What is the best time to post a job to get proposals from [certain] region?

[5a9bbfc0]

Hi,

I like to work with freelancers that are roughly in my time zone. Not because of quality reasons but because it makes communication for me so much easier and the projects get done faster.

Let's say I want primarily proposals from freelancers from Europe (Western, Eastern etc.). What is the best time to post a job to attract mostly freelancers from there?

My guess would be rather in the morning when most people start their day.

[versailles]

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@Andreas F wrote:

My guess would be rather in the morning when most people start their day.

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 I would post it in the morning CET.

[wendy_writes]

Andreas, while I fully understand your concern, the professional freelancers will work their schedules around those of their clients.That's just part of our job.  

Rene works with clients in the US although he's based in France;  I work with clients throughout Europe despite being based in the US.

[richard_wein]

I don't think it matters what time you post the job. I would just post it as soon as possible, and then wait as long as it takes for some suitable applicants to apply.

I doubt that freelancers are going to pass over a job just because it's 6, 12 or 24 hours old by the time they check their job feed.

P.S. If your point is just to avoid freelancers who are not in your preferred time zone, I suggest you simply indicate in your job post which time zones or countries you're willing to consider.

[claudiacezy]

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@Richard W wrote:

I don't think it matters what time you post the job. I would just post it as soon as possible, and then wait as long as it takes for some suitable applicants to apply.

I doubt that freelancers are going to pass over a job just because it's 6, 12 or 24 hours old by the time they check their job feed.

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 By the time a freelancer checks the job feed it might no longer be listed there because .... "Once a job has received a sufficient amount of proposals from Top Rated freelancers, it will no longer appear in freelancer job feeds and search results. "

I'd post anytime between 11 am -  3 pm

[luce-neidert]

To give you a practical example, I'm in France. There is time difference of 5 or 6 hours (daylight saving time or not) between France and the East Coast of the United States. I start noticing job offers coming from the US in the afternoon. I don't usually bother to answer job offers when it's evening here, because I'd rather not be interviewed late at night. So to answer your initial question, to reach European freelancers the best time to post a job is early in YOUR morning.

Better still, just send invitations to whoever you're interested in, they'll receive them whenever they log in.

[5a9bbfc0]

It seems like this has been somehow discussed before but for US clients only:

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Announcements/Testing-freelancer-location-for-job-posts/td-p/334213

I did what @Rene @Luce suggested and also what my intuition was: post in the morning (it was around 8am CET). After a couple of minutes, I already had 11 proposals and after two or three hours I had 19. Since then, nothing.

I think this is what @Claudia highlighted in this thread: The job is no longer listed.

The feature I am looking for is actually already available but then I have to invite people to it (as seen in the picture below). I would love to have this for general job posts, too.

To those who are also freelancers: Do you consider it impolite if someone invites you to a job but then does not hire you? I don't want to upset any people on here.

[versailles]

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@Andreas F wrote:

To those who are also freelancers: Do you consider it impolite if someone invites you to a job but then does not hire you? I don't want to upset any people on here

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This is totally normal on Upwork. Inviting X freelancers an only hiring the one or the ones that you want is exactly how the system is supposed to work.

If each person who sent me an invite have hired me, I would be totally freaking out right now, not knowing what to do.

[bobafett999]

I believe the best suggestion is to specify for freelancers in your preferred time zone.  You also have to remember these people are freelancers.  Most of them would have day jobs.  Freelancing on Upwork ain't gonna give them an income they need to live.  So they check whenever they have some time to make few extra bucks.

[jr-translation]

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@Prashant P wrote:

I believe the best suggestion is to specify for freelancers in your preferred time zone.  You also have to remember these people are freelancers.  Most of them would have day jobs.  Freelancing on Upwork ain't gonna give them an income they need to live.  So they check whenever they have some time to make few extra bucks.

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Freelancing is my day job and I get about half of the income I need here on Upwork.

[luce-neidert]

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@Andreas F wrote:

To those who are also freelancers: Do you consider it impolite if someone invites you to a job but then does not hire you? I don't want to upset any people on here.

That's very kind of you. I don't mind being invited and not hired, I've got many other things on my mind, I usually don't even notice.

[boshoffirene]

Eh...remember people like me wayyyyy down south are also in European time zones.

[m_terrazas]

Hi Irene,

It is a good point.
I do not know if you are only a freelancer or you are also a client, if you are not, maybe a client can answer.
Is there an option to define a time zone when you publish a job?
It would be a good choice 🙂

[versailles]

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@Maria T wrote:

Is there an option to define a time zone when you publish a job?
It would be a good choice 🙂

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There is no option to restrict a job posting to a specific time zone. The only geographical restriction on Upwork is the US-only option that is available to US-based clients, so they can work with people located in one of the US time zones, without being bugged by pesky Canadians.

[afifield]

Ah I guess I am pesky now.  haha

Really, it would be great to have a way to group close time zones. I am actually closer to some people in the US than the people in the US themselves.

Even better UX options like filters for clients to sort through proposals to make it easier to do so. 

[richard_wein]

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@Andreas F wrote:

To those who are also freelancers: Do you consider it impolite if someone invites you to a job but then does not hire you? I don't want to upset any people on here.

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Don't worry. There's absolutely no obligation on you to hire someone just because you've invited them. You're not expected to make your decision on the basis of their profile alone. You can invite several freelancers, read their proposals, and then make your decision.

That said, I personally would consider it impolite if a client invites me and then doesn't respond to my proposal at all, not even with a "Thanks, but no thanks."

I also prefer to avoid jobs where more than a handful of freelancers have been invited, but unfortunately it's usually not possible tell how many invitations have been sent, until several hours later.

[5a9bbfc0]

Thank all of your for your input and some insight into the perspective of the freelancer. I think it will be a bit easier now for me to navigate in this world. 🙂

@Irene: You are totally right, my bad!

@Richard: Of course I'll do that. I also write people as quickly as possible when I rejected their application and chose another freelancer. I know from my own job hunting experience how frustrating it is to not even receive a simple "no".