You can’t play nice when you’re fighting for the same job. If you do, the other freelancer will get it. You get one shot to catch the interest of the buyer in the application phase, and you get one shot to seal the deal when you talk to the buyer. It’s not good to be put off while they interview the other applicants.

So, how can you make the buyer want to hire you on the spot? It’s a complicated science that takes time to learn. First off, you need to know more about the job you’re applying for. As Bill said in his post about the questions to ask, you need to know about the buyer and their requirements. I’d say to go a step further and know more about them than they expect you to. Learning to multi-task will earn you more jobs. While in the interview, ask for a URL to their website. While discussing the job with them, look up some information from their site and integrate it into the conversation. It shows that you will take the time necessary to learn about their needs and do a good job.

The second thing you need to do is practice making all of your words fit into how you are the right choice for the buyer. When I say that, I don’t mean to pat yourself on the back and talk about how great you are. No one wants to deal with that. It’s like the old saying in fiction writing: show instead of tell. You could tell the buyer how you’re great, or you can show them that you’re perfect for the job by being knowledgeable in your area, showing an impressive portfolio, and staying on task the whole conversation. Don’t degrade into side-topics or discuss future jobs you may have with the buyer unless he or she brings it up first. Don’t discuss things that aren’t directly related to the project at hand unless they lead you in that direction. Stay professional, stay to the point, and keep the conversation moving.

Keep the conversation moving? That means to respond quickly and give the buyer something to respond to. If they ask you how your previous relationships with buyers have been, don’t say “good.” That isn’t very descriptive, and it will lead to the conversation stopping for a while. Instead, give them a couple short anecdotes about buyers you’ve worked with. Use names if at all possible. You don’t want the conversation to go on forever, but you want to keep the buyer engaged during the interview. One way to recover from a lag in the conversation is to ask questions. Have a list of questions prepared for just this occasion.

By asking questions, you’re also taking control. If you can steer the conversation with questions, you can avoid the trouble areas and focus on the aspects that make you shine. Don’t bombard the buyer with question after question, but try to show that you’re interested enough to know more about their company and the project.

Another huge mistake is to act disinterested. If you’re not interested in the project, then why did you apply? Buyers have a lot of people they can offer the job to, and if you want it, you better show that you want it. Having skill is necessary, but having a lot of heart and a can-do attitude will take you far as well. From the buyer’s point of view, they could hire someone who is extremely skilled but doesn’t like the project or they can get someone who is less skilled and really wants the project. Chances are, the less skilled person will get it because they will do their best to make the buyer happy. If you’re highly skilled and have the heart, you’ll slay the competition.

So, the next time you interview with a buyer for a job, remember that you’ve got one shot to get the job before they move on to the next provider. Don’t let them even want to continue doing interviews–push for the hire. All it takes is to show them that you’re competent, you will do your best on the job, and that you’re able to adapt to their needs.

Now all you need to do is get past the interview and start working.

If you’re like some people, the interview may be the hardest part.  Let me tell you a story about one of the biggest interview mistakes I ever saw.

I used to be involved in business with a guy I will call “Tom” (not his real name.)  Tom was one of those people who threw off ideas the way a dog throws off water.  Sadly, he didn’t always do so well when it came to the execution.  He was one of those tall, handsome guys who just oozed charisma.  He also had a case of foot-in-mouth disease that had to be seen to be believed.

This particular story goes back over ten years now, back when people were just beginning to start seeing the potential of the internet and everyone was still on dial-up.  Tom had the bright idea of creating an internet directory for local hotels.  It may not sound like much of an inspiration now, but it was a fairly new idea at the time.

So he pulled in some favors and got the chance to do a presentation at one of the biggest and most prestigious hotels in the city.

Sounds great so far, doesn’t it?

Well Tom managed to blow this opportunity in a SPECTACULAR fashion.

This was a tourist destination city, one of the top ten in North America, so there were at least half a dozen first-rank hotels and well over a hundred in the city itself.  Not bad numbers for a city of less than half a million population.

The problem, came with Tom’s delivery.  Every time he used a hotel as an example he used the oldest and most famous hotel in the city; NOT the one we were making the presentation for.

Needless to say, we didn’t get the contract.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know exactly what happened.  He forgot the first rule of freelancing; show how you can benefit the buyer.

