The Lady Programmer

Have you given much thought on your profile title or tagline?

The profile title or tagline is a very important part for your profile. I used the default tagline “Programmer/Developer” in oDesk for quite a long time before I decided to change my title to a more interesting one. I applied to several jobs using that tagline and got frustrated because I was not able to get any interviews. Not until I changed that very little thing.

photo credit: xymonau (SXC)

What makes a catchy title? These are some tactics that I have seen:

1. Use power words like “reasonable price”, “deadline-oriented” and “quality work”. Use these to apply for jobs that have plenty of competition. “Quality Data Entry Work at a Reasonable Price”
2. Put in some special symbols. It is always an eye-catcher. Some placed several asterisks and special symbols before and after their taglines. Can also work for job with a lot of competition. “***** Experienced Virtual Personal Assistant *****”
3. Use words that point to the provider’s rare specialty. “Expert Embedded Systems Programmer”
4. State your title with the years of experience. “Experienced Java Programmer for 7 years”
5. Just simply be creative or amusing. “Programmer by Day, Superhero at Night”

As I applied to jobs, I experimented with various titles. It was not easy for me to think of a good one that can fit my profile. Just think of the title as a marketing tool to attract buyers to get their attention to click that all-important link to your profile.

3 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

1. 

   theysaywordscanbleed
   August 28th, 2008 at 11:22 am #

   thanks for the tips!

   arlene,

2. 

   Berryblitz
   August 29th, 2008 at 8:20 am #

   I even had no taglines on my blogs!!! Sa oDesk naman hindi ren ata ako nag lagay. Pero anyway, hindi ren ako maakatanggap ng job kc I’m have a regular job as a programmer 8 hours, then pag-uwi sa bahay yaya na ako ng anak ko.

   Good tips! pero sa oDesk may nakita akong guy na ang tag line nya is “The best programmer you would ever need.”

3. 

   AustraliaWorks
   March 23rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm #

   hey, these are some great tips, i love the superhero one thanks alot!

   william