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a7b0b34f
Community Member

Not getting applicants for a pretty easy job posting

Last year I had several similar postings that got a lot of applicants, but this current post hasn't received any offers.  (I have good reviews, and I even increased the amount...)  It's set for world-wide, low experience, etc.  Any thoughts?

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prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "Last year I had several similar postings that got a lot of applicants, but this current post hasn't received any offers. (I have good reviews, and I even increased the amount...) It's set for world-wide, low experience, etc. Any thoughts?"

 

That is an interesting question.

 

I'll be honest: I often post jobs - sometimes very complex jobs - that I want done quickly. I can typically post a job, get responses, get the job done, and have the whole thing closed, within an hour or two - for very complicated, technical work.

 

I have also posted jobs that I think are relatively easy, and I have not had difficulty hiring for those jobs as well.

 

So I'm not sure why you are having difficulty getting people to apply to your latest job posting.

 

(I almost always post jobs as hourly contracts. Maybe that's a difference.)

 

There may not be much we can tell you unless you provide us more details:

- what kind of work?

- hourly/fixed-price?

- pay range?

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33 REPLIES 33
allergywriter
Community Member

Jake:

Most freelancers are put off by the phrase "easy job" because it usually means the client doesn't understand what is involved in the task.

 

Could you show us how you described the job and then we might be able to help you better.

emiguelina
Community Member


Madonna L wrote:

Hi,

i am am looking for a job. May I know what job is this?

 

thanks.


This is not a professional way to apply for a job.

prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "Last year I had several similar postings that got a lot of applicants, but this current post hasn't received any offers. (I have good reviews, and I even increased the amount...) It's set for world-wide, low experience, etc. Any thoughts?"

 

That is an interesting question.

 

I'll be honest: I often post jobs - sometimes very complex jobs - that I want done quickly. I can typically post a job, get responses, get the job done, and have the whole thing closed, within an hour or two - for very complicated, technical work.

 

I have also posted jobs that I think are relatively easy, and I have not had difficulty hiring for those jobs as well.

 

So I'm not sure why you are having difficulty getting people to apply to your latest job posting.

 

(I almost always post jobs as hourly contracts. Maybe that's a difference.)

 

There may not be much we can tell you unless you provide us more details:

- what kind of work?

- hourly/fixed-price?

- pay range?

https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~010495925cdeb536e0

This has been up for over 2 weeks, with only 2 proposals (that I just now see).  Anyway, it's been a year since I've been on the site, but I had to turn plenty of offers away for similar work.  With the "hourly" factor, I get a little nervous...  Especially with a very tight budget.  Thanks for reply!

yitwail
Community Member

Did your posts always include the question "Willing to provide multiple revisions if necessary?"

That might be a turn-off. Also, I'm not a designer, but job looks pretty complicated for $15.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
a7b0b34f
Community Member

yeah I don't like that either, but lots of hiring overseas has often required a revision or two.  And they're almost always seeming to offer unlimited revisions.  

Jake:

I understand your concern about hourly rates, if you're on a tight budget.

 

But you CAN use hourly contracts while on a tight budget.

 

You can hire freelancers who have lower hourly rates, and pay them their hourly rate.

 

If you have work to be done that is easy, then you should be able to find freelancers who have lower hourly rates who are capable of doing the work.

 

The secret to doing this on a budget is to monitor the work they're doing closely.

 

Have them send you their work files after 20 minutes. Carefully review the submissions of all of the freelancers, and immediately close the contracts on anybody whose work you don't value highly.

 

This way you won't waste time or money on work that you can't use, and you can find the freelancers who provide you the best "bang for you buck."

I think it is a combo of issues.

#1 you only want to pay for entry level work, but the job sounds more complex than entry level

#2 you only want to pay $15

#3 you are asking for unlimited revisions

 

I'm not a designer, but if this job were in my category, I'd run myself.

I hear ya, but one of these two proposals offered to do it for only $5  - which was also commonplace with my previous jobs  (and he suggested unlimited revisions).


Jake W wrote:

I hear ya, but one of these two proposals offered to do it for only $5  - which was also commonplace with my previous jobs  (and he suggested unlimited revisions).


Jake, free advice: this is the perfect formula for a disaster.

 

Cronica de una muerte anunciada - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Sorry, english is not my mother language.

barada00
Community Member

This is what happens when "US only" jobs are default for US clients and US clients change the default option only to get their job done dirt cheap.

Agreed.  I had to cringe when I saw that.

m_terrazas
Community Member


Jake W wrote:

Last year I had several similar postings that got a lot of applicants, but this current post hasn't received any offers.  (I have good reviews, and I even increased the amount...)  It's set for world-wide, low experience, etc.  Any thoughts?


It has all the ingredients for not doing it.
"Easy" work, bad.
Explanation quite confused.
Ridiculous budget for that job.