This hotel manager didn’t want to know how things could benefit his competition, he wanted to know how we could benefit HIM.

When you go into an interview you need the same mindset.

You have to show how what benefit you’re going to give the person you want to hire you.

I know we’ve been hammering this point home over and over so much that you may feel your head’s level with your shoulders by now.

But it’s an important thing to remember.

We’ve talked before about preparing for interviews and asking questions while you’re in the interview.  One thing that you have to always focus on when making up your questions and doing your preparation is that you’re asking questions relevant to this job.

One thing about freelancing, especially on oDesk where buyers are anonymous until you start the interview process is that you never know when you might be dealing with someone’s direct competitor.

It just so happens that my partner works in the IT industry.  One day I got an interview request from oDesk and of course I followed up.

After the interview I was talking with my partner, and discovered that the company I had just interviewed with was their direct competitor, so you never know when you may be dealing with that kind of situation.

After all, think of it from the buyer’s perspective:  If you’re going to be so helpful for their competitor why don’t you go work for them?

Don’t make the mistake Tom made.

It’s all about the buyer, and there is no more important time to keep that in mind than when you’re in the interview.  This is where they make the decision to hire you, and you want to do everything you can to make sure that they do make that decision, rather than moving on and deciding to hire someone else.

If you’re a freelancer, chances are that you want the job to improve your quality of life financially as well as through freedom, but if you’re doing work you despise, it’s self-defeating. Also, doing jobs you hate can hurt your career more than improve it. How? Either by making it a chore to log on and start work on that blasted project again or by reducing your quality of work and earning a poor rating.

What’s a way to avoid harming your career? Keep reading.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

What’s Cost-Benefit Analysis? It’s a fancy phrase about a topic we’ve covered a few times: you’re doing a job that costs you more than you’re earning. It can cost you more financially by wasting your time, or it can cost you by reducing your morale and precious provider rating.

When you’re looking for jobs,  consider if you are going to be sick to your stomach after doing it for a few hours. You won’t always know, but there’s a few tell-tale signs that you’ll encounter problems including: a buyer who throws work at you and doesn’t have time to properly brief you on what needs to be done, the job listing has three lines of text which doesn’t describe the job, or the work is of a nature that you know you wouldn’t like.

Most of these signs can be seen in the interview phase. If the buyer says “You want to do this?” and you ask “Yeah, but what exactly do you want me to do?” and they never answer, then you will encounter major resistance if you take the job. You could take a stab at what you’re supposed to do, be completely wrong, and never get paid. Even worse, you could also come out with a nasty rating which will make buyers less likely to hire you in the future.

So, Cost-Benefit Analysis works like this:

I have to spend X amount (energy, money, time, my sanity) and gain Y profit (money, ratings, prestige, future work with this buyer) for a net gain of Z. You calculate Z with the equation Z = X – Y. Pretty simple.

Here’s an example. I hate doing SEO article mills with a passion. I avoid them like my ex-girlfriend avoided anything that could possibly make her IQ higher than 60 (boosh). Also, SEO article mills don’t exist in the pay-grade I’m used to. Further, they tend to be demanding in time. Using the formula, X = me losing time, potential money, and my marbles. Y = about 20 hours of work at 100 bucks. Therefore, Z = a waste of my time. I will hate doing it, I will make less money, and I will probably get a bad rating because I will speed through it.

My advice is to not freak out if you go a day or two without a job. There will be more jobs popping up later that day and even more tomorrow, so have a little patience and wait it out. You will end up in a better situation by doing a job you enjoy for more money than you will by taking whatever comes along. It sounds obvious, but I’ve seen many people not put it into practice.

Some people take on jobs to “boost their ratings” even if they hate doing the job and it’s not related to their field. Yes, when a buyer initially looks at your provider rating, they will see a nice high number, but they look through the comments and jobs that go with that rating, they will see that it doesn’t apply to the work they need you to do. I’ve got a good rating doing writing jobs, but that doesn’t mean a buyer will trust me to draw a splash screen for their software unless they have a screw loose. I drew a stick man once, but even that looked bad.

So take the magical formula I’ve given you and apply it to your application process. Don’t let it stop you from applying to jobs because they MAY turn out to be bad, but if you ever catch yourself saying, “Well, this job is going to really suck, but I need something to do,” then you probably shouldn’t take it.

So, what do you do when you have an interview?

