Guides
  1. How to apply

Create your Profile

After you sign in to SME Careers for the first time, you'll be redirected to the application form. The form has two steps:

  1. Personal information — your contact details, education, languages, skills, and expected hourly rate.
  2. Resume — upload a PDF resume or enter your background manually.

Most applicants finish in five to ten minutes.

Step 1: Personal information

Fill in the following fields. Required fields are marked with a red asterisk on the form.

  • First name and Last name — your full legal name.
  • Country — your country of residence.
  • LinkedIn profile — the full URL to your LinkedIn profile (for example, https://linkedin.com/in/your-username).
  • Job ID (optional) — select a job from the dropdown if you're applying to a specific role.
  • Partner ID (optional) — enter a partner code if you were referred by an agency or service partner.
  • Current education — your current education status (for example, "Currently enrolled — Bachelor's" or "Not currently studying").
  • Highest education — the highest degree you've completed.
  • Native language — your native language.
  • Work languages — any additional languages you can work in professionally.
  • Skills — type each skill and press Enter (or click Add) to add it as a tag.
  • Expected hourly rate (USD) — the hourly rate you expect to work for, in US dollars. Check Prefer not to say if you'd rather not share this.

When you're done, click Continue to move on to the resume step.

Tip: If you applied through a job posting link or a partner referral link, the Job ID and Partner ID fields may be pre-filled. If they're not pre-filled and you were referred by an agency or partner, ask them for the referral code and enter it exactly as provided.

About your hourly rate: Make sure you enter your expected rate per hour, not a monthly or yearly figure. We use this to match you with projects that fit your range, so we may not reach out about projects where compensation falls below what you've entered.

Step 2: Resume

In the second step, you can either upload a resume or enter your background manually.

Option A: Upload a PDF

  1. Make sure Upload file is selected at the top of the resume section.
  2. Drag and drop your resume into the upload area, or click the area to browse for the file.
  3. Wait for the upload to complete. The file must be a PDF and no larger than 5 MB.

When you upload a resume, we automatically extract your work history, education, and skills using AI. You'll be able to review and edit everything from your profile after you submit your application — see What happens next below.

Option B: Enter your background manually

If you'd rather not upload a resume:

  1. Click Enter manually at the top of the resume section.
  2. Fill in your work history and education in the fields provided.

Step 3: Submit your application

Once you've added your resume or entered your details manually, click Submit application. We'll register your application and redirect you to your dashboard.

What happens next

From your dashboard, you can:

  • Take the AI interview
  • Track your application status
  • Apply to additional roles

If you uploaded a PDF resume in the previous step, your work history, education, and skills will be auto-populated in your profile from what we extracted. Review this information from your profile to make sure it's accurate — you can edit any field that wasn't extracted correctly. Reviewers and matching algorithms use the information in your profile, so it's worth taking a few minutes to confirm everything is right.