How To Get Jobs on Upwork With No Experience

These days, people can find various freelance jobs on websites like Upwork. The list of jobs on Upwork is extensive. However, experience is a key point in any freelancing gig. Someone with no experience tends to be pushed to the last resort by potential employers.

It does not mean that someone with no experience will not be able to find jobs on the website, though. There are certain things to do to make someone look more appealing on Upwork despite having no experience. That way, a freelancer can build experience by working on real jobs.

Getting to Know the System

It would be difficult to get jobs on Upwork without knowing how this site works. Upwork is basically a website that compiles offers for freelance jobs for professional workers. These workers tend to have experience in marketing, designing, website development, and so on.

There are certain benefits that an aspiring freelancer with experience (and no experience) can gain while searching for jobs on Upwork. Here are some of those benefits:

1. Opportunities to Get Jobs from Varied Customers

A new freelancer with local experience tends to interact with homogenous types of customers. However, if the person utilizes Upwork as a tool to search for jobs, there will be more opportunities to meet new people. It is because Upwork is used worldwide by people who have jobs to offer.

2. Safe Transaction

Another thing that makes Upwork a nice place is its safe transaction. A freelancer does not need to give their account number to a customer and risk a scam. Upwork will take care of payments and possible conflicts that occur for all of the jobs on Upwork.

Of course, this comfortable system comes with a price. When working on jobs on Upwork, you should be ready to get a 20% cut for all transactions under $10,000. However, for a freelancer with minimum experience, Upwork is still a great place to open up more opportunities.

3. Building Experience on One's Niche

An important thing about being a gig worker dedicated to freelance jobs is experience. Somebody with no experience at all will not survive in this gig economy. Upwork provides a chance for less experienced job seekers to meet more opportunities.

As time goes by, this person will have many jobs under their belt. This list enables the freelancer to obtain more jobs in the future. Additionally, jobs on Upwork for people with more experience will be priced higher.

4. Quick Income Source

When you are in need of money but having no experience, it would be very difficult. However, since Upwork caters to varied clients, there will be jobs on Upwork that do not require a higher set of experience. Anyone will be able to obtain money through Upwork as long as they make an effort.

5. Chances to Learn New Things

You might be interested in learning new skills. Learning through projects would be the best way to do it. Upwork enables this learning process as it accommodates job seekers without prior experience in certain niches. The pay for jobs on Upwork like this would be lower, but it is worth doing.

Strategies to Start Doing Freelance Gigs on Upwork

Every freelancer has their own way of earning jobs. Being very strategic about job seeking is important, especially for people without prior experience. The following strategies can be applied when someone is looking for jobs on the Upwork website:

1. Paying Attention to Upwork User Profile

The first thing that potential employers would see is one's Upwork profile. Someone whose Upwork profile does not provide enough information for the employers is not likely to get jobs. Therefore, the person needs to fill in the information as detailed as possible.

• Writing down detailed information related to job experience on the profile.
• Using a professional profile picture.
• Informing quotations for jobs that the person can handle.
• Presenting portfolio in an interesting manner.

The freelancer needs to be ready to continuously update their profile. Certain profiles tend to attract more jobs than others. Sometimes this cannot be predicted. Therefore, it would be best to see how the market prefers one's experience to be displayed.

2. Choosing Smaller Gigs at the Beginning

Being ambitious is admirable. However, with no experience, it would be difficult for someone to find jobs on Upwork that are designed for experts. Therefore, it is recommended to look for smaller jobs when you just get started.

This is a chance for the freelancer to gain experience at their chosen path. Of course, the pay for jobs on Upwork that require no experience will be significantly lower. During your first few weeks, it is impossible to expect to gain a large sum of money. The jobs only range from $20 to $50.

The process takes time, but as you slowly gain experience in the field, employers will start to notice your skill. Opportunities for jobs on Upwork that offer large payments will be more abundant. At that point, you can start to rely on freelance jobs fully.

