Almost every freelancer new to an online job board will face the same problem: no history at that job board.
When buyers don’t want to take risks hiring inexperienced providers, they use the only frame of reference they have: the job board history.
But what do you do if you don’t have a history on the job board?
Get linked
If you’ve never heard of LinkedIn before, it’s the monster.com of social networking. Think of it as MySpace for resumes.
When you create an account at LinkedIn, you are given the opportunity to not only add your resume information, but also search for people you know. Once you find people you know, you add them to your network and are able to interact with them through the site.
You’re probably thinking, “But just posting my resume on yet another site isn’t going to do me any good.”
You’re right. That’s where LinkedIn recommendations come in!
Let your previous clients speak
For each job or achievement on your LinkedIn resume, people are able to leave testimonials for you.
Let’s say you’ve worked at XYZ Company for 5 years. Now let’s say that your old boss at XYZ company has a LinkedIn profile. Assuming that you left on good terms, when you open your LinkedIn account and list XYZ Company on your resume, your old boss will be able to sign into LinkedIn and leave a recommendation based on your work for XYZ Company.
Essentially, old bosses and clients can leave testimonials on your resume.
Testimonials take the place of feedback
Once you have a few recommendations on your LinkedIn profile, you’ll be one step closer to proving your reliability. Because your history and feedback are vital to getting work, having testimonials will help you break out of newbie purgatory. All you have to do is get some LinkedIn recommendations, write some awesome cover letters, and let your potential buyers know that while you’re new to the job board, you’ve been around the block and you have the proof at LinkedIn!