How to get approved for Upwork profile
Every new year presents itself as a more difficult challenge for freelancers. Why?
Well, there are more freelancers who’re joining the freelance race. The competition is simply overwhelming. The freelance landscape is changing too.
Upwork is one of the best freelancing site and a good starting point for freelancers looking for clients. But they have also denied freelancer with a profile on Upwork. Many of my blog readers had troubles getting their Upwork profile approved on Upwork.
So how to get your Upwork profile approved on Upwork? Is there anything that needs to be done differently?
Why is Upwork Rejecting Profiles?
Upwork is one of the top freelancing sites. So it is quite apparent everyone looking to be a freelancer is making an account on Upwork.
So they are rejecting profiles of such freelancers who aren’t adding any value to the Upwork marketplace. It is for the betterment of the other freelancers who are serious about being a freelancer.
So if your profile gets rejected, it means you are trying to be yet another freelancer with similar expertise.
How to Get Upwork Profile Approved
1. Use Authentic Personal Data
Authenticity and transparency are very important to Upwork in order to filter spam and bots. The platform obviously doesn’t want a reputation of having scammy freelancers. So, your profile will be automatically rejected should your personal data be deemed inappropriate or inauthentic.
- Use your real name instead of pet names.
- When uploading a profile picture, ensure it’s a picture of yourself and not celebrities, pets, abstract objects and the likes.
- Use your real email address, phone number, and address.
In most cases, Upwork support will use a couple of ways to authenticate the information you provide. You may be asked to provide your government issued identification card, a utility bill or receive a phone call via the provided phone number.
2. Tell Upwork EVERYTHING you can do
If too many freelancers are applying for the same types of jobs, it can put a strain on the market. To preempt this, Upwork may reject your profile on the grounds that there aren’t enough opportunities for the combination of skills and work categories you chose.
One way to prevent this from happening is to give Upwork as much information about your capabilities as possible to show you’re open to doing different types of work. This way, they can evaluate your profile against a larger pool of potential jobs.
3. Write a Better Job Title
Upwork gives more preference to the job title, but often freelancers get it wrong. It isn’t the position of the company or the job title printed on the visiting card.A job title like “Project manager” or “Team Leader” can mean your profile is sure to get rejected on Upwork.
Try to provide a Job title to describe your expertise in one single sentence. It should neither be too generic nor too specific.
4. Never choose just one work subcategory
After you choose a service, Upwork will ask you which “types of work” you’re able to do. The more of these you choose (up to 4 max), the more jobs you’re telling Upwork you’re likely to do.
You don’t need to have an ounce of professional freelancing experience to choose these. If you see something you can do, let Upwork know.
Keep in mind, a lot of job types overlap which can make it even easier to find relevant options.
5. Add Portfolio / Project
Add every project you have worked in the past that you can share your work with your portfolio.Though the skills part of the project is optional, make sure you add all the skills used in the project. It is the skills you have will define how unique they are in the Upwork marketplace.
6. Add Education and Certifications
We all have some level of education. So it is always better to add all our education details.Or if you have any additional certification, please add them to certifications.
Or if you have taken any course on Udemy, you can add them either under certification or under other experience levels.
7. Add Relevant Experience
In addition to categories and skills, Upwork asks you to select one of three experience levels.As you browse jobs, you can actually see the number of jobs available for each experience level.
In most cases people undersell their experience. Just because You don’t have freelancing experience doesn’t mean you don’t have any experience at all.
If you’ve held a relevant job with a traditional employer, you should probably choose “intermediate” or “expert” — even if this is your first foray into freelancing.
8. Find a client to hire you
Upwork has a program called “Bring Your Own Freelancer” (BYOF) that allows clients to directly hire freelancers that are not currently on Upwork.
If you know someone who wants to hire you, you can request them to hire you via Upwork. If someone wants to hire you, it proves to Upwork that your skills are valuable.
When the client hires you, you will receive an email with the client’s contract terms. Your profile will automatically be activated once you accept the invitation to join the client’s team.