3. Sending Proposals to Clients

Because there are other freelancers with similar levels of experience looking for jobs, it is important to reach out to potential clients first. In the beginning, you should browse through offers on Upwork and start sending proposals. Employers would at least be aware of your service that way.

Standard-looking proposals will not grant freelancers the jobs that they want. They need to tailor their proposals on Upwork so that their experience and talent would be palpable and attractive. The followings are some tips to make proposals look attractive:

• Personalize proposals according to the jobs being applied instead of using templates.
• Present work experience that is relevant to the project.
• Show relevant portfolio to the employers.
• Present the employers with transparent pricing.

However, it is recommended not to disclose all of your selling points on Upwork to get jobs. Some people actually get a higher chance of obtaining jobs on Upwork by starting small conversations with employers. From the conversation, there would be a discussion about the experience, pricing, et cetera.

4. Doing Well on Interviews

Although Upwork is designed to accommodate freelancers, there are employers that may conduct conventional hiring protocols before giving the jobs. The protocols often include interviews. Doing well on these interviews is very important for your further Upwork career.

Usually, interviews are done for candidates with prior job experience or if the jobs being offered are particularly competitive. The pay is commonly high too. Therefore, you would want to present your skills and experience in the best manner during the interviews.

In order to make your experience more palpable and potential employers attracted to hire you even with no experience for the jobs, use the following tips:

• Conduct research for each potential client so that you can cater better to them during the interview.
• Be accommodating but remain frank about your capability and boundaries related to the jobs.
• Present clients with targets for the jobs on Upwork being offered.

• A working laptop or computer.
• An HD webcam.
• High-quality headphones with built-in microphones.

Since Upwork jobs tend to happen within specific time constraints, it is likely that a satisfied employer would hire freelancers on the spot. Therefore, if your experience and expertise match the potential client's expectations, it is alright to ask them to do closing immediately.

5. Being Attentive Towards Job Invites

Once a freelancer with no experience takes small jobs within the Upwork listing, their portfolio experience will grow. Freelancers will start to receive invitations for jobs on Upwork in their inboxes. When someone has reached this level, gaining jobs becomes a lot easier.

However, it is important to be attentive towards offerings in the Upwork inbox. Here are some tips that you can exercise as your experience with Upwork progress:

• Check whether the offers are relevant to your experience.
• Check the price offerings to see whether the clients match your expectations.
• Respond promptly and politely to all of the messages.

Those tips are pretty relevant as there are many freelancers with no experience who take on jobs on Upwork that do not match their skill set. 

This situation often leads to bad reviews on one's Upwork profile. That would discourage potential employers from giving you offers in the future.

6. Aiming to Get Positive Reviews on Jobs on Upwork

This point is linked to the previous one. A freelancer should aim to receive positive reviews on all Upwork jobs that they have taken. There is no going around this except to work as best as you can on them. Experience plays a great role, but someone with no experience can still get positive reviews.

Here are some pointers to receive positive reviews on Upwork whether you have experience or no experience:

• Perform the tasks as best as possible.
• Finish all tasks in a timely manner, preferably before the deadlines.
• Cater to Upwork client's requests as accurately as possible, as long as they make sense.
• Treat clients with the highest respect.
• Communicate with clients consistently.

Someone with a long Upwork experience would even take projects that are below their usual range in order to receive positive reviews. In this case, it would be better to communicate with clients about requesting reviews in exchange for reduced pricing. Clients usually do not mind it.

Additional Tips to Gain More on Upwork

Everyone wants to be successful through jobs on Upwork. Nonetheless, because it is a highly competitive place, not all freelancers can achieve that. However, the following tips may help you to succeed in Upwork, with experience or no experience:

1. Choosing the Right Clients

Although freelancers, especially the ones with no experience, desperately want jobs, choosing the right clients remains important. Some clients might not be as desirable to work with as others. Here are some problems that people on Upwork may experience related to the clients:

• Clients are very demanding about the projects and constantly contact the freelancers.
• Clients do not adhere to the payment systems that have been agreed upon.
• Clients leave bad experience reviews on the freelancer's profile without specific reasons.