First off, you’ll receive an E-Mail alerting you that someone wants to interview you. If they searched for you and invited you to the job, then you’ll just follow the link in the E-Mail and accept the interview request. If you applied for the job, then you don’t have to “accept the interview” because it’s assumed both parties want to communicate.

The first thing you want to do is to read the message that the buyer sent to you. It should be somewhere in the middle of the E-Mail, and it will contain the information you need to start the interview. Sometimes, a buyer will ask for more examples of your work or to complete a small test-project to see if you’re able to complete the project at hand. If they ask you to do any significant portion of the project they are hiring you for, then you should be very wary! At times, shady buyers will try to get you and the other applicants to do all of the project in sections for free. If they want you to work on the actual project before hiring, then that’s probably the case.

If they just want some samples or other simple information like that, reply to their E-Mail address (or contact them via IM if they have it listed and want you to do so) to state a few times that you will be available for interview.

Here are the three main types of interview you will encounter and the best practices for each:

E-Mail Interview

The E-Mail interview is one of my least favorites because it is so slow. You could send a message today and get a response immediately or next week depending on how often they check their account.

Regardless, that’s how some buyers want to communicate, so to increase your chances of getting hired, follow these guidelines:

• Thank the buyer for the interview in your first E-Mail and offer up any other contact information you have if they want to communicate in another manner.
• Throughout the interview, remain polite and professional as buyers do not want to work with people who “rub them the wrong way.”
• Make sure to spell-check all of your E-Mails and to write them in standard English.
• Send them a list of questions you have about the project as well as any samples that will show your skills for the particular job.
• Respond quickly to any E-Mails you receive so that they don’t have to wait on you.
• Try to cram as much information as you can into a small space without sacrificing the quality of the message or making it too long-winded.

The rest you can figure out between the two of you.

Phone Interview

I’m not crazy about the phone interview as I don’t really enjoy talking on the phone. However, if a buyer asks you for your phone number, then it’s a good idea to give it to them. In the initial E-Mail reply to the interview, you should list the times you are available to talk and offer up other contact methods. Here are the tips for the phone interview:

• Before the call comes, make a list of questions and speaking topics to address while talking on the phone.
• Make sure you are in a place where you will not be distracted and where no other noises will be present to disrupt your call.
• Do whatever you can to not let the call go to voicemail unless you’re absolutely not in a position to take the call.
• When you answer, state, “Hello, this is (your name here).”
• Keep a pen and paper near to take notes about what is said over the phone.
• Speak clearly and at a slightly slower pace than normal.
• Pace the buyer by speaking in the same manner as them: if they’re being completely professional, then you should reflect the same manner as them; however, you should always maintain a basic level of professional manner so that you don’t appear incompetent.
• Schedule the next call while you’re on the phone, and make sure it fits well with their schedule.

 Instant Message Interviews

My personal favorite type of interview is through IMs. There, I have access to all of my records on my computer, I’m able to send them examples immediately, and it’s more like speaking in person without the conflicts of doing so. If you have to step away for a minute or two, you can see what they said by scrolling up. Also, you can save records of the conversation by selecting it in the chat window. Here’s the best practices for IM interviews:

• NEVER use l33tsp3ak or terms including: lol, rofl, wtf, omg, brb, ttyl, and so forth.
• Always type in complete, grammatically correct sentences with correct spelling; if you don’t know how to spell a word, look it up real quick before you use it or use a different word.
• Keep a professional attitude about the conversation and stay on topic.
• Don’t attempt to send any files over IM unless the buyer requests them.
• Don’t use a series of short sentences in the form of a series of posts if you can form all of it into a coherent paragraph as it will spam their screen.
• Always save the conversation for later reference and set up a time to speak with them again.

With some clients, I use all three methods to communicate with them. I always start with an E-Mail reply to thank them for the interview and their consideration. In that E-Mail, I offer my IM contacts and tell them that I’m almost always available. If they request it, I also put my phone number into that E-Mail.

Usually, the client will respond with their preferred method of communication and I follow through on that. If it’s IM, I add them to my list and speak with them the next time I see them online. If it’s phone, I add their number to my cell and wait for the call. If it’s E-Mail, I try to respond to every message I get ASAP.

Really, the main thing to keep in mind is that you need to be confident and clear in all of your communication. If you sound like you know what you’re doing, then people will trust you with the job.