The proposal which landed me on my first job | Upwork | Freelancing

There’s a high chance that a good proposal can get you a job. By saying that, I don’t mean that the other factors aren’t accountable to get hired.

For some basics of getting started with freelancing, please check out: Work Remotely Earn More | Land on your first job

And come back later to this out. 😉

Several other factors come to be important for the client but, only after they are interested in your proposal. Because proposal is what they see first.

Before I share my proposal with you, let me tell you, to the best of my knowledge, the things that a client seeks in you as they see your proposal.

1. You’ve understood the job description, every part of it
2. You qualify with all the requirements that the client is looking for
3. Your confidence to take the role seriously with the right enthusiasm

Now, the important thing to consider is, even if your proposal is perfect you may not be hired or not even be asked for the interview. Let me tell you why:

1. The job may be posted a long time ago
2. The client may be already interviewing someone he/she is interested in
3. The client may not need more than ONE freelancer

Upwork is very transparent in showing all the stages of the job hiring process. Make sure to check the following before you apply for the job.

1. Time of the job posted (better if less than 10-15 mins)
2. No. of proposals: Less than 5
3. Interviewing: 0
4. Invites sent: 0

If you see the job post, everything looks good and you want to apply for the job, then make sure that you:

1. Read entire job description quickly and keep the key requirements in mind
2. Can take the role and can do the job without any confusions
3. Agree to understand or take the training (if the job role is for Beginner level) from the client, if required
4. Write the proposal and make sure to include the keywords from the requirements and show your confidence that you can fulfill them
5. Bid for less. If the job is posted for a fixed price (say $50), then don’t bid more than that. Try lesser. May be ($20-$30) if you can. If it has an hourly rate, say $(6-8)/hr, try $5/hr if you can.
6. Don’t hesitate to mention that you want to land on your first job and that’s why you’re bidding for less. Honesty is the best policy. 😉
7. Don’t delay much in proofreading and submitting your proposal

Some recruiters come and check the proposals, a day later and then go through all of them to pick and go with the better one.

In such a case, being quick won’t be necessary.

But, some recruiters also try to hire as quickly as possible. In that case, delaying might cost.

If you’ve already have signed up on upwork.com then, you might probably already know that submitting the proposal is not for free. You have to buy connects if you run out of them.

You only get 20 connects for free to submit the proposals. The proposals may cost 1 to 6 connects.

Don’t waste your connects on some experiments if you are not trying your best to write the proposal.

Some other factors:

Should I write a long proposal to get hired?

Writing a very long proposal may not be necessary.

Too long proposals can be boring to read.

What is the correct length of the proposal?

I don’t think that one specific length applies to all types of proposals.

There are many freelancers, who have got the job by writing just one sentence and some of them by properly describing in a paragraph.

There are a broad range of examples and the job description can be the determining factor of how long the proposal should be.

So, here’s the first proposal that that got me hired for the first time on Upwork.

For the job:

Well, I don’t consider myself as a good writer in English. But, it works sometimes. I mean, look at the proposal. When I see this, I feel like anyone could write better than this.

I wish you can land on your first job soon. Please let me know if you need any help regarding freelancing. I’d be happy to share my ideas.

If you had better experiences with submitting the proposal, then please do share.

I earned $600+ until my third week. I wish you earn hell lot more.

Happy freelancing!