Of course, there are things to do to avoid this bad client experience. Before taking jobs on Upwork, check on each client's profile. See their project history and check their reviews on previous freelancers. You should avoid jobs from clients who only give bad experience reviews.

If you have little to no experience on Upwork, networking with fellow freelancers would be helpful. These people may help you navigate through the website so you can avoid any unpleasant clients. It is also a great way to enhance skills.

2. Being Very Accessible and Accommodating

People would be more interested in offering jobs to freelancers who accommodate their needs. At the very least, the person should be able to deliver the job on time. For a freelancer with no experience, this is the ultimate working standard to start a career as an Upwork freelancer.

Another thing to be mindful of is offering access to contact you. In many jobs on Upwork, clients would want to work with people with the awareness that the jobs are important for them. To give a client the best experience, the freelancer should answer emails in a prompt manner.

Additionally, for a non-experience freelancer, being accommodating is a way to gain positive Upwork reviews. Accommodating means answering the client's requests as best as possible. That way, the results of the jobs would cater to their preferences better.

3. Utilizing Tracking App by Upwork

Upwork is equipped with a tracking feature to monitor projects on the website. This feature enables users (both employer and freelancer) to track the progress of each project. Because of that, the project experience will become smooth and timely.

However, that is not the only benefit offered by this Upwork feature. Payments for the jobs on Upwork monitored. This is done to protect the employers and executors of the jobs. 

If there is a dispute that arises, problem-solving becomes a lot easier. Everyone will have a safe experience.

4. Applying to Jobs with Clear Job Desk

As stated previously, being selective about jobs is important regardless if you have experience or no experience. It is not only avoiding fussy Upwork clients. Certain jobs on Upwork might need to be avoided based on the available job description.

There are some postings of jobs on Upwork that may only display a few words with no further explanation, such as the experience needed or the specifications of the project. 

The employers may not even have Upwork ratings. Freelancers with no experience need to avoid unclear listings like this.

Can a Person Grow Through Freelance Jobs on Upwork?

Many people are skeptical about working freelance jobs. This system seems to be quite volatile as someone cannot predict whether they will obtain jobs or not. Even with experience, it is still precarious work. Add to the worry if someone has no experience before jumping into this realm.

Upwork would be a great starting point for people who are interested in the gig economy system. Through this system, people would be able to find various projects. Jobs on Upwork cater to people with experience and those with no experience. Everyone can make money here.

There are certain benefits that someone would gain from doing freelance jobs. Here are some of them:

• The worker would be able to control their workload by taking on jobs according to their wish.
• There is better flexibility with time as the worker can take on jobs whenever they want.
• The person gets more exposure to experience that they will not gain in a conventional work setting.
• There is a better sense of independence for the workers because they do not need to follow the lead of others.
• For someone with high experience, the jobs might be more lucrative than working in a regular office.
• Someone with no experience can still gain money through freelance jobs and at the same time building their experience and skill set.

Without a doubt, there are some downsides that make people contemplate doing Upwork jobs full time. There is less security for freelancers. Freelancers also do not receive benefits from jobs on Upwork as they are paid-per-project. There are also complicated tax issues to deal with.

These people also need to adapt to sporadic timing. To make sure that you adhere to the deadlines for all jobs, being very organized is the key. There are features that can help with this particular issue. Your experience there would be very fun.

Freelancing on Upwork is a starting point to dive deep into freelance jobs due to the following points:

• Varied jobs are presented in its listing.
• Upwork caters to users worldwide, so more exposure and experience with diverse clientele for the job seekers.
• It has a safe system for the workers with experience or with no experience.
• It accommodates someone with little to no experience working in their fields.

Final Words

People can definitely grow from jobs that they find on Upwork. Starting from zero without using a portal like this is difficult as you will not be able to connect to clients. Upwork makes the process easy for you. Once you have gained experience, you can decide whether to stay or not.