When I find something like this, I wonder why the client does not do it, so easy and fast is the work!

Really, it does not surprise me that, nor the cheapest ones, want to apply.

Fair enough.  Thanks for the feedback.  What is a fair price for:  "Use an arm and racquet from one image, and a head from another image..."???  To a layman like myself, it seems like 20 minutes of work for a graphic pro.  I've posted jobs where bids come in above and below my low-budget guesses, and everything works out well (i.e. 5 stars for all parties).  This forum seems pretty heavy on freelancer cynicism - of which I can empathize.  

Have you considered posting it as an hourly job and asking applicants to tell you how many hours they think it will take?

You and I are not graphic deisgners and don't know what is involved. But the pros you need to hire are just that...pros. Ask them how long they think it will take.

re: "Use an arm and racquet from one image, and a head from another image..."

 

This strikes me as a project that can be done very inexpensively using an hourly contract.

 

If it was me, personally, I would hire lower-cost freelancers to do this using an hourly contract.

 

If the deadline was the most important factor, I would hire 6 people and use the best work that was submitted, and throw away the rest.

 

If budget is the most important factor, I would hire using an hourly contract and NOT allow manual time, and observe the work being done by a SINGLE freelancer, and if they take too long or if I don't like their work, I would hire the next person on my candidate list.

If my goal was actually to have a final, nice image... and if I DON'T ACTUALLY need to combine images from other sources, then I would hire lower-cost artists to create an original image from scratch, rather than trying to tell people to composite pieces from other images.

 

You can hire artists to create all kinds of images, including abstract, icon-like, painted, cartoon-like, or even photo-realistic.

 

 


Preston wrote:

I would hire 6 people and use the best work that was submitted, and throw away the rest.

 



Preston, for crying out loud, his budget is $ 15!

 


Preston wrote:

 

You can hire artists to create all kinds of images, including abstract, icon-like, painted, cartoon-like, or even photo-realistic.

.


For $ 15?

re: "Preston, for crying out loud, his budget is $15!"

 

When I talked about a project whose primary consideration is deadline, I was not considering budget as a factor. If budget is not a consideration (meaning that there is essentially no financial limit), then hiring 6 people to create artwork is a great way to guarantee having usable work by a specific deadline.

 

re: "You can hire artists to create all kinds of images, including abstract, icon-like, painted, cartoon-like, or even photo-realistic. For $15?"

 

Well, I wasn't talking about any specific budget.

 

But to answer your question: You can't get ALL of these options for $15.00.

 

But, by hiring on Upwork, you COULD get a cartoon-like drawing of a person holding a tennis racket (or whatever it is he wants) for $15.00.

 

You could do this using a properly-worded fixed-project OR an hourly contract with the right freelancer.

 

I have spent at least $1000 on artwork from Upwork freelancers. Artwork can be commissioned through Upwork for a wide variety of price ranges and a wide variety of quality levels.

Very honest and thoughtful responses outta Preston.  Update:  My hired freelancer has submitted a perfect rough draft of what I was expecting, and will fine-tune the rest after my feedback....  For $5.  (Don't worry, I'll be gladly awarding a bonus payment)  

But this is exactly the beauty of Upwork, in my brief experience.  After several comments on this thread, however, I'm now a bit more leary of freelancer bids for a "complex" job.  

I'm glad you're so happy.
I want to cry.

Maria T wrote:

I'm glad you're so happy.
I want to cry.

 

Me too.

petra_r
Community Member


Jake W wrote:

Very honest and thoughtful responses outta Preston.  Update:  My hired freelancer has submitted a perfect rough draft of what I was expecting, and will fine-tune the rest after my feedback....  For $5. 


Of which the freelancer will see $ 4.

 


Jake W wrote:

Very honest and thoughtful responses outta Preston. 


Preston with his $ 88 an hour rate obviously does not have to worry about clients paying him the price of a coffee for his work.

But sure, someone will always win the race to the bottom (interesting that you chose the freelancer who bid a third of your budget) as long as there are clients thrilled to exploit the desperation of others.

 

a7b0b34f
Community Member

I'm still pretty new, so constructive feedback is and has been appreciated.  I think I'm understanding some common criticisms here:  I need to propose my jobs with a bigger budget, and I don't have much of an idea what it actually takes for a professional to complete the task I'm asking.  

Should we agree that my job is very complex, and I should offer ... say....  $85 instead?  And if there's a seemingly qualified individual who offers to do it for much less... then....   

Jake W wrote:

To a layman like myself, it seems like 20 minutes of work for a graphic pro

 

This is a recipe for disaster and a perfect example of a project I run from. “Easy”…. “20 minute job”. Spoken from experience I imagine. If it were so quick and easy why don’t you just do it yourself? I see “20 minute job” and immediately understand that that is all the time the client is willing to pay for and I’m personally unwilling to compromise my high standards to accommodate your low budget.

