So how and when exactly do you get paid after you’ve bagged a job in oDesk?

Whether you’re hired for an hourly or fixed price job, clients will send their payments to your oDesk account. If the client has already verified his payment account, the process becomes almost automatic (particularly for hourly-based jobs).  On your Transactions History page (under the Wallet tab), oDesk gives a detailed information of all your earnings.

Balance refers to the payment already credited in your account. Pending transactions are payments that are already approved by the client but are not yet transferred to your account. On this page, you’ll also see the weekly breakdown of the most recent payments for each employer (if you work for more than one) and an archive of your previous transactions and payment history.

For new members, sometimes the bigger concern is not getting paid but getting your money from your oDesk account.

As mentioned before, oDesk provides 6 options to withdraw your earnings. These are via Local Fund Transfer, Payoneer Debit Card, Skrill (formerly Moneybookers), PayPal, Direct Deposit/ACH and Wire Transfer.

Here’s a summary of oDesk transaction fees for each method:

• Local Fund Transfer: $0.99 per withdrawal
• Payoneer Debit Card: $2 per withdrawal
• Skrill: $1 per withdrawal
• PayPal: $1 per withdrawal
• Direct Deposit/ACH: Free but for US-based contractors only
• Wire Transfer: $30 per withdrawal

Payment for an oDesk hourly job is guaranteed but it’s not instantaneous. To better understand this, let’s look at the oDesk hourly week calendar:

The hourly work week starts every Monday at 00:00 GMT (Click here to know what time it will be in your time zone) and ends Sunday at 23:59 GMT. On the following day (Monday of the next work week), you will receive a notification from oDesk reminding  you to check your time log. This could mean adding offline hours that you worked on and/or removing idle time from your workdiary.

At 12:00 GMT of the same day, whether you check you time log or not, the final time log will be sent to the client/s for review. He/She/They will be given until Thursday 23:59 GMT to go over and check the time log, approve or reject offline time added or dispute idle hours logged.

During this time, you will see a Pending Credit amount displayed on your Financial Activity page. After the review period, Friday 00:00 GMT, you client/s will be charged with the corresponding amount. However, this will not be credited immediately to your account. You will now enter what oDesk refers to as the security period.

What is the security period?

To accelerate the payment process while continuing to offer our Provider Payment Guarantee, we are enforcing a 6-day Security Period on all transactions. This enables us to perform some security checks to identify suspicious transactions and maintain the integrity and security of the marketplace for all buyers and providers.

This means that if the client’s credit card is charged on Thursday, the amount will reflect on your account on Wednesday of the following week, or 6 days after.

How about for fixed price jobs?

The same goes for fixed-price assignments, except that these are not payment guaranteed and no review period is required. Once you’ve complete the project and the client approves of it, his credit card will be charged of the amount you agreed on. But like in hourly job, you still need to wait for 6 days before the funds will be credited to your oDesk account.

I hope this helps you understand oDesk payment schedule and budget your freelance income appropriately. Fly high freelancer!

Hope this helps you decide which oDesk payment method is available and suitable for you to withdraw and enjoy your hard-earned freelance income. I will post part 2 which will explain the oDesk Payment schedule in the coming days. Check out the 2nd part of this post that discusses about oDesk Payment Schedule.

Fly high freelancer!

Interview Preps

oDesk interviews can be spontaneous and informal or it can also be more structured. Interviews are usually conducted via chat, sometimes through email, or when the job requires to assess the quality of your voice or language proficiency, client would conduct a voice interview. It’s convenient to have a headset with microphone, if your computer doesn’t have these already. Web cam isn’t really necessary, although  I have encountered a client who required me to turn on the web cam while I was taking their required tests (both inside and outside oDesk), perhaps to make sure that I’m the one taking the tests and not somebody else.

Typically, the client would ask for your contact details, especially accounts in any of Yahoo, MSN, Google or Skype so it’s best if you have most of their messenger clients, if not all, installed on your computer and that you have accounts with them.

And because online freelancing is on a global scope, you must also consider the time difference before you agree to any interview schedule. Try to choose a schedule favorable to both the  client and you. But if you can handle an interview at any time of the day (or night), this shouldn’t be a problem.

Interview Proper

As I’ve said, oDesk interview is normally just a casual, chatty type of conversation. Expect the usual interview questions to come up like ‘what are your strengths and weaknesses?’, ‘what skills do you have that you can contribute to the project?’, ‘have you got work experiences related to this field?’, etc. Questions about your availability (especially if the job is for a full-time position), internet connection reliability, softwares and applications compatibility are most likely to be asked also.

