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Sep 20, 2016
How to handle vague job invites from clients
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An updated version of this post can be found here.


Please note that this post was made in 2016. Some things, including Upwork policies, have changed since this post was made. As such this post has been closed to further comments. Please ensure to adhere to Upwork's current Terms of Service.


Summary
How to handle a Client who sends an Invite, but the job does not outline specfics for the role the Client is looking to fill. Tips for confirming the client is legit, and making sure you fully understand the job before accepting the offer.

 

My Process
I recently received a private Invite from a client, who had seen my profile and wanted to know how I could help him. He wasn't sure how to handle the complex job he wanted to hire for, and had not yet created a proper job post.

Because he did not post job details, I was initially a little concerned that he was a legit Client, so I hope my little story here helps others who encounter this.

His message gave me a general idea of what he needed, and he included his website address in his message.

The first thing I did was visit his website, and crawled around his Social Media sites. I then checked out his Upwork job history. This confirmed he was a real client, had paid over $20k since he joined, and that his business was real.

Checking his Upwork job history required a little bit of additional work (job history was extensive) but his reviews were very good and showed 2016 hiring activity. The clients hire rate was over 70%, which is another good sign.

Once I completed this research, I replied and said that I was interested, and suggested we meet via Skype. I asked him to commit to an hour interview and Q&A, so that we could flesh out the job details. (This is a typical interview time for many of my prospective clients, because the role I am being hired for is often a Managerial position with possible B2B client facing responsiblities).

24 hours before the meeting I submitted 12 questions about his business, and told him that we would need to over these during the meeting. He responded 2 hours later with answers to my questions in an MS word doc, which I thought was really great.

The next day we met up on Skype and went through my questions in further detail, talked about his business needs, and discussed payment terms and hours.

I then wrote up a 1.5 page proposal that was a summary of the interview, along with payment terms and a list of goals I'd commit to in the first 30 days. I sent this to the Client via the Upwork message center.

 

Update: I just heard from this client. They REALLY need system and process development, but like so many Agencies, they keep putting this on the back burner. He said he's too busy to hire for this role right now. Could be true, or maybe my rate scared him off. Time will tell.

Note: This is actually the 2nd time I have received this sort of job invite with no detail. I won the older job, doing pretty much what I described above.

Takeways
1. If you get a direct message from a Client who whose job post is vague, don't assume it's a scam. Sometimes Clients just don't know how to hire an independant contractor for complex roles.

2. Research the Client before responding. View their history on Upwork, and if necessary, ask for the Clients website or details about thier business. Confirm they are legit on Upwork and have paid users on Upwork recently.

3. Prepare to do some additional work to get the job. In cases like this, the Client is ready to hire, but isn't sure how to go about it. This means asking relevent questions before the interview, and making sure your questions are discussed in the meeting or before hand via the Message Center.

4. Prepare a proposal. In a case like this, the Client may not be sure what kind of job post to create. Use this to your advantage and create a custom, tailored proposal. This will help the client create the job details in Upwork. Yes, it's an extra step, but not really that different from creating a detailed cover letter and submitting a bid proposal to an existing job post. Plus, you already have your foot in the door and you should continue to present your best professional face to the Client.

5. Do not work for the Client until you receive an offical job offer via Upwork. Just because the hiring process was a little different intially doesn't mean this legal step should be skipped.

 

23 Comments
iaabraham
Community Member

I think it was Olga who suggested this in another thread: if a client sends you an offer without a link to a job post, and you can't access the client's profile on Upwork, you can ask CS to give you the client's profile details. Hopefully this still applies if the client only sends you an invite and not an offer...

garnorm
Community Member

This is really good info, thanks for sharing the tips Pandora. I'm going to move this over to our Content Corner area, where we look to highlight tips/best practices that all freelancers or clients can benefit from.

pandoraharper
Community Member

@Garnor M wrote:

This is really good info, thanks for sharing the tips Pandora. I'm going to move this over to our Content Corner area, where we look to highlight tips/best practices that all freelancers or clients can benefit from.


Glad to hear it! That is to say, lots of good content has been posted by others, and I'm happy to contribute. 🙂

 

It is however, just impossible to NOT note the irony: When I first posted this, it went into the Content Corner by mistake, then moved to the Freelancer forum (my fault, me bad). Now it's back here, which is just plain funny.

niag
Community Member

May I ask what you've used to develop this library of templates? I've started to do some variation of this with some simple Google Docs and Excel sheets. But, if there is a better way or some software that I can use, I'd love to hear it. 

