Let’s take it from a gamer’s point of view. First, choose which role you would like to play. Are you a fresh starter with virtually zero experience? Alternatively, you already have experience but you want to explore more? It’s a matter of goal setting, your game plan. As you gain experience, you started to level yourself up the ladder and more doors unlocked.

I mentioned goal setting. Identifying your goals gives you motivation to succeed, the drive to do great things, discipline to make everything in place and the energy to keep you going.

There are two types of goals, the long-term and the short-term. You need to have a realistic short-term and a long-term goal and it works both ways. We’ll treat short-term goal as quest or mission while long term goal as a level that we accumulate from fulfilling a set of quests/missions. Short-term goal alone limits you to explore and narrows your perspective. It eventually bores you from what you always do. On the other hand, long-term goal will make you frustrated if you can’t reach your target. You have to combine the two.

So you’re a newbie, a noob in this field. Be proud that they branded you as a “noob” because you have plenty of rooms for improvement. Contrary to noob is “l33t” (coined for being an elite/veteran/more experienced gamer). L33t’s are those who reached their peak and the only direction that they are heading is “going down”. It’s better to be a noob, accept the humility and one day we’ll be able to PWN those l33ts!

Let us choose a virtual world. I chose a game called “oDesk“. Good thing about this game is that it’s free and you don’t have to download a large game client; you only have to download measly 2mb software named “odesk team” which will aid in logging in your time when performing a task for a client (more of this later). Go to odesk website. Now we’ll create an account. Here are the steps in creating a contractor account:

Now that you have your account, we’ll then create a character, your odesk profile. In other games, you are allowed to create more than one character but in odesk, you only have one so you’d better make the best out of this character.

Make sure that you fill up your Public Profile especially the “Objective” section. This is where your sales pitch goes, why clients pick you from the ocean of applicants, what you have to offer.

Fill up all necessary information about your CV (educational background, employment history, skills and certifications), what you’re good at, your strengths and weaknesses, your previous experiences. Include all certificates that you have, get one if you don’t have any.

Portfolio. Create sample work for your target career. Update your portfolio every time you finish a task so new clients will know how can you accomplish your tasks.

In addition, the most important part is taking tests. Before starting your Odesk career, you have to pass their required test, the Odesk readiness test. You can’t apply for a job or you cannot be hired unless you pass this test so you’d better prepare for this.

There are the links within each questionnaires that you need to read and study for you to excel in this test. There are instances that you can’t find the answers just by reading. You’d better ask for help from fellow Odesk contractors, the best way to look for them is the Odesk forum. Feel free to ask about your concerns. You’re a noob, remember? Don’t assume that you know it all and it’s free to ask. Just be considerate if your questions are not answered right away, they might be busy with their projects but eventually someone will take notice of your questions.

HINT: post your questions in the Comments section of this page.

Choosing your career. There are tests that will determine your career path. The easiest path for noobs is the data-entry professional. You need to pass the English test, basic computer and MS office tests (excel, word, PowerPoint) to be able to “sell” yourself to clients)

When applying for a job, create a compelling application letter that will stand out from the other applicants. Make it personal and appealing and DON’T COPY/PASTE A GENERIC APPLICATION LETTER. Study your client’s needs and write something about how you can efficiently accomplish the task. Attach a sample work if possible, spent some minutes to create a sample task related to the task.

Take note of your batting average, the percentage of interviews from the application that you submitted. If you submitted 10 applications and you still don’t have interviews, it’s time to check your profile, and the style of writing your application letters. Innovate.

Determine your hourly rate. Don’t go overboard on don’t even provide your service free. High rate for a noob is most likely to be rejected especially when you don’t have any feedbacks yet. While bidding for a dollar per hour or less is SLAVERY. You don’t want either, don’t you? Bidding for $3 per hour is acceptable and as you perform more projects, gradually increase your rates.

As you receive more projects, take time to study each project the client asked you to do. Learn. This will help you upgrade your career. This is where we level up.

Allocate time to study new crafts and eventually you will be receiving tasks from these fields. Never stop learning.

When you’re freelancing business in Odesk grows, don’t forget to treat me for a meal!

To sum-up, here are the action steps that you might perform when starting your Odesk career — this would be your short-term goal from your general strategy of “getting hired in Odesk”:

So, do you have the guts to play this game?