I guess, the best way to go about on an oDesk interview is to be honest and confident. If you know a particular skill or application only theoretically, just tell the client. But of course, you can back it up by saying ‘I’m a fast learner and I love to learn new things’.

Some client would prepare a set of tasks to perform during the interview to test your proficiency (which sometimes translate to speed, accuracy and the quality of the work). Others look for some special abilities in analysis, decision-making, planning and other cognitive functioning.

Truth is, what goes on in an oDesk interview will largely depend on the nature of the job that you applied for and on the skills that you can provide. And as one of my clients once told me, ‘Over-deliveries is better than over-promises’, so it’s always smarter to be honest on what you can deliver than to risk on a fib.

If this will be your first online job, then you may have the luxury of accommodating most of his requirements, like if he prefers that you work on specific hours or time of the day. But if you’ve got other job commitments already, make sure that your schedule is clear to him: what time you are available to work and how many hours you can dedicate to the project.

Interview is also the time to talk about payment schemes, but this is usually done towards the end of the conversation. For a guaranteed payment method, oDesk recommends the hourly-based jobs. This is ideal and benefits both client and provider: clients get billed only for the hours that the provider worked on and provider is guaranteed payment for every hour that he rendered work. However, not all jobs are suitable for hourly accounting and in this case, clients would rather pay on a fixed-rate basis. You can sort which is the better payment method during the interview.

Another important thing that should be discussed is your rate. Although you have already placed your bid when you answered the interview invitation, some clients will still ask you for your rate. If this is the case, then you may adjust your original bid to what you think is a fair rate. Consider the hours of work, the nature of the job and if the project is requiring additional skills that are initially not included in the project description. Once, I’ve encountered a client who laid out a different set of job responsibilities (more technical) during interview than the one he had posted in oDesk. It’s okay to make adjustment in such situations as long as it is reasonable and you can justify it.

Interview is over, now what?

Often, the client will let you know if you got the job before the interview ends. If not, he’s probably going to compare the interviews of the other candidates and/or assess the results of his ‘sample tasks’ before officially hiring a provider. If he hires you via oDesk, a notification will be sent to your account.

Don’t sweat it out

In any interviews, impressions are important (at least oDesk takes out the burden of dressing up). But as long as you know what to say and have a lucid understanding of the job, you should be okay. Overall, honesty and confidence are two of the best assests that you can, and should definitely showcase during an oDesk interview.

Fly high freelancers!

Sit Back and Wait Method

This means, after you’ve polished your oDesk  profile, to literally wait for interview invitations. Typically, if you’ve built a good reputation (i.e. has a high feedback), clients will be the ones to initiate the interviews. But even new providers can attract these invitations with no work history or feedback on their credentials.

How to get an Interview Invitation?

In my experience, it’s a combination of skills and qualifications, rate and a shiny profile. Think of it as selling your self. If the client sees you as a person who has a lot to offer for a fair rate, then he will think of you as a good deal and might click that Contact button next to your profile. Having a good feedback is also important, as I’ve said above, because feedback reflects the quality of your work. Actually, interview invitations are easy to come by especially if you’re a seasoned provider with a reasonable rate and a great profile. And of course, a lot of luck helps.

Client-initiated interviews give you a bigger chance of bagging the job because you’ve already earned the client’s attention and interest. He’s less likely to look at other candidates and will focus instead on the ones he has on his interview list.

One handy tip is to reply to the invitation as soon as you can. If he sends you a message and instructions on how to contact him for interview, responding to it immediately will make the impression that you’re really interested in the position and might give you the edge over the other candidates he invited but who replied much later.

Normally, if the client is still online by the time you replied, he’d conduct the interview right away. And if you play your cards right, you can get yourself a new job before the interview ends.

But be suspicious of clients who sent out interview invitations to more than 20 providers in a single day as they are most likely spammers. Spammers are so prevalent in the Internet and oDesk is not spared.

How do I know if I’m invited for an Interview?

A notification will show up on your account  page, under the Job Applications page. Information about the project such as name of the buyer, type of job, and budget/duration is provided. Clicking on either the Job Title or Info link will direct you to more details about the job.

After reviewing the job details, you can choose to accept or decline the interview. Accepting the invitation (by clicking on the Accept button) is like applying for a job, you’ll have to submit your bid and cover letter.