 

When all is said and done, this job is at least a couple of hours, and the pay (net 12) is not enough for me allocate any of my $70 monthly adobe subscription, let alone turn on my computer and store your images while working on them. In addition, your images are vectors so you might as well remove “photoshop” from your list of required fields. Good luck, you may actually get a well-executed image trace finished off in pirated old version of photoshop.

mtngigi
Community Member


Jake W wrote:

Last year I had several similar postings that got a lot of applicants, but this current post hasn't received any offers.  (I have good reviews, and I even increased the amount...)  It's set for world-wide, low experience, etc.  Any thoughts?


It doesn't matter how "easy" you think a job is, freelancers should be paid for their knowledge and experience. I just looked at the files you're asking someone to work with. Bad clip art requiring well more than 15 minutes of work to come up with anything that looks halfway decent. They all seem to be on a pink-colored background that I assume has to be removed. Subtract fees and self-employment taxes from what you're offering to understand why many will balk at $15. 

 

It's hard to imagine that someone's budget is so tight that $15 is the max, and that for that price, unlimited revisions are asked for. For the freelancer, it's pretty much akin to working for free.

Please remember that freelancers are not just virtual services, they are like you and me, they need to make money to live.

I feel that some of the "concern" expressed here is misplaced.

 

Artists who work on Upwork are free to market their services as they see fit.

 

What may seem tricky or difficult or time-consuming to some of you may be very easy, enjoyable, and not particularly time-consuming for the right artist.

 

Not every job is an involved project that a freelancer is going to spend months on and use that money to buy food for the 12 adopted baby seals they rescued from an orphanage.

 

As a freelancer, I have personally done jobs for between $5.00 to $15.00.

 

For some tasks, that's what the job is worth.


Preston H wrote:

I feel that some of the "concern" expressed here is misplaced.


You would. You absolutely would. Nothing surprising about that at all.

 

Jake,

 

I am a freelancer and client; I have no graphic arts skills The job description is a turnoff for a professional. "I am looking for the lowest rates" tells me the work isn't important to you and that quality will be an afterthought. As a professional, regardless of domain, I won't cheapen my brand with this kind of work. You give detailed instructions on how to do the work, which is another turnoff for a creative professional. Tell me your desired end state, not how to get there.

 

Freelancers don't "deserve" to be paid any particular amount, and you have to determine the work's value to you. That said, experienced professionals won't ever see this job. I filter job posts by Expert, minimum $251 budget, and a few other things. Your post is perfectly designed to hire someone who is desperate, exactly the kind of freelancer you don't want.

 

You've had similar job posts. If you have an ongoing need for a graphic artist, you'll be best served by an ongoing relationship. I have a graphic artist whom I message with my requirements, she fills them and bills me. Simple. I sent a business book manuscript to my non-fiction editor, he'll bill me, we never discussed price. Over twenty years I've established ongoing relationships with more than a dozen freelancers, and it works out well.

 

You want an image of a mascot. "Need tennis mascot. My thinking is a combination of parts of the three attached images (indicate what parts). Please indicate price for basic vector image, price for full-color image, and price for an animated gif. Budget is a major consideration." Invitation only, spend an hour or two going over portfolios, invite eight to ten. You might pay $75 to get a great artist in an ongoing relationship.

What a fine and considerate response.  This is purely a whimsical, silly embellishment (clearly) that is certainly not that "important" to me.  If I get a lackluster product for $15, then I can absorb that cost and carry on.  I love the creative process, personally, but without the graphic design skills I'm obviously resigned to this site and any entry-level freelancers willing to try my idea.  I guess in a sense, I'm slowly trying to find that relationship you speak of (once or twice a year).  My project verbiage was pretty poor and hasty this time around, so I apprectiate the advice there!  

Hi Jake,

 

Really interesting topic. I'm glad to hear you found someone. I'm a client as well and often have the opposite issue with some of my job posts. I occasionally get flooded with numerous applicants who are at a lower hourly rate than I request. 

 

On a recent job, I specified a $20-$40 hourly rate and provided a detailed description. I expected more experienced applicants to apply. Instead, the vast majority of applicants sought $10-$20/hr. The problem is most (but usually not all) of these freelancers are below my requested skill/experience level. I take the time to review each application thoroughly so it can be frustrating when I have to archive many ill-suited applications. To add insult to injury, my understanding is that jobs with numerous proposals aren't as appealing to freelancers.

 

I've found it helps to require previous work product examples and to provide detailed screening questions. For example I may ask potential web development applicants to provide the correct solution to a php bug I have encountered in the past. I may also dive into man pages to produce challenging questions. It's easy to filter out applicants who provide spam-type responses to the screening questions.


Dallas H wrote:

 

I've found it helps to require previous work product examples and to provide detailed screening questions. 


As long as you don't use the stupid boilerplate questions that Upwork provides. To many experimented freelancers, this one included, this is a deterrent.

 

 

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