In this post, I’m going to give you an in-depth look at how I optimize my time when I’m doing searches on Upwork. I always start with the job feed when I’m in a high level I need more work mode. When you get to a place where you are coasting and looking over your options it’s going to be a little different. So for this exercise, we’re going to pretend you're in the mindset of “I need a client like yesterday”. 

I’ve tried many different ways but this has been my tried and true method and allowed me to get to the level of success that I have on the Upwork platform. I highly recommend you set up saved searches because it’s going to be the thing that saves you so much time. 

How to create and use a saved search:

1. In the home job feed at the top, you’re going to conduct a search with keywords. There will be an option to save the search, give your search a name. This will now become a saved search under the U.S. Only, My Feed, and Best Matches area. This is where you’ll search for all your jobs and save the ones you’re interested in. Upwork will start to filter jobs by your interest and the more you save the more the platform learns.
2. I have the Upwork app downloaded on my phone so when I’m waiting in the kid's pick-up line that’s when I go through my saved searches. 
3. I look at the title of the job, the short description you can see, the rating of the client, check to see if the payment is verified, where they’re located, and if I’m interested. If it’s a yes, then I click on the heart and if not I would click on the thumbs down and select a reason. This is training the Upwork platform to understand more about you. 

By creating these saved searches and selecting jobs you’re interested in or not interested in and why they start to form a list also in your Recommended section. This is another great place to look. 

When you’re conducting your saved search you’re given an advanced search to include or exclude words. You can also toggle on or off working solely with U.S.-based clients. The default sorts the jobs by Newest, which I recommend leaving so the newest posted jobs will be at the top of the search list. If you’re doing this on a consistent basis you’re going to take note when jobs are posted.

If you have any questions, definitely message me on Instagram @leahmmeyers and I will get back to you as soon as I can or you can connect with me here on my website. Good luck in your job searches and don’t forget the main thing is to be consistent with searching and applying for jobs when you’re using Upwork.