But you may need to create a different cover letter specifically for accepting interview invitation, because when a client invites you, he usually has a message directed to you. This time, a good cover letter is the one that answers all the inquiries that buyer may have in his message. I normally start my cover letter by thanking the buyer, giving a brief introduction about myself and my skills that are relevant to his requirements, then addressing the points or answering the questions in his personal message. It’s also important to include your preferred schedule for interview (times and days that you’re usually available online) and your contact details.

If, however, you decided to turn down the invitation, just click on the Decline button, which will take you to the Decline Interview Invitation page. You are required to state your reason for declining.

Why would I decline an invitation?

Actually, there’s a lot of reasons why someone would decline an invitation for interview. Sometimes, a client will invite you to apply to his job opening, but your skillset and strengths do not fit the qualifications required for the position. Other times,  you just have too much in your hand that you cannot take another job anymore. Or there could be times when you’re just not interested in the project, maybe it’s because the rate is too low or you’re not available on the hours required.

oDesk has a set of common reasons for declining an interview invitation that you can choose from a dropdown menu. There is also an option to a custom message. Normally, I would start by saying thank you to the client for inviting me and stating my reason why I am turning down his invitation. Then, I would end the message by telling him to keep me posted of his future job openings, in case I’m already available by that time. It’s a great way to politely decline the client and might even give you opportunities for work in the future.

Whichever method you decide to use, keep in mind the oDesk limits the number of applications that you can send out. oDesk states how you can increase your job application quota or the number of oDesk jobs you can apply to:

How to increase your job application quota

1. Before you get feedback:

• New contractors can increase their job application quota by taking, passing and posting the oDesk Readiness Test, which will increase it from 2 to 5 applications.
• Taking, passing and posting four or more additional free skills tests after the oRT will increase your quota to 20.
• Contractors can also verify their identity to get five more applications.

2. After you get feedback:

• Once you have a feedback score, it determines your Job Application Quota.
• The better the feedback, the better the quota. A feedback score over 4 will give you 20 applications.
• If you are ID-verified, you get an additional five applications.

Overall, practice patience when applying to oDesk jobs. Good things come to those who wait and persevere. And make sure that you’re not wasting your application on jobs that you don’t really like because the perfect freelance job for you might just be in the works now.

Happy oDesk job hunting and Goodluck!

The Hunt and Apply Method

This is the traditional method in any form of job application, whether online or offline. In oDesk, just click on the Find Work tab and you’ll be given a few job listings that may interest you. You also have the option to search oDesk jobs by keywords or browse all job categories.

Both will bring you to the oDesk jobs list page. Here, more details about each job are given such as job description excerpts, skills required, job type (hourly or fixed-rate), estimated time and budget. You can also filter the jobs according to categories,  job type, workload, duration and even client ratings.

Clicking on a particular job will direct you to the individual job page where more information about the job opening is provided.

Details about the client is shown on the right-hand column of the page. This is important because it gives you pertinent information about the client i.e. if his payment method is already verified by oDesk (sort of a guarantee that he will pay), how many jobs he’s posted, and how his previous providers rate him.  Normally, you’d take one’s job post with a grain of salt if he hasn’t verified his payment method yet and he hasn’t paid anyone before (especially if he had posted many oDesk  jobs already and has been an oDesk member for a considerably long period). But a non-verified payment method is normal for new employers who haven’t properly setup their account yet. So it really depends on your discretion and instinct to weed out the scammers from the true employers.

Applying to new oDesk jobs with less, if not zero, applicants may increase the chances of your application getting noticed. Although, this is not a guarantee, and in general, it really involves a lot of other factors to catch the client’s attention. Rate, skills and your cover letter are a few of them.

If you like the job and are confident that you’re qualified for the position, you can click the Apply button at the  bottom of the page. You’ll need to enter your bid and cover letter in order to submit your application.

How to bid?

Normally, the client will state his expected budget or hourly rate for the project on the job description. You can opt to bid higher than this but you’ll likely to get bumped off the list of suitable candidates, unless you really have exceptional skills that he can’t pass off. Otherwise, you can gauge the right bid based on the other candidates’ rate. Lowering your rate may increase your chances of being noticed, but make sure that you’re not proffering too low a rate that it already seems ridiculous and unfair on your part.

How to write a good cover letter?

