Freelancer looking to understand the platform from a client's perspective.

[#1]

I'm new to freelancing on Upwork, though I have been self employed for over a decade in various industries.

To get started better on this platform, I would like to understand what the platform looks like from a client's perspective when creating job postings. I am going to try and create my own client account to supplement any comments I get here. However, hearing from clients who are experienced with the platform would definitely be a benefit and I would appreciate any information that you might be willing to give.

My main question is about when a job posting is truly fulfilled.

Just to give a couple of quick examples, I've attached a couple of screenshots showing job postings, one that shows "Interviewing" as well as already having a hire. The next one shows an expired posting that has two hires.

1. link: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~021829022692203860436?referrer_url_path=%2Fsaved-jobs%2Fdetails%2F~0218... 

2.

Personally, I don't understand how I might tell if a posting is still hiring if it already has a hire listed. I have not dug deeply for documentation yet, but I felt it worthwhile to ask actual clients how they look at the process.

1. Do you try to use a single posting to hire multiple individuals? (it appears to be an option from the screenshot)

OR

2. Do you try to take down a posting once you have hired an individual and repost it to hire multiple individuals?

3. Does the platform provide a way for the listing to automatically be taken down once filled?

OR

4. Is it required for you as the client to manage your listing and take them down?

I don't wish to overload you with questions or take too much of your time, so a simple "1 and 4" answer, meaning yes to both questions #1 and #4, will be more than enough for me. However, I would be glad to start a conversation and discuss things further so I might understand how I can be of better service to clients on the platform. In the meantime, I will be trying to start my own client account so that I can perhaps see what you see.

I look forward to hearing any information you might be willing to provide.

- Have a wonderful day.

[#2]

1 is often the case. I'd expect 2 is rarely the case, as clients can include in their posting how many freelancers they are looking to hire.

As far as I know, neither 3 nor 4 are required by Upwork. They should be - I often see jobs where a hire has taken place but the job posting has been up for many weeks. I'd expect freelancers are wasting their connects on fruitless proposals submitted on such job postings.

[#3]

I apreciate your input Will, I did start a client account to look further into this and saw that it is possible to set how many you would like to hire as in the following screenshot.

So as you said it would seem likely #1 would be most used (And, from a client's perspective, it would seem more efficient to me).

Also, I agree that it would be much more effective if #3 were the case or if #4 were required.  In researching this, I didn't want to actually post a false job, so I just went through the process of making a job post just before actually posting it. I did not find a preview for what it might look like from a freelancer's perspective to verify whether they would be able to see that the posting was for multiple individuals.

I think another good point for any clients that are posting jobs, if I haven't missed something, is that it may be worthwhile to list how many freelancers you are hoping to hire within the description, so that prospective freelancers might be able to note whether the posting is still worth submitting a proposal.  I would also think that some viable freelancers would likely not waste the connects if they aren't able to tell whether a posting is hiring multiple individuals, but that is debatable how often it would apply. I can only say I would personally be much less likely to waste money submitting a proposal to a job posting, which already has a hire but with an unknown number of open positions, unless I were just really hoping to work on that specific project.

With that, I would be glad to hear any other thoughts or direction to information I may be missing about job postings.

[#4]

Sam, so you also made a fake job post for your curiousity?

[#5]

No. He said:  I didn't want to actually post a false job, so I just went through the process of making a job post just before actually posting it.

[#6]

As Sophie clarified, I did not want to actually post one and be misleading to any freelancers, so I could only go so far in the process, which did not fully answer my questions so I have been keeping up the conversation in the case anyone who has actually posted a job post and hired multiple freelancers from the same post might have further information I wasn't aware of.

[#7]

Welcome to Upwork Sam,

Interviewing shows how many chats were initiated by the client. Either by responding to ones proposal, or inviting a freelancer and that freelancer accepting the invite counts as an interview. 

Hired shows that a person has been hired for that job post. There are cases where they may soon find out it's not a good match and move on to the next candidate. Then you'll show hires : 2. That being said, i wouldn't submit a new proposal if i evet see hired 1 on a job post.

After hiring someone clients are reminded by upwork to close their job post. Or if they don't hire someone cancel it. It's up to them to do it or not.

[#8]

I appreciate your input Alper.

From all of the input I have gotten here, and in the freelancer forum, I would have to say that I would think there is at least a decent portion of freelancers that will not submit a proposal on a posting that already has a hire.

Some clients may wish to hire multiple freelancers with a single posting and have the option to do so, according to the settings I found (shown in the screenshot I attached to my reply to Will).

But, there does not seem to be any automatic indication in job postings just because a client wishes to hire multiple freelancers and it appears the only way for a client to relay that information would be to explicitly state it in their job description.