How to Write an Effective oDesk Profile and Cover Letter and Get a Job

A few weeks ago, I did something I haven’t done for a long time: I started applying for a new online job. My current client who I work full-time for, has decreased my working hours. She said she is a little cash-strapped and needs to trim down on some expenses. But she doesn’t want to abandon all our projects, so just asked me to work for a few hours everyday until her sources of income become more stable.
I normally don’t want to have more than one full-time job, but I don’t know how long this part-time work setup will last, so I decided to find another job. And the first thing that I did was update my oDesk profile and my cover letter.

Your oDesk profile and cover letter are the two most important things you need to consider when looking for a job in oDesk. Together, they must always highlight your skills to attract the attention of potential employers.
And based on the recent changes that I made, I came up with simple and, I hope, effective ways on how you can beef up your profile and write a compelling cover letter.

How to Make a Killer oDesk Profile

Step 1: List down all your skills. Doesn’t matter if they are related to one another or not. Go from broad to specific.
Example:

A. Writing Skills

1a. knows how to write SEO articles
2a. can write 6 articles in a day

B. SEO Skills

1b. Off page SEO

1b1. can make 20 blog comments in an hour
1b2. can make 20 forum posts in an hour

2b. On page SEO

2b1. optimize the “tags”
2b3. keyword optimization

Step 2: List down all the tools and applications that you’re familiar with. If you’re a graphic designer, being an expert in Photoshop is a must. But if you’re a virtual assistant, knowing how to use Photoshop is a plus. The more applications you’re familiar with, the more plus points you acquire.Step 3: Group your general skills (i.e. writing, SEO, organizing, etc) and write a short paragraph, 3 to 4 sentences for each general skill, and briefly discuss all related specific skills. Example:

“I am a writer and I know the power of words, especially when it comes to writing SEO articles. I can produce 6 quality articles in a day and I can assure you that they will be original, unique and will pass copyscape. I have written articles for so and so….”

“I am familiar with both on-page and off-page SEO techniques. With off-page, I can generate 100 links in a day, 10 from blog comments, 10 from forum posting…”

Or

“I am familiar with both on-page and off-page SEO techniques. With off-page, I can generate links from blog comments, forum posts…With on-page, I know how to optimize the tags to make your site SEO-friendly…”

Step 4: Arrange the paragraphs in order of your proficiency, the top being the skill that you excel in most. For example, if you’re more of an SEO assistant, then put the SEO paragraph before the others.
Step 5: Read the resulting article and make sure that everything is clear, concise and well-written. Every paragraph must flow through to the next in a coherent manner. When you’re satisfied, use this in your oDesk profile. You may opt to add another paragraph at the bottom, describing your other qualities that will be useful at work or, a goal or objective, or anything that you think clients will find interesting about you.

How to Write an Effective Cover Letter for an Online Job

I write cover letters in two slightly different ways. When I am the one applying for the job, my cover letter is less detailed and it’s main objective is to get the employer to read my profile. When the application is client-initiated (meaning: the employer already saw my profile and has invited me for an interview), my cover letter provides more details about my skills and the objective this time is to get the client to hire me.
But in both cases, I make it a point that my cover letter answers ALL the questions raised by the client in the job description or in the private message the he/she sent to me. From my profile, I take the skills that I feel will suit the position that I’m applying for, and edit them depending on the situation (as I mentioned above). I will also arrange my skills based on the job requirement.
For example, when I’m applying for a virtual assistant job whose main task is to setup and maintain blogs, I will place the paragraph mentioning WordPress, blogging, Web 2.0 platforms, HTML, CSS and other related skills above the other skills. Then maybe SEO and writing skills will come in the succeeding paragraphs.
When creating a cover letter, it is important that it doesn’t appear “canned”. It must read in a way that it speaks directly to the client/employer. I will discourage using a generalized cover letter because some client don’t find using such impressive.
If it’s too taxing to create a cover letter each time you apply for a job, you can create a guide or a template. A guide or a template will tell you what should be included in your cover letter, and in what order they come. But you have to vary the text and make sure that no two cover letters will look exactly the same.

My cover letters almost always contain:

1. Introduction (includes salutation/greetings, name “I am Juana dela Cruz”, title “a freelance web designer”, country “from the Philippines” and brief work history “I’ve been working as a web designer for so and so years, creating and designing websites for various so and so companies…”). If the client was the one who invited me to apply for the position, I always begin my cover letter by thanking him/her for considering me for an interview.

2. A brief summary of the job description. This is important because it shows that you have actually read and understood the job description.

3. Skills.

4. Availability, schedule and other work-related details.

Most of the questions/items raised in the job posting or in the message sent by clients are about skills and competencies, availability and rate, so make sure you cover them in 3 and 4.

5. End note (“Thank you”, “Looking forward to hearing from you again”, etc) and signature.

You don’t have to follow this guide exactly, but at least you’ll have an idea of the structure and you can be creative with your own cover letter.

Will a Good oDesk Profile and Cover Letter Guarantee a Job

I said in this How to Earn Money from Home thru oDesk post that getting an online job in oDesk involves many factors. But basically, it’s about matching up a job opening with the right skills, the available hours and a reasonable rate. The end goal of writing an effective profile and cover letter is to provide all the information that the client needs to know and highlight the details/skills that are crucial for the position.  And hopefully after doing this, the client will see you as the competent candidate and, given that you can put across the required hours and you have agreed to a fair rate, he/she will proceed to hiring your services.