’s how most of our pictures are
that’s what we connect with so you know
that may not be what you’re used to but
if you want to sell to the North
American market you’re gonna have a
better chance with a smiling picture I
want somebody who looks professional
right if you know wear a suit wear a
professional looking top Elise maybe
you’re in shorts whatever I don’t care
but I can only see from here up make it
professional
right I’ve had people who’ve applied for
for jobs who have sunglasses on or in a
tank top and looking on some beach right
like ah why would I hire you right like
it’s already a strike against I don’t
want somebody professional so smiling
professional picture number two next
thing isn’t looking at your feedback so
I want somebody who’s gotten good
feedback from other employers that they
work with if you look at my feedback
from the people I’ve hired it’s it’s
five stars across the board because I
work really hard to provide a great
experience for the people who I work
with on oDesk
and I want people who will work really
hard for me as well and so I will look
at did you get good feedback from your
past clients or not and hopefully you
are right you want to make sure you’re
blowing away your customers giving great
work and hopefully they give you a good
feedback score as well so we’re card to
over deliver to your customers so they
say wow this person is amazing
next I’m going to look at your skills
and what tests did you pass so you know
if I’m hiring somebody to be a PHP
programmer for me for example you know
I’m not an expert in PHP so how do I
know if you’re any good at PHP or not I
want to see you pass the test
so take the test and practice for them a
lot of people know does he said who
you’re going up against right and maybe
you you see the test you take the test
you don’t prepare for it at all and you
end up in the bottom 50% or the bottom
20% I’ve seen some of them you know how
bad that makes you look right those
tasks are one of the only ways again
since I can’t meet you in person those
tests are one of the only ways that I
have to to see that you’re really good
at what you do so study practice take
the test and it will help you stand out
there are some oDesk employers who
that’s the first thing they look for
they look for the people who’ve gotten
the top 10% in the various tests so that
can really help make you stand out so
practice and take the test the next
thing I look for is how prompt is the
person okay I want you to be fast and
responding to me so if I’m writing to
you and I have some questions for you to
clarify and see who I’m gonna go with
how fast are you in writing back to me
now I’m not really fast and responding
but I want you to be fast and responding
to me but if you’re taking a day two
days three days to write back to me it’s
probably over I mean you gotta have
something else that’s amazing about you
to get the job because I want someone
who’s reliable and fast and a lot of
times people who you know employers like
myself have had a hard time with oDesk
people it’s been that they’re just
unreliable and you know they drop off
the face of the earth they go away for
two weeks like where were you without
any explanation so you ease that fear by
responding quickly to people you may not
even have the answer right if somebody
asks you for something that you have to
do some work to find the answer just
write back to say I got your message I’m
on it I’ll be looking for it I’ll
respond to you as soon as I find an
answer just let me know you got it and
that you’re working on it makes a huge
difference
again because I can’t meet you face to
face you know I can’t shake your hand so
I’m only going on the limited
information that I have and the last
thing I look for is I want somebody to
WoW me and it doesn’t take a lot to wow
somebody right what I what I’d love for
you to do is go visit my website and and
tell me something that you like you know
did you like something that I posted on
Twitter recently are you following me on
Facebook just show me that you actually
took two minutes out of your day before
applying to this job to actually look in
to the business that you were applying
to right sharing something like that
making it personal maybe telling me a
story about how entrepreneurship is
important to you or your family or your
dreams something related to my business
even just you saying believe in your
question makes me feel like you’re more
of an avid viewer of my videos like you
watch some of my videos you know that’s
what I stand for and so I feel more
connected to you already so you want to
do that
I call it wow in your customers but your
bear like that’s bare-bones minimum
stuff right look at the website of the
company that you’re applying to and find
one little thing that you can talk about
but yet almost nobody does it it’s mind
blowing and so that’s those are some
easy ways to stand out on oDesk against
everybody else and get the job now the
last thing for me is before I hire
somebody I usually do a series of test
projects so I’ll hire a bunch of people
again I don’t care about what your
resume looks like I don’t care any of
that stuff I want to see performance so
I hire a bunch of people to do the same
job a paid job maybe you know five hours
and you know edit this video or do this
market research something that they were
actually doing for me and then I see you
know what’s the quality of their work
you know are you doing a good job with
what I gave you with the results are you
milking me for the full five hours or if
you’re done in three you stop it at
three right someone who is doing the
full five hours it’s like you know what
you’re just milking me for those hours
you know I don’t trust you I
so I’m not gonna give you the job and
you know again are you reliable are you
responding to me quickly and am i happy
with our working relationship and I can
usually figure out after a small project
who are the five eight ten people that I
hired I want to give the full-time job
to so that’s where you can really over
deliver like crazy really while your
customers a quick example for so this is
Christina who edits my videos hey
Christina she’s watching when I hired my
video editor I forget how many people I
hired eight ten twelve fifteen it was a
lot of people and I said here’s a video
make it special make it look good and I
gave some clear guidelines and then I
also said you know do whatever you want
with it add something add some flair to
it if you want and Christina was the
only one who really made it special she
didn’t just do what I asked her to do
she also added her own touch to it and I
was so impressed that okay you know what
Christina got the job everybody else
forget about right so you really want to
make sure you’re over delivering because
it’s not gonna help you land your first
job it’s gonna help you get great you
know five star review it’s gonna help
more deals come from the same client
right it’s going to leave great
testimonials you’re going to get more
budget right so really once you get that
opportunity you want to wow your
customers as much as possible
so those are my tips for how to stand
out and be an attractive freelancer on
oDesk believe for those of you guys
watching like the video you can support
me by clicking on the link in the
description if you have questions let me
know leave a comment underneath I love
seeing your questions come in and you
can click on my face subscribe to the
channel thank you so much I’ll see you
soon
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