Who knew?
When I began my little foray into the freelance job market last April, I did my research and chose two websites on which to set up shop. I created my profile, filled out the required forms, put together a portfolio, took some skill tests, and then began applying for jobs. I'm not one to make more work for myself than necessary, so my profile and portfolio are the same on each site. Thank goodness for copy-and-paste.
On Site #1, I got the first job I applied for! It was awesome! I did the work, got paid, and began to build my collection of work hours, positive feedback, and high reviews. In fact, my work on Site #1 has remained fairly consistent, with the exception of my afore-mentioned Era of the Sleep-Deprived Zombie, during which I wasn't looking for new work at all.
Site #2, however, has been an altogether different kettle of fish, and after six months of applying for jobs, I have yet to be hired. All I have to show for it is a string of closed jobs that have been "awarded to another". Sometimes they give you a reason, sometimes they don't. Once, I was informed: "Contractor's bid was too low." (What??? You didn't hire me because you wanted me to charge you more money???) Another time it was, "Contractor did not provide enough information." In that case, I got brave and re-applied (they let you revise your proposal, if you so desire), asking the client to let me know what additional information he was looking for, since I knew I had addressed every requirement in the job posting. Within an hour, I was declined again for the exact same reason. All righty, then. I'm confused, but I take the hint and move on.
Now, I'm stumped. There are a few minor differences between the two Sites, but the biggest one that I've noticed is that Site #1 lumps its editing/proofreading jobs in with other writing categories, so they might be a little harder to find. The most sought-after jobs, like fiction editing, may accumulate as many as 40 applicants after they've been posted for several days. Site #2, however, has a specific category for editing and proofreading, so every job gets anywhere from 20 to 50 applicants within the first 12 hours of being posted. How do you stand out in a crowd like that? I've studied advice from the veterans and examined other profiles, and still don't see any glaring differences between mine and theirs, but these are the main points that I've been able to come up with:
- Describe, describe, describe! As an English teacher, I would call this "elaboration". Describe your experience, your education, your work ethic, and especially any mad skillz you happen to possess! (Please, don't spell skills with a "z" in your profile...) Be specific, but not wordy. Be professional and personable.
- Pictures in your portfolio are cool. Document thumbnails are not all that exciting, but when I finally realized that some of the books I had edited were actually being sold on Amazon, with covers and everything, I was actually able to upload the pictures of the book covers along with the link to the book (I love Amazon's Click to Look Inside feature!), and now I can say I have a much prettier portfolio.
- Chose only the most brilliant, shining examples of your work for your portfolio. If it's not great, it's not worth using it just to pad your pile of work. Also, PDF files are the way to go for providing work samples in your portfolio. Apparently, not everyone can open a .docx file (again, who knew?), but PDF is pretty universal.
- The early bird gets the worm! Or, at least, gets more consideration. This is pure assumption on my part, but it stands to reason that the faster you move on something, the more favorable it looks to the person whose job it is to pick you. Just sayin'. That, and the idea that the earlier you apply, the smaller the crowd of applicants and the better chance you'll have of being noticed.
So.... these are the things that I have re-evaluated about myself and my game plan. And suddenly, since I began planning and writing this blog post, I'VE GOTTEN A JOB ON SITE #2!! Awesome. Still a long way to go to before calling it a career, but it's a start. Of course, it didn't hurt at all that there were only 4 applicants for this one. See? Sometimes, all it takes is sending in the right proposal at the right time. Or, as I like to call it, pure Divine Intervention...
I love the story behind this song - Sly Stallone himself called up the band and asked them to write a song for his movie (Rocky III) because he couldn't use Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust". They asked if they could watch the movie to get some inspiration, and though he was hesitant at first, he finally allowed them a sneak peek. They caught the phrase "the eye of the tiger" in the dialogue, and the whole song was finished in an hour and a half.
# of proofreads: 22
# of edits: 39
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