oDesk Provider Spotlight – April 2010

Have you changed your life by becoming an oDesk provider?

Share your challenges and triumphs here!

Top Posts

Affiliate Referral Program

When your luck runs out, try a few new tricks.

There are thousands of jobs posted on oDesk, and hiring remote providers is more popular than ever — yet you’ve hit a dry spell. You’re not finding the jobs that are right for you, or you’re not getting the ones you go after. Are your stars out of alignment? Did someone put a curse on you? Before consulting a psychic, you should read our recent blog post, “10 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Work.” It has a lot of links to good resources, but here are some highlights:

• Your profile picture is working against you. Face up to your shortcomings: If your picture is blurry, grainy, too sour-faced or too “sexy,” you’re driving away prospective employers.
• Your language skills hold you back. Whether you’re communicating in your first language or your third, you need to make sure that your grammar and spelling are solid. Use spell-check, and read our full post for a helpful link to common grammar mistakes.
• Your rates are wrong. If you’re charging too much, you’re driving clients away. If you charge too little, they won’t have faith in your skills. We’ll show you information that will help you set your rate right.
• You’re seeking the wrong jobs. Do you have a portfolio and resume that show you can handle the jobs you’re seeking? Are you translating your skills into the right job opportunities, and do your profiles and cover letters tell that story?

You already know that making it as a freelance provider is more than just putting yourself out there, but sometimes you can lose track of some key details. Read our blog post to give a fresh look to your freelance career… and skip the fortune tellers.

Your New Home on oDesk

We’ve been tweaking our new user Home, your easy-to-use, all-purpose dashboard—next time you log in, take a look around. You’ll get an overview of your oDesk life, including modules for Notifications, My Teams, Payments and My Job Applications. From there, you can dig deeper for more information. Check it out today, and let us know how you like it!

Site Navigation Update

The new user Home is only part of our continuing evolution. We streamlined our site navigation so that you can click “home” from any page on the site (once you’ve logged in, of course). We’ve made the username dropdown menu more focused and retooled the Message Center. Account Alerts and Updates are now integrated into the Notifications section, and the indicator next to Messages tells you how many unread messages you’ve got.

	Deepa G (Affiliated with Deepa’s) Blog Consultant – Zoho Creator Apps developer- Science post grad-eComAsst Total oDesk Hours: 448 Overall Feedback: 4.97 (Based on 16 feedbacks) Comments: Deepa has done an excellent job and has proved to be an outstanding professional… excellent communication skills, very detailed in explaining what she had done, why and what she was about to do.
	Alexander G Python, C, JavaScript, Web, MySQL, PostgresSQL, Linux, FreeBSD Total oDesk Hours: 1,541 Overall Feedback: 4.85 (Based on 2 feedbacks) Comments: Sasha is quite simply one of the most talented programmers and thinkers I have ever had the pleasure to work with. I consider him one of the smartest people I know and would recommend him to anyone out there.
	Stephanie S Creative & Professional Graphic / Web designer Total oDesk Hours: 105 Overall Feedback: 4.93 (Based on 31 feedbacks) Comments: Stephanie’s skills are unbelievable. She is very patient and goes the extra mile to complete the task. I am already working out our next project!
	Georg S J2ME / BlackBerry / Android / iPhone Developer Total oDesk Hours: 1,927 Overall Feedback: 4.94 (Based on 30 feedbacks) Comments: Georg is a joy to work with – highly capable, responsive, and proactive. Hire him.