# I automated my freelance job hunt

> A scout that checks Upwork and Airtasker four times a day, keeps only the jobs I'd actually take, drafts the proposal, and sends one tidy message per job to my phone.

Published 2026-10-10 by Christine · https://automatemylifehq.com/posts/freelance-job-scout

- Result: Only apply-worthy jobs, with a draft proposal, four times a day
- Running cost: Free scheduler + an AI routine on a plan I already pay for
- Works with: Upwork, Airtasker, Discord, Google Sheets, A scheduled AI routine
- If it gets it wrong: It never applies or messages anyone. The worst case is a weak job in my feed, and I skip it.

## Why I built this

While travelling I only have an hour or two a day. Scrolling job boards ate most of it, and the good jobs were gone by the time I found them: the ones with few applicants go fast.

I wanted the opposite of a job board: a short list of jobs I'd genuinely take, already understood, with a first draft ready.

## What it does

Four times a day it checks Upwork and Airtasker for new jobs, throws away the ones that don't fit, and sends me **one message per job** worth applying to: the job link, why it fits, and a draft proposal I can copy. Everything is logged to a spreadsheet so nothing gets lost.

## How it works

1. **A free scheduler wakes it up** at 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm. It started at twice a day; checking more often means I see good jobs while they still have few applicants.
2. **It only looks at new jobs** since the last run, which keeps it fast and cheap.
3. **It filters hard:** remote, part-time or one-off, a sensible budget, not already swamped with proposals, and a skill match I can honestly claim.
4. **For the good ones it reads the whole post** and drafts a short proposal and answers to any screening questions.
5. **One Discord message per job** lands on my phone. Tap the title to open the job.
6. **Every job goes into a Google Sheet**, so I can track what I applied to.

## What it runs on

A scheduled AI routine that runs in the cloud (so my laptop can be off), a free web scheduler to trigger it, a Discord channel for the messages and a Google Sheet as the log.

## What it costs to run

| | |
|---|---|
| **Scheduler** | Free |
| **AI routine** | Runs on a plan I already pay for |
| **My time** | A few minutes to read the shortlist and decide |

## What I learned

- **The filter is the product.** The first version sent too many jobs. Being strict about budget, competition and honest skill fit made it useful.
- **"Only new jobs" was the biggest saving.** Re-reading old posts every run wasted time and money.
- **It drafts, I decide.** It never submits anything or messages a client. Applying is a two-second decision I want to keep.