Signing Up

 One of the best things about oDesk is its relative easiness in the sign-up. It is simple, trouble-free and is only a matter of seconds. Let’s see how to sign up on oDesk step by step.

Go to oDesk home page

It is not difficult to find oDesk home page; just type on your web browser “oDesk” or “www.odesk.com.”  It is usually the first one on the search results page.  Click it.

Create a new account

Now you can see the homepage, and there, on the top right corner, you can see two buttons for sign-in and creating a new account. Since you are a new user you have to sing up for oDesk. Click on “create a new account.

Select “freelance contractor” 

You are going to sign up as a freelance contractor. Therefore select the second option on next page. (But if you want to make an agency you can select the third option; and how to set up an agency on oDesk will be discussed later in this book.) Then you will be automatically redirected to the sign up page.

  Signing up for oDesk-

•  Use real information to fill the boxes– The sign up page is a like a bio data you prepare to apply for a job. You have to be pretty serious about this; will you ever fill your bio data with false and misleading information? Use your real name, email, and other real information to fill the boxes on the sign up page.

•   Type your email address correctly- This is the email address to which you will be getting an activation code. Retype it in the next box to confirm it.

•  Use a separate email address for oDesk-   Although it is not mandatory, but if you think of starting a long term freelance career, keeping a separate email address for oDesk may be a wise decision. A duplicate of each message you get on oDesk,   notification and other important notice will be sent to this email address.  Similarly, there can be situations oDesk directly contact you through this email address without sending a message to your oDesk inbox. If you use the same email account for oDesk and your day-to-day affairs, two things can happen;

1.    Your inbox will be filled up   very soon.
2.     Important emails oDesk sends to you may go unnoticed or missing.

•  Use a simple, attractive user name- You will automatically be given a user name based on your real name, usually a combination of your first and second name you have given in the first two boxes. But you can change this automatically-given user name and use your own one instead.  It is your user name, which will be displayed on your profile.  And it is how your previous employers will remember you. Therefore, make sure that your user name is a simple, attractive, and easy- to-remember one.

•  Use a strong password- You are asked to use a password which is eight characters or more in length.  And there must at least be one alphabet and one number or a symbol. You can see in the small box next to the password box how strong your password is.  Remember to use a strong or very strong password   for the safety of your account. (And don’t forget it)

•  Enter the security question– Many people don’t seem to take this “security question” thing seriously enough when they are asked to set it up in a sign-up process. But you should remember that this will be the only means by which you can regain access to your oDesk account, if you forget the password or if your account gets hacked. Unlike your email account, oDesk will often ask this security question when you sign in. Failure to give the right answer in any of above situations means losing access to your oDesk account; therefore, be very careful when you set the security question and its answer on oDesk.

•  Enter the code shown in the picture- Unlike most of other sign up pages, oDesk does not allow you to change the code or listen to its audio if the code is not clear. If you typed the wrong code you will have to fill the sign up form from the beginning; therefore carefully read the code and fill it in the box given.

•  Hit the continue bottom– You are almost done with   sign-up. Hurray!

 Post your profile

Now you have created your profile. But the employers will not be able to see it unless you do these four simple things on the checklist.

(a)    Verifying your email address– oDesk has already sent an activation email to the email address you gave in the sign -up. Log onto the email account, and click the link in the activation email. You will be automatically redirected to oDesk and then to the checklist.

(b)   Fill out the contact information– Use the accurate info as we told you before.  Most countries have their own systems of postal codes; you can search for the postal code of your area on the internet if you don’t know what it is. Time zone is also important; you will be getting contracts, from different time zones of the globe. When you use oDesk applications such as oDesk team, it will calculate the time of each team member, namely you, your employer and other team members so that any oDesk user of your team can check whether its day or night before contacting another.

(c)    Complete your oDesk profile by choosing your career–

1. Now you have to select the types of jobs you want to do at oDesk. Tick on the ones you think you can do. It may be better to specialize yourself to one or two fields, than try out everything. Consider thoroughly what your experience, knowledge and skills are and decide what your career should be at oDesk. For a detailed picture of the jobs available on oDesk please read chapter 6.
2.  Set you primary role.
3.  Set your hourly rate in US dollars. You have to get the price for your labor, but as a newbie if you set an hourly rate like 60$ per hour you are more likely to get nothing from oDesk. Therefore, set a low hourly rate at the beginning, 1$ or 2$ per hour may be a compelling invitation for an employer who seek   cheaper labor.
4.  Your availability is the total number of hours you can spend on oDesk.  Some jobs require like 40 hours a week but others may not. If you put 40 hours here and spend only 10 hours per week, your employer would be in trouble since he needs the completed work on time. Therefore, be honest and put the maximum number of hours you can dedicate for your freelancing career after allotting time for all your other work, obligations and commitments.
5.   Title is important, since it is the way you are introduced to your potential buyers. It will be seen below your user name on your profile page.  For example, say your name is Alex and your title is “a certified and experienced web developer”. Your profile will read, “Alex- a certified and experienced web developer.”    Say succinctly what your indented role at oDesk is and what your skills, experience, or qualifications in that field are.

(d)   Accept the oDesk end user agreement.

ODesk end user agreement is a long document with 12 subheadings. To get a complete picture of how oDesk works and to realize your limits and capacities as a contractor or an employer reading this long document is very important.

Now your profile is basically ready and you can start applying for jobs straightaway.  But you can make your profile more attractive by adding your experience, qualifications, tests etc. The more attractive is your profile, the more jobs you will get. We are discussing how to make your profile more attractive in Chapter 4.