Jumpstart Your oDesk Success

Like I told a potential provider verifying oDesk's credibility over at Twitter, oDesk is not a scam. It's exactly what it says it is--a marketplace for Buyers looking for cost-efficient but highly effective talent and accomplished Providers eschewing the more routine 9-5 rat race.

Currently there are about 344,705 worker ants from 150+ countries scurrying within its oConomy but it's a growing community so as I write this, that number have already ticked upwards. The estimated value of all jobs posted to date is at a staggering 285+ MILLION dollars! The real-time counter pegs the dollar value earned at more than 98 million.

The good news is, you won't have to deal with the hassle of billing your Buyer and then agonizing over the possibility that they won't pay. oDesk has a built-in infrastructure that automates the whole payroll process so that you'll have the liberty to do what you do best-your expertise.

More good news: oDesk also has a mechanism for settling disputes (for example, on logged hours) between you and your Buyer so it's all fair and square. (Though I hope you won't have to go through that, ever.)

On oDesk, you do get paid; none of that "perhaps" fear. I'm living proof of that. To date, I've earned more than $1,200 since my debut in March. That's money in the bank, some of which I've already spent getting my own domain name. ;)

I'm talking about your personal branding. On oDesk, that's your Profile Page. That single page is where you can trumpet what you can (and sometimes, can't) do. It's an overview page that provides Buyers a snapshot of you. And I'm not just talking about the photograph you uploaded, which is optional by the way.

Your Profile Page can't lie. It not only gives a general idea of your knowledge and skill sets, it also has your whole oDesk work history summarized-paid hours, past and present assignments, buyer feedbacks, and earnings to date. It's automated and managed by oDesk so you can't, er, tweak these.

It's the one page you can't rush. You need to list down all the skills, experiences, and knowledge that you're most proficient in. But you need to focus-align it with your Title, the "single description of your professional skills."

One unsolicited advice: highlight those competencies that you'd be most confident doing initially, but also include those skills that you're familiar with but could improve on over time.

I spent a month on my Profile Page, highlighting the experiences, skills and other smarties that my niche of buyers would be looking for. I tout myself as a "Virtual Assistant, Researcher, Writer" so I've chosen to highlight such skills as business correspondence, technical writing, editing, desktop publishing, Internet research, office administration, etc.

I don't mean pad your portfolio with irrelevant personal fluff like angst-ridden blog posts (except when they're really brilliant personal essays) and ellipsis-riddled forum discourses that you've done or made on the Internet (or off it, for that matter). I mean the professional work you have accomplished in the real world, on the Net, and later, on oDesk.

Your portfolio is a testament to the work you've done and your personal Facebook account with that bikini'd profile picture is NOT the thing to put in there.

Besides the curriculum vitae and the work history, your Portfolio will be the Buyer's gauge if you're suited to the job you're applying for.

Another unsolicited advice: set up a personal blog or website that aggregates all the content and websites you have that's all over cyberspace. Especially for writers like me, there's Wordpress and Blogger for this-totally free to set up and, to an extent, tweak to your preferences. (And, of course, there's our very own Squidoo where you can make several lenses, consolidate them in one lens, and best of all, EARN $$!)

Like I said, I spent a month spiffifying my profile-which may be an inordinate amount of time for some-but enough time for me to consolidate all my print and online writing samples into one portfolio website that I point my Buyers to whenever I apply for a work opportunity.

And it's paid off on the long term. So far, I've been fortunate enough to snag a long-term job with a wonderful Buyer from whom I'm learning a lot. More important, Buyers have been inviting me to interviews (read: headhunting!).

Interestingly, my turn-around time is about half a day--that's how long it takes a Buyer to respond from the instant I clicked "Apply". Neat, huh?

The smart brains behind oDesk came up with the perfect counterpoint to the Profile Page: the skills certification system.

After passing the oDesk Readiness Test, if you want to get hired-or even interviewed-you'll have to substantiate your claims that you're The Greatest SEO Writer Ever.

Your portfolio and buyer testimonials are two means by which you can establish that. But that's only for when you've been working with oDesk for some time already.

The quickest way for a newbie to establish credibility is still the Qualifications Tests through which oDesk affirms the capabilities you said you had through certification exams.

There are about 272 tests available on oDesk, on such diverse areas as writing, editing, office skills, web design, internet programming, marketing, technologies, networking, accounting, and languages, among others. You name it, they probably have it. The list is exhaustive so you won't have a dearth of ways to prove your competence.

Don't sweat it though if you get an F the first time. You can retake the exams an nth number of times, though you'll have to wait 30 days to strike it out of your records. Plus, you can also hide a not-so-stellar rating by choosing to make it private.

Of course, nothing can replace acing a certification exam on the first take. (You get those spiffy medal icons on your Overview Page that draws the Buyer's eyes all the time.) Still and all, preparation is the watch word so be sure you're primed when you do take an exam.

After you've polished your profile page, refined your portfolio, and passed the appropriate certifications, don't go scouring for jobs straight away. Explore the oDesk universe first to know what works and what doesn't.

1. Introduce yourself to the community and interact with everyone.

Like SquidU, there's the Coffee Break Page where newbies can introduce themselves and interface with other providers (newbies and oldtimers alike), oDesk regulars, and buyers.

The forums will provide not only practical advice from other oDesk peeps, it's also a way to learn from the experiences of other worker ants in the oDesk nest. For example, although oDesk deals with scammers with amazing speed, there are some who manage to slip in through the cracks for a wee time. Other providers' experiences will help you identify these ne'er-do-well's red flags so you can avoid them while the oDesk police hasn't caught them yet.

2. Read the oDesk blog.

The official blog alerts you to anything and everything that's going on in the oDesk universe. Read the posts because that's one of the ways you can advance yourself in the community.

After combing through these pages, I started gaining confidence and the certainty that I can and will thrive beautifully in the oDesk universe. After all, there've been other newbies who've gone ahead of me and have succeeded so why shouldn't I? So, armed with that conviction, I applied for my first job.