Generally, a good cover letter does not have to be too formal, but it must give important details about your qualifications, related work experiences, availability and rate. It’s also wise to mention points discussed in the job description to show the buyer that you’ve actually read and understood the requirements.

Cover letter templates or not?

Ideally, you should avoid using templates for cover letter, especially if you’re applying for a writing job. But if you can’t avoid it, or it’s too much for you to create one every job application (which is what I sometimes feel), you can edit an existing template to suit a particular job.

You might to check out my post on How to Make an Effective Cover Letter.

Once you’ve submitted your cover letter, the client will be notified of your application. If he likes what he sees (your cover letter, profile, skills and rate), he is likely to invite you for an interview and a notification will be sent to your oDesk message inbox.

To be continued: Snag oDesk Jobs: Sit Back and Wait Method

Beef up your oDesk Profile

Remember that what prospective buyers will initially see is your profile, so make sure that it represents the best of you. Your online profile should enumerate all your skills and work experiences, and it doesn’t really matter if they’re relevant to each other or not. Being a freelancer does not box you inside a specific work competency. If you want, you can be both a software developer and a voice talent, so long as you believe that you can hold those positions well.

Another good thing to build up, especially if you’re in the field of web and graphics design, writing, or multimedia, is your portfolio. This gives the buyer a preview of your work and often, they want visual presentations of your skills so they can be sure that they’re hiring the right person for the job.

Also, uploading your picture puts a personal touch on your profile. Be make sure that your profile picture is decent and paints a good image of your personality.

Set up your oDesk Payment Method

Setting up a payment method does not really contribute much to your chances of getting a job, but it’ll save you the hassle of carrying it out when job offers start to kick in and before you wish you had attended to it sooner than later. You don’t want to be in a situation where you’re already earning but you can’t withdraw your money yet because you’ve forgotten this rather important aspect of earning as a freelancer.

As of this writing, oDesk has 6 options that you can choose from, Local Fund Transfer and Paypal being two of the most popular choices. I will discuss these two payment options in another post.

Tests your skills

Another way to boost your profile is to take tests that are relevant to your skills. These tests, like your portfolio, are validations of your familiarity and expertise on the skill, system or application that you’ve included in your profile. Unlike the oDesk Readiness Test, if you fail in one of these tests, it will normally take 30 days before you’re allowed to retake the same test. But don’t worry, it will not immediately reflect on your profile and you will have the option to make the results public or private. Test results are also ranked and your ranking is displayed on your profile if you’ve rated top on a particular test.

For questions/comments, please leave your message below. Happy oDesk job hunting!

1. On the oDesk website, click on the Create an Account button.

2. Choose “I want to find work”.

3. Accomplish a short form, verify your email address (you will have limited access to oDesk until your email address is verified) and proceed to create your profile.

4. You’re not really required to complete your profile, but it is recommended that you do so before applying to any job openings. Your oDesk profile will serve as your resume/CV, which is an important tool that can  help you get the job that you like. You might want to check my posts on How to Create an Effective oDesk Profile and Cover Letter and How to Create a Good Online Resume for some tips.

5. In the past, taking and passing the oDesk Readiness Test is required before you start working as an oDesk provider. But the rules have changed and oDesk Readiness Test is no longer required (but this still depends on employer’s requirement), but passing it will increase you job application quota or the number of job that you can apply to.

What is oDesk Readiness Test?

It’s a set of questions that aims to validate if you’ve already familiarized yourself with oDesk. Unlimited number of retakes are allowed until you pass the test. It doesn’t really measure your skills and capabilities, but only wants to make sure that you’ve understand oDesk’s rules and guidelines.

6. You can start browsing the marketplace. It will be worth your while to study and understand the marketplace in order to determine where your skills fit and which jobs are most suited to you.

7. And once you spot a job or jobs that you want and think you have the qualifications for, you can start applying right away. It’s that easy and it’s completely free.

If you still feel lost, oDesk has a pretty expensive Help page that will most likely answer all your questions.  Or feel free to leave your questions in the comment section below and I’ll try my best to answer those that I know.

What is oDesk?

oDesk is a global service marketplace for small and medium sized business where they can hire, manage, and pay remote freelancers or teams.

Based on my experience and the experiences that I’ve gathered from fellow freelancers, oDesk has been a great help in providing us jobs, whether full-time or project-based, which have been the primary source of our freelance income.

So what’s the advantage of oDesk over the other freelance market sites?

