No one, no matter how much experience, should just sign on and start looking for jobs. You need to read this post, and follow every link, Your profile is in need of work, before you even look at jobs.
You are wasting your first sentence, which is all the clients see in a search. It has to tell the client why you are a better choice, with your skills. It doesn't matter how successful you have been in other places, this is a new platform for you, and you won't just get jobs. Many highly-skilled freelancers have to put in dozens of proposals and spend a significant amount of money before they get a job. The majority of freelancers never earn a penny.
As Thomas said, $15 is nothing for a platform. In freelancing, you have to pay for everything, no matter where or how you work. The rising star, though heralded as a great thing, means nothing. Freelancers with no skills, no history, and no employment can write certain things and bingo, a rising star badge. Clients are not impressed from the stats I keep on freelancers.
Freelancer plus is not something I see a good return on. Most freelancers find it does nothing, and the connects are cheaper if you buy them separately. Upwork makes some grand but vague insinuations of how much it will help. Try it for a month if you want, and see what happens. Personally, I decided a long time ago, that I was giving Upwork money for a crappy return or zero return.
I can tell you this with certainty. If you don't have marketable skills, the money to run the business, and the will to support the business, time, patience, and motivation, the freelancer plus stuff, is not going to make any difference. Learn how to use the forum, create a stellar profile, and even better proposals.
