Many of my readers are aware of the motivation behind my blog. After many successful years as a nursery nurse, I found myself in my 50's, with arthritis, other bone and joint conditions, partial sight which is deteriorating as I get older, high blood pressure and a heart condition. Unable to do my previous job, I have no training, experience or preparation of a different type of job, but am forced to find a job by changes to the rules for qualifying for welfare benefits, even though in bad winter weather and icy conditions I cannot leave the house at all, which even a Job centre adviser, whose job it is to bully me into work, admitted that in the UK can now mean being housebound from October until April, due to the run of bad winters we have had in recent years.
The blog evolved when I realised that sharing my journey might also help some of the thousands I know are in the same position as myself. It was also my way to try to break into the freelance work market, especially as a writer, a vocation I have been said to have missed.
However, freelance work, although ideal in principle, for disabled people forced to seek work, is no easier to get than a regular job and often more so. The difference is in the application process.
A budding freelancer registers on sites, in the same way as a job hunter would register on job boards such as Total jobs and Monster, they may well post a CV. I have versions of my CV which are not standard job application CV's, these are my homeworking and writing CV's, and then many such sites ask you to build a profile and portfolio to showcase your work.
The process of applying for freelance work is not much different to applying for mainstream jobs, only that the terms used are different, but the principle is the same, and certainly the competition is as great if not more so. I believe too that the freelance work market is going to become even more competitive with so many people deciding to try to put their skills to work as a freelancer, because they are being forced to look for work that they either cannot get or are not fit enough to do. On Freelance sites, an application for a job is usually referred to as making a bid, and it is just as important to learn how to do it to give you the best advantage ,as it is to learn how to fill in a job application form.
In this post I have put together some sites which can help you learn how to bid for freelance work and have the best chance you can of winning bids and being offered the work.
1. ) How does a freelance bid site work?
2.) How To Win Jobs On Freelance Job Bidding Sites
This site has lots of helpful advice including the importance of treating each bid as a separate application, and not to make the mistake that so many do when applying for regular jobs, sending out the same CV and cover letter for each bid. Instead, tailor your response to the task you are bidding for.The site has links to an hourly rate calculator to help you to calculate an appropriate hourly rate for your work. There is a resources page and a jobs board. Most of the jobs advertised are targeted to the USA freelancer, but there were a couple which listed UK jobs in the IT market, http://jobs.smashingmagazine.com/?search=UK and http://www.authenticjobs.com/#search=UK. There are recommended sites on writing and blogging and a huge archives database going way back to 2007, much of which remains relevant and current.
3. ) How To Win Bids on Freelancer.com,
Although targeted at users of Freelancer, many of the principles apply to all freelance sites and bidding for work.
More to follow.....
Valerie
No comments:
Post a Comment