The best approach to online work is the one that creates success for both buyers and providers… the first and only service to guarantee that an hour billed is an hour worked and that an hour worked is an hour paid…[oDesk]

At the time of this writing, oDesk has expanded its community, with close to 200,000 providers and total earning of more than $50 million and is increasing by the second.*

What benefits do I get as a provider of service in oDesk?

• Everything is almost automatic. No need to create your own time sheets and invoices to justify the hours that you worked and the pay that you deserve.
• Payment is guaranteed for every hour that you work (on hourly jobs).
• Flexible hourly rate that you can set based on your skills, experience and reputation.
• No more boring, monotonous jobs. You will never be stuck doing the same job that takes the challenge and excitement out of your life.
• Total freelance freedom experience: work on the jobs that you love anywhere, anytime you want.
• No more work geographic limitations. Apply and work on jobs from all over the world.
• Signup, online profile/resume setup, job applications and interviews are completely FREE.
• Great opportunity for career growth and skill development.

And for the benefit of aspiring freelancers, I have created a guide to starting a freelance career in oDesk and have broke it down into several posts. These posts aim to give you a sneak peak inside the system and also to serve as way points to new oDesk members who are still groping in the dark and working their way into familiarizing with the platform.

Part I: Pre-employment Stage

1. Important Terms
2. oDesk Sign-Up
   
3. 3 Things to Consider Before Applying to oDesk Jobs
   
4. How To Create A Good Online Resume
5. How to Write an Effective oDesk Profile and Cover Letter
6. How to Snag an oDesk Job
7. What to do in an oDesk Interview

Part II: Working and Getting Paid

1. oDesk Hourly Job
   
2. How and When do I get my Freelance income?
3. Payment Schedule
4. 8 Reasons Why You Don’t Have an Online Job Yet

I hope you’ll find all these information helpful and goodluck on your freelance career. Fly high freelancers!

*This is a repost from my old and now defunct website. The stats mentioned was based on the figures seen on the oDesk Oconomy at that time. Similar but not exactly the same facts can be found on the new oDesk Oconomy.

Buyer/Employer/Client is the person or the small firm offering a job.

Provider/Contractor is the person/freelancer offering a service.

Hourly Job refers to the job that is paid by the hour. oDesk guarantees payment for this type of job provided that you’ve downloaded and installed the oDesk Team client application tool.

Most full-time positions are hourly-based. Some clients want to have a fix work schedule (e.g. 8 am – 4 pm). Others are more lenient and will allow you to work at your most convenient time, as long as you complete the required number of hours per day or week and finish the tasks assigned to you.

Fixed-price Job is a type of job paid on a per project basis. You’ll have more freedom with fixed-price jobs because you can literally work on the project at any time of the day and for as long as you cared. But your goal should be to finish it on or before the deadline.

This is  not payment guaranteed as oDesk has no tool to track and monitor the work that you do. Payment setup will depend on what the you and the employer agreed on. If you want, you can request an upfront payment (e.g. 50% of your bid) to, as they say, get the ball rolling. This type of job is rather short-term and often ends as soon as the project is completed.

oDesk Tools or oDesk Team application are small oDesk applications that you can download and install on your computer and are designed to aid in your oDesk assignments. oDesk Team application includes oDesk Time Tracker, the application used for time-logging and verification system of hourly jobs.

For more information about the oDesk Tools click here.

Before I enumerate the reasons, let’s take a look at the oDesk Oconomy. *As of this writing, there are almost half a million providers competing for available positions in oDesk. And there are only about one to two thousand new jobs posted every day. You don’t even have to be good in math to figure it out – there’s just too many online service providers. No wonder that first job is so elusive.

But the ratio of providers to job openings in oDesk has nothing to do with your inability to snag a job.  While it’s true that competition is steep and the market is overly saturated, one fact remains: other people (including myself and my husband) are able to thrive in this arena. And if living off the online income is any indication of a successful freelance online career, then there are a lot of individuals inside and outside of oDesk who are making a living out of this and are reaping success.

“So why in the world can’t I find an online job?” You’re probably asking. Any one or a combination of these following reasons could be the culprit:

1. You’re new and you don’t have a feedback yet. In an online job community like oDesk, reputation is built on the feedback previous employers gave on your performance. It is like a grading system by which potential clients will use to gauge how likely you are to do a good job in the tasks that they will give you. So naturally, if you’re new, you don’t have the advantage of a feedback yet.