 

Thanks in advance. This post is awesome, BTW. 

pandoraharper
Community Member


 @Nia


I use Office 365.

Cover Letter: My template file and working document are both MS Word. My template file is organized into the sections I need most, and to remind me what I need.

Client Questions: I just use a .txt doc for this, so that when I have it open, I can adjust and add to another .txt that eventually goes into the Client folder if I am hired.

Post Interview Proposal: MS Word again, with an template, and then also a working doc. Template has organized sections. Unlike the Cover letter, it's branded and has contact info. Also ends up inclient folder if hired.

Scope of Work: same deal as the proposal, also branded. Also goes into client folder if hired.

Note: Proposals and Scope of work always get ported to PDF and merged into one .PDF file that is sent to the client.

Post-Hire Client Onboarding: A Word Doc that I can directly copy/paste from that become Welcome emails, along with list of my Apps, and also an email for my Scheduled, hours, and contact info.

Complete Computer Folder System Template - I have a special folder on my computer just for clients. At the top I have a folder called Client Setup. This contains all the usual folders I need for clients, a library folder of files I can use with my clients. I simply copy the main folder, and rename it for each client. Takes 3 minutes to get totally set up.

Browser Bookmarks - have a special bookmark section for clients in my main browser, and use a nifty add-on for bookmark management. Inside the client bookmark area is another folder with sub-folders, a bit like the above computer folders, but for their websites, account sites, tool sites, social media, etc.

niag
Community Member

Thanks a bunch! I think I'll try this setup. It sounds pretty efficient once you get it all set up.

pandoraharper
Community Member

@Nia G wrote:

Thanks a bunch! I think I'll try this setup. It sounds pretty efficient once you get it all set up.


Your welcome, Nia

 

I know that's a big list of things. It's what I need for usually for MY client base, but you might need more or less.

 

My initial goal was to stop producing the same content over and over again to get a job and manage the onboarding of new clients. I looked at all the templates I had at that point, and ID'd areas that needed more backup, so to speak.

 

Plus, a couple of years back, came across some articles regarding what graphic designers and web dev freelancers were doing to get clients and onboard their clients. This inspired me to take a deep look at items I was missing, and led to the system I have today.

firescue17
Community Member

@Pandora H wrote:

My latest hourly client and I got set up to do business in 30 hours. That's a record, and I could not have done it without this system. 


This is a valuable reminder. At some point throughout the years, I read a professional employment advice column which indicated in the conventional marketplace one could expect to spend 30 days per $10,000 of salary looking for employment from scratch.

 

I regularly spend two to three weeks of intermittent communication to land an UpWork contract. Which is not to be interpreted as 40 - 80 hours of work, rather as a back and forth exchange of questions, an introductory conference call, and subsequent follow-up every few days or so.

 

The internet is different. Each individual's professional field is different. However, it's worth mentioning as a reminder to all the forum posters stating, "I didn't get hired for the contract I applied to yesterday!" Or even worse, "... an hour ago."

pandoraharper
Community Member

@Steven E. L wrote:

@Pandora H wrote:

My latest hourly client and I got set up to do business in 30 hours. That's a record, and I could not have done it without this system. 


This is a valuable reminder. At some point throughout the years, I read a professional employment advice column which indicated in the conventional marketplace one could expect to spend 30 days per $10,000 of salary looking for employment from scratch.

 

I regularly spend two to three weeks of intermittent communication to land an UpWork contract. Which is not to be interpreted as 40 - 80 hours of work, rather as a back and forth exchange of questions, an introductory conference call, and subsequent follow-up every few days or so.

 

The internet is different. Each individual's professional field is different. However, it's worth mentioning as a reminder to all the forum posters stating, "I didn't get hired for the contract I applied to yesterday!" Or even worse, "... an hour ago."


Thanks, Steven, for posting that.

 

I would like to clarify the statement you quoted, however. I was referring specifically to the onboarding processes I use with new clients. Negotiating with my prospective clients before the interivew often takes a few days. I like to give clients a day or two to process my questions, and as we all know, clients are busy people!

 

(In my early days here on Upwork, I did not have any real processes to speak of, and would often spend days after being hired, cementing out the job.)

 

Your comment however, about the time it time it takes to GET a job, is a great one. My client base is quite prone to taking AGES to hire. I'm sure this something a lot of other members also experience in certain niches.

 

If your not bidding on other jobs will waiting for a prospective client response, your doing it wrong.

6ae5123a
Community Member

Well explained @Pandora, you did it to perfection