Having trouble finding the freelance jobs you want on Guru? Here are three easy steps that will save you time and frustration.
1. Search with carefully-chosen keywords and phrases.
Change up your search terms and see which gives you the best results. Some tips:
- Check the spelling, and leave a space between words.
- Choose different keywords that describe your search, or use fewer descriptive words.
- Search for the plural form of your keyword by adding an “s” at the end.
- Do not use punctuation unless you expect it in the results.
- For exact phrase searches, put quotation marks around your phrase. Example: “php development”
- Exclude a word from the results by adding a hyphen “-” in front with no space. Example: “development -design”
2. Narrow your search results with filters.
Continue honing in on the jobs you really want by applying filters. You can filter by category, budget, and location. You can also filter out non-featured jobs, those you have viewed, and those you have applied to.
3. Save your searches.
Once you’re happy with your search results, save the search. Your saved searches will appear in the “Saved Searches” drop-down menu on the search page and on your dashboard. Check back regularly to see newly posted jobs that meet your criteria
13 Comments
Hi Anna. Great article! Question…I’m getting seroius about finding freelance work and I’ve kept Guru.com on the backburner until now. I’m trying to build up my profile so I can start finding work. The thing I’m having trouble with (or maybe I’m completely missing it) is an example of a what a good/money-making/job-offers-rolling in profile looks like. Twitter/FB/Insta have brainwashed me into knowing what other people are working with. So my question…could you help me understand what a good profile looks like? Once I get the ball rolling, I probably won’t give a damn what other freelancers are working on but it would be cool to have some kind of community around what’s working and what’s not. Sorry for the long message..I’m a writer if you can’t already tell haha. THANKS & keep up the good work!
Guru.com incredible site…
Your search engine is nice but next interface just terrible. Improve it.
Did not find a way to send message to freelancers. Nice.
Maybe next time.
Dr Alex,
Thanks for the feedback. We are in the midst of redesigning the interface. Please look for changes over the next two months, and let us know if you feel it is improved! We hope to make using Guru.com more intuitive with these changes.
I’m already suscribed to Guru.com. I’d like to know, if I’m selected for a job, How do I proceed to start working at that job, mainly I’d need a step by step on how to proceed. Is this the same way than with odesk.com? You have my email address, so an answer would be appreciated.
Hi Gabriel, if you were awarded a job, you need to Accept the award. You can do this by clicking on the “Respond” button under the “Manage” section on your dashboard. Once you accept the award, your next step will be to create an agreement and wait for the employer’s approval of the agreement. Once the agreement is in place, you’ll either create a SafePay request (to request that money be put aside for your work) or begin working on the job.
I couldn’t be more disappointed in GURU.
For years I was a Guru Vendor in the Business Consulting and the Finance categories. I spent about $80 monthly on the memberships . . . and received lots of leads . . . and many thousands in fees (probably about $70,000.
Now – with Guru’s changes – I am paying about $20 monlthly and receiving NO LEADS OF SUBSTANCE AND NO PROJECTS WHATSOEVER.
Moving forward, I’m switching to BASIC until I see some sort of results.
What’s going on??
Joe G
Hi Joe, I took a look at your account and see that you are now a Basic member. You don’t need to be a paying member to get more job leads! Actually, the problem seems to be that you have listed only one service, and you have not included an in-depth description or related keywords in the description that would match you to jobs or help employers find you.
Consider creating at least three separate services to increase the number of leads you get. Make sure each of your services has tagged skills, and attached work examples to help you stand out to employers. https://www.guru.com/help/freelancer/your-profile/
Hai Anna,
Antonal Technologies is happy with your freelance jobs website.There is some confusion in the proposal service, we have sent some proposals and we don’t get any reply so we bit confused.
Actually the question is how our client communicate with us when they interested in our proposal and how long we have to wait for it.
please send a model of the proposal so that we could do better.
Hi Antonal, You can keep an eye on any responses sent by employers from your dashboard, under “Responses From Employers”. When you receive a response, you will see your proposal show up there. You can also check all of your proposals by clicking “Proposals” in the header. I hope this helps!
I am a new freelancer searching for a job. Hopefully I can find a job that will grant my request.
Hi, Anna.
I see you have been responding well here. I’m wondering what is the policy or recommendation on being new and bring current clients to Guru to establish a reputation?
I have 2 clients that are willing to come work over guru and I would like to do so, but being new, and them also being new, I wan’t to make sure that this is an approved action.
Hi Rachel,
Great idea! We welcome both you and your current clients to sign up with Guru and benefit from using our tools to build a reputation. If you need help getting started, check out the Help Center. It’s full of helpful articles to help you get the most out of Guru. https://www.guru.com/help/freelancer/how-it-works-freelancer/
Best,
Anna
To be perfectly honest, my experience with Guru was not good. The very first job I got hired for was a scam, which the Guru team was very helpful in shutting down, but still not a great way to start. My very next job… oh wait, I never actually got another job. I put in quotes left and right, but never got a single response.
Most recently (before I deleted my account), I put in a quote for a simple task of converting a file from one format to another. Easy enough, and I had it done before I even submitted my quote to the person. I included that fact in the message, along with telling him that my price was highly negotiable, due to the simple nature of the job (it literally took me two minutes, and I would’ve done it for $5, just to build my reputation on the site). His turn around time would have been instantaneous. It seemed like a no-brainer. Nope. Someone else was hired. That has been the case EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
It makes no sense. There’s no logic to why this happens. Unless I am missing something… It could be that they only like to hire people with a lot of Guru experience. But that’s a bit of a ‘Catch 22’ – you need experience to build experience, and if nobody hires you for your lack of experience, then you’ll never get it.
I have tons of ‘real world’ experience in many areas. So it is quite frustrating to be stuck in this loop where I can’t even get the simplest of jobs on this site, due to being new here. But then, that’s why I cancelled my account. There are much better things to do with my time than wait, and wait, and wait, and wait… and wait, just to be denied a two minute job.
The idea is nice. Guru is a great concept. I just think it’s one of those things you had to have gotten in on at the beginning, because the newbies are getting absolutely crushed by the folks who have been here for a long time. I am not alone, nor am I an uncommon case (I’ve talked to many others who had almost identical experiences to mine).
I wish the best of luck to the Guru team, as well as the people using this service. It just isn’t my cup of tea, apparently.