Why clients keep looking for proposal even they have 50+ already submitted

[#1]

Hi Clients, 

         I have observed in many cases clients are not able to close on the hire even after receiving 50+ proposal submitted by them. Some may reason that client is scam and not looking to hire but than why someone will post job and invest time in reviewing the profiles.

I have seen client last reviewed and may keep reviewing the proposal but do not hire anyone even after 10-15 days or even 20+ days. 

This have become mystery to me and I look for your help in understanding the reason why this happen?

Regards 

Sajal Sharma

[#2]

When 90% of the 1st 10 or 20 proposals you go through are garbage, it is easy to draw conclusions about the talent pool that is available and decide upwork is just not the right place to find a freelancer.

[#3]

Closing a job requires effort. What incentive does a client have to close their job when ignoring it works just as well?

[#4]

I believe job getting auto closed after finite time of inaction say 2 week sound good  cap. 

[#5]

I agree with you.... And please client should always reach back to the ones the feel is good for the job.

[#6]

I have been hired for jobs that sometimes take a while to hire. All of your suggestions are designed to make things easy for the freelancers. The freelancers are not the object in Upwork, it is clients. Those connects are nice income, especially from unskilled freelancers who are duped into believing they can make lots of money. However, if those people were actually hired for jobs, Upwork would make a lot more money.

I understand you don't feel Upwork helps the freelancers enough. They do provide a ton of "how to" information. The reasoning is simple; there are literally approximately 18-20 million freelancers on the platform. The amount of clients is a tiny fraction of that amount. If it was your business, who would you focus on?

[#7]

I believe every freelancer / person has quality skills in his or her field. Connects are mechanism for upwork to have sincere freelancer bidding for the job. Also I believe bidding is competing and not gambling so it is all about having skills and marketting those skills effectively. How does it matter if some get more and some get less as this is constinous cycle with ups and down for everyone.

If upwork makes money by selling connects or charging fees than that's why we have upwork and no one is here for charity.

However I agree with your point that upwork need to look into adding more clients / client jobs as effectiveness of platform is there when there is topline growth in terms of end client revenue. Upwork earns 60% revenue from freelancer.

[#8]

"I believe every freelancer / person has quality skills in his or her field."

You may believe that, but it is far from the truth. The majority of freelancers do not have skills in any field. I have seen proposals, profiles, and worked with many new or struggling freelancers and I know the business. Most freelancers jump in because they think they have skills. Just look at profiles, it is disgusting. No profiles, wild exaggerated claims about what they can do, and no skills...that is the reality for most of the freelancers on this platform.

"Connects are mechanism for upwork to have sincere freelancer bidding for the job"

Connects are a mechanism for Upwork to make some money from freelancers that will never, ever land a job. Using connects to try and get a job will never work. It is best used by freelancers with skills to position themselves for a job they have excellent skills and qualifications for and can complete. The new or desperate freelancers throw connects at clients without bothering to even create a profile.

[#9]

Freelancer Skill - 

Freelancer can be a lateral or fresher in the area he is looking for freelancing. Fresher or minimal experience in the area of bidding / competing are looking to gain experience by getting opportunity to work in that specifc area. It depends on client whether they want to give that opportunity. However I believe it will be better for the fresher to look for opportunity in agency as they will be well overlap with lateral. We all have learned skills over the period of time while being in industry.

Connects

I am not in view of spending connects by boosting or positioning ahead will lead result alone. Definitely this has to be clubbed with skills and could be a differetiator in that case. Every freelancer has the right to apply for the job if spends connects. However it is on client to have a mechanism to select the right profile for their requirement. I have observed that client hired top rated freelancer and the delivery and quality have big impact due to delay or incorrect understanding of the freelancer.

In general, prime responsbility lies with client to select the right profile for his or her requirement. From my epxerience of 20k+ screened profile and ramp up of 100 plus team member for my projects with my previous companies - 

1. Resume is first step to screen and shortlist the suitable profile for project

2. You can also have a quick test or directly have brief discussion with short listed candidate to understand skills and experience

3. Have the first round technical discussion to evaluate skills. Filter candidate not meeting requirement

4. Have second round with first round cleared candidate

5. Have general discussion on culture fit 

6. You are all set with the right fit candidate

However even after following the above process, you may have issue with candidate & than you might have to take corrective action but chances are less may 1 /1000. I believe if you take shortcut in selection than there are more chances of concerns / issues.

[#10]

"Freelancer can be a lateral or fresher in the area he is looking for freelancing. Fresher or minimal experience in the area of bidding / competing are looking to gain experience by getting opportunity to work in that specifc area. It depends on client whether they want to give that opportunity. However I believe it will be better for the fresher to look for opportunity in agency as they will be well overlap with lateral. We all have learned skills over the period of time while being in industry."

