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solangebas2013
Community Member

Is still there an option to direct message candidates?

Hi! I was wondering whether there are any limitations to the Direct Messages feature. I just went through the tutorial article and it doesn't say anything about it. but I'm looking at a profile and can't find a way to Message the candidate. It only says Hire or Invite. Thanks!

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Solange,

 

Clients are unable to communicate with freelancers unless freelancers apply to a client's job post, or the freelancer was invited to apply to the job, and the freelancer obliged. On this interview stage, you should be able to discuss the project details with the freelancers, and vet which freelancer will be best for your project.

 

Please check this help article for more information about interviewing and negotiating with Freelancers.

 

Let us know if you need any further assistance.

~ Bojan
Upwork

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10 REPLIES 10
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Solange,

 

Clients are unable to communicate with freelancers unless freelancers apply to a client's job post, or the freelancer was invited to apply to the job, and the freelancer obliged. On this interview stage, you should be able to discuss the project details with the freelancers, and vet which freelancer will be best for your project.

 

Please check this help article for more information about interviewing and negotiating with Freelancers.

 

Let us know if you need any further assistance.

~ Bojan
Upwork

Hi Bojan,

 

Thank you, but I don't think that correct, since I do receive direct messages from prospects so it is definitely an option, unless it was removed recently which was my question. Please see this article on Direct Messaging: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/360046621873-Direct-Messages-

 

Anyway nevermind, I have just checked and the client account is not Plus nor Enterprise which seems to be the requirement.

 

Thanks!

7468c4e6
Community Member

Hello, 

I have upgrated to plus but it doesnt show on my profile and besides that still im not able to send a direct message to a freelancer.

would you please let me know what's the problem?

ANY client can easily send a message to a freelancer.

After you create your job posting, navigate to the freelancer's profile page.

There is a button to click to invite the freelancer to discuss the project.

Clicking this button gives a freelancer to an opportunity to reply.

It does not cost anything and it does NOT obligate the client to hire the freelancer.

Hi, I have a client account, and I want to message a freelancer but I don't want to create a public job post. So, the "invite" option i see when viewing a freelancers profile also requires me to create a job description and "post a job", but is that actually going to go someplace publicly? I don't want to create a job post because i don't want to get a barrage of freelancers applying or messaging or whathaveyou. I just want to ask a freelancer some more questions about their experience and see if they wnat to work with me.

re: "I have a client account, and I want to message a freelancer but I don't want to create a public job post."

 

Just create a private job posting.

 

Then you can talk to the freelancer as much as you want to.

 

Easy.

 

The only person who will be able to see the job posting is the freelancer you send the private invite to.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Alisen, 


I want to clarify that this is working as designed. Clients will need to post a job, invite a freelancer to the job, and the freelancer will need to respond first before you can start messaging each other. 

If you want to use the Direct Message feature, which is available to Upwork Plus clients, and Upwork Enterprise clients, you can upgrade your membership to use it.  

Let us know if you have other questions, and our team will be happy to assist you.


~ Avery
Upwork

Hi Sara,

 

I checked and it looks like this is a freelancer account. Do you mean you upgraded to Freelancer Plus? Please know, in order to hire other freelancers you'll need to create a client profile for your account. You can find instructions on how to do this here. You can also visit these help articles to learn more about the Client Plus membership and Direct Messages.

 

Thanks!

~Andrea
Upwork
984617ac
Community Member

I'm not seeing this option.  I set up a job posting... invited a few people to apply.  They accepted and sent me proposals.  I have some follow up questions but when I scroll to bottom of the proposal it says to chat, but then it's grayed out.  

I have a "messages" icon at top of the upwork website, that shows multiple new messages; however, when I click on it everything is grayed out on that page too.

 

I would like to know how to follow up during the interview process so I can figure out who I want to hire.

Hi Nathan,

 

Thank you for reaching out. I actually tried but wasn’t able to replicate the issue you’re describing. Could you please try using a different browser or the incognito mode of your current browser? You may also try clearing your browser’s cache and cookies. Let us know if the issue persists along with a screenshot of what you can see from your end. We'll look further into that for you.

 

~ Arjay
Upwork
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