Can I hire someone who has not answered my Invite?

[a97dc2a4]

I have two freelancers in mind that I really want to hire but they're on my list as "unanswered invites". Upwork allows me to hire them on spot but I am unsure if they have even seen my invite or are interested in the first place. I don't want to hire if they cannot meet the deadline as well. I am not too sure how this works considering I do have a few that have proposed already, however they are not the ones that I want for the job. I'd really like to know how hiring someone that is listed as "unsanswered" works, and if it will be worth it for me to try.

Thank you for the help!

[prestonhunter]

I can see how this could be confusing.

You are looking at the "Hire" button and thinking that it allows you to hire a freelancer.

Not exactly.

That button DOES NOT HIRE a freelancer.

The button sends a hire offer to a freelancer. The freelancer still needs to intentionally click a button on his end to accept the offer.

If you definitely want to hire someone, nothing bad will happen simply by you clicking that button.

What problem will happen is that you still won't hear from the freelancers who didn't respond to your invitation. But it IS possible that they will accept your offer. It is also possible that they will start a conversation with you, to iron out some details. Freelancers are able to converse with a client who sends them a hire offer, prior to actually accepting an offer.