It's one thing to hone your skills over time. I certainly hope I never stop learning about my field or life. However, if the freelancer does not have the skills, an agency is still not an acceptable place. Open a school outside of Upwork, but this is not a training ground. That is where, so many make their mistake. They believe they can throw up a profile and start making money with no marketable skills. I'm no elitist, I hate to see people who are desperate or misled, lose money and hope because they were manipulated.

If someone sets up an agency, and follows the rules, that is fine. There are others who do not, and the client has no clue who is doing the work. And no one knows the person doing the work is being disgustingly underpaid.

"However it is on client to have a mechanism to select the right profile for their requirement."

The client has no way to filter out a great proposal in the midst of 50+.

Regarding client tests. I understand clients want the best freelancer, but I am not doing tests again. If clients want to hire me, they should hire me. If they want to hire multiple freelancers, that's great, but these little tests don't bring in much money for the time, and even with clients with long records through Upwork will still not hire.

Legitimate agencies are fine. The freelancers who are using others to do their work are in violation of the Terms of Service (until told otherwise) and should be treated as such. I do not understand why we can't get a definitive yes or nor on this important subject.

[#11]

The whole essence of Upwork is to drastically shorten time-to-hire.

If you've been having to interview lots of candidates before making one hire, you've been wasting everybody's time.

Indeed, many seasoned freelancers will not bother to put serious effort into an interview if they see "Interviews: 10 or more" on your job post.

If you're a client with a hiring process that arduous, you must rid yourself of the view that you're screening, and vetting, and meeting HR and procurement protocols as though this were a "job" in the traditional sense if the word". Cos it isn't.

In short, "Shred" is what I blurted after reading your suggested hiring steps.

You do not need a resume; free tests are a no-no, and many freelancers won't even do paid ones; you will not have a first and second-round interview with me and I may not have time for a drawn-out discussion on "cultural fit"

I'd also not do any fancy "technical discussion" until I'm hired.

And if the above position is a deal breaker for you, then I may not be the right fit for you.

[#12]

I'm curious about why you have assigned that "essence" to upwork. It is certainly not my objective as either a freelancer or a client on the site. The same appears to be true for my clients, since many of them take a few weeks to a few months to get a project rolling. My goal is to make money. Theirs is to get quality work. Nothing about rushing and taking shortcuts enhances either of those goals.

[#13]

Agreed.  There should be a sunset timer.

[#14]

I thought there was one at the 1-month mark, but now I can't find any publications stating so.

[#15]

I also did not find any publication stating the same. However 1 month will be a too long time. I believe 15 days must be good and also the number of proposal cap must be there for any job posted.

In case client is not able to find the suitable freelancer in that period too than the job must require to be renewed. I believe this way there will be transparency to all and it will help client to voice his concern too, if any.

[#16]

I don't understand the problem if the client never closes the job and hires no one. Yes, it's frustrating, when you want the job, are qualified, and send a great proposal, but that is part of freelancing. The rule is you will apply to more jobs than you will receive. We will never know why someone doesn't hire. They could be sick, the money for the project could disappear, etc. It doesn't matter. Apply and let it go. Continue to apply for jobs and do not wait to see if you are hired for one job.

And on top of the other burdensome rules for clients, you want to demand they re-post the job if they didn't hire? All of your suggestions may sound good to you, but they will drive away every real client and leave only an ocean of scammers and desperate freelancers with no skills.

[#17]

If client is not closing the job than post keep consuming the connects of the freelancer with no clue that client does not require that position. I do not agree to your point that you apply more and more as without measuring the conversion rate is like a BOT that keep bidding irrespective of the result. We need to understand whether reason for not closing the job is "status quo" or "indecision" as without knowing the same you keep contributing to the problem.

Renewal or repost is probable solution for client to signal that he has critical open requirement to close but not finding suitable freelancer or solution to problem. This will establish and enhance client reputation on the platform and also help client to look more credible ways of hiring like - Blue bar / becoming enterprise client offering long term position and so on. 

[#18]

Any obstacle like closing at a certain time or insisting on reposting will drive away clients. I am against any sort of client interference.

[#19]

Why do you want to take good job opportunities away from freelancers who are less impatient than you are?

[#20]

this is so competetive 

[#21]

I really wish that Upwork restrict such clients or maybe ask them to pay to post a job like we do to send proposals. 

[#22]

I will say - charge client for posting the job but at the same provide incentive to client if they are closing the job hiring in a timely manner for e.g. -> as per the cap defined.

[#23]

Clients don't know if they will hire or not. Any obstacle to posting, like insisting the job be pre-paid, will drive away clients.

[#24]

I will say charging may not be a obstacle as recommendation is provide incentive to client if they are closing the job hiring in a timely manner.

Either way as it is percieved as obstacle for client similarly it will be a deterent for freelancer too due to no response from clients for any of the proposal. 

[#25]

Freelancers should know jobs will close with no hiring. Freelancers should accept that they will apply for more jobs than they will receive. Freelancers should not apply and wait. Apply to multiple jobs at the same time.

[#26]

Upwork is designed for clients only, what about the welfare of the freelancers?