2. Your online profile is not selling you and your skills. Being new and having no feedback yet, you will have to rely on other factors to get a job. And one of them is your profile. Think of oDesk as a selling market, and your profile as your sales pitch. And if it doesn’t say much about what you can do and how good you are at what you can do, then employers are least likely to buy it.

3. Your cover letter fails to impress the buyers. There’s more to a cover letter than just stating your interest in the offered position. In fact, if your profile should sell, the cover letter must pre-sell. It must contain information that will entice the client to check out your profile. Check out this previous post on how to write an effective cover letter and profile on oDesk.

4. You have enough skills but others have more. Ah, this is where competition kicks in. You may have an impressive cover letter but when employer checks out your profile, you’ve got nothing to offer but a typing skills of 50 WPM and a dime in a dozen proficiency in MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint. In a tough competitive world that is oDesk, those skills won’t get you anywhere.  You have to expound on your skills but be careful not to  exaggerate to the point of claiming to have skills you’re not really familiar with.

5. You’re not acting quick enough. Have you noticed it sometimes? A lot of new job openings already have 30 or more providers applying during the first few hours that they were posted in oDesk. Early bird always catches the worm.

6. You didn’t read the job description thoroughly. Some employers are tricky. They will include some instructions in the job description, to test you sort of, if you’ve read the post thoroughly and to measure how competent you are in following what you’re told to do. These instructions can be so subtle that you will miss them. And when you do, don’t expect to hear from the buyer.

7. You’re asking for a high rate. Sometimes, the only reason why clients would hire newbie freelancers is because their hourly rate is relatively lower than the more seasoned ones. When you’re applying for a position, look at the average bid of the other providers and don’t go beyond that. You have better chances if you can bid lower, but not lower than $1 please. (Actually, low rates/bids has become the subject of many debates both in and outside of oDesk. I have a post that touches on this issue. Check out: Outsourching to the Philippines – The $200/month or $2/hr Myth.)

8. You didn’t pass the interview or test. Nowadays, employers are inclined to test applicants aside from just conducting an informal interview. Speed and accuracy, these two are what they are most likely testing for. It’s just like in any regular interviews. If another provider fared better in the test or interview, you wont’ get the job -unless the buyer decides to hire more than one freelancer to do the tasks.

But don’t lose hope. In my succeeding posts, I tell you tips how to turn the tables and make these reasons work to your benefit. Other successful freelancers are also most welcome to share in their own tips and suggestions on how to bag an oDesk job. Let’s help each other out, shall we?

*This is a repost from my old and now defunct website. The stats mentioned was based on the figures seen on the oDesk Oconomy at that time. I can no longer find similar facts on the new oDesk Oconomy.

What is an online resume?

Like in the offline world, an online resume is a document (although, in this case it is digital and available on the internet) that will showcase you skills and other pertinent information about you and your qualifications.

While still in college, we were told that resumes should be concise, scan-able and without unnecessary adjectives . The traditional way of writing a resume can apply to an online job setting, but you can afford to be generous with words to a certain extent to impress potential job providers. The goal is to catch their attention and paint an image of yourself as an efficient web freelancer in their minds. Often, telling them how you do what you do, other than telling them what you can do, helps achieve this.

In the past, I always encounter people saying, “My skills are only MS Office proficiency and 50 WPM typing skills. Are these enough to get an online job?”

There’s nothing wrong with those skills, and if those are all you’ve got, it doesn’t mean that you won’t succeed as a web freelancer. But when you write your online profile, stating them as is won’t likely work to your benefit.

Let’s look at this example:

The freelancer doesn’t have too many skills but notice how she glosses over each skill and establish expertise by stating years of experience. This profile would surely win over something that just says:

• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher
• Typing speed of 73WPM with 99% accuracy
• Creative and Technical Writing Skills
• Administrative and Customer Service Skills

Remember also that this is not the whole profile but a summary or an overview of your profile. Its primary objective is to attract prospective employers, to tell them why they should look further and consider contacting you for an interview. And once you got their attention, the rest of your online resume and portfolio must have enough details to support the claim that you laid out at the start.

In an online resume, school and company don’t have as much weight as your skills. What’s more important is what you learned from these institutions and how you can apply what you learned to accomplish the tasks that potential clients might have for you. Combine skills with positive characteristics like quick learner, self-starter, competent, requires minimal supervision, etc and you’ve got a head-turner of a profile that can make employers stop, look, read and consider.