+50 proposals, No hiring

xuraniumx · ‎05-03-2021

Greetings Upwork Community!
I had something that I wanted to share with you and see what is your opinion about it.
I was working on long-term contracts for like 4-5 months, so I didn't have to apply to new jobs. Recently, I finished my long-term contracts, so I had to start proposing again. I have noticed something, in my niche ( Video Production and editing ) all of the jobs are getting +50 proposals whether the job is for professionals or beginners, and in all the jobs, no one among all of these freelancers is hired ( I applied 20 times and not a single contract was closed ). I don't know if this is the case in all the professions but this is the first time I see that on Upwork. Does anyone have an explanation?

jaycrutcher · ‎05-03-2021

It is possible that they simply don't find the right person for the job.

It is also possible that they get overwhelmed by all of the unqualified proposals they get and decide not to sift through them looking for quality freelancers.

feed_my_eyes · ‎06-07-2022

Jarrad C wrote:
It is also possible that they get overwhelmed by all of the unqualified proposals they get and decide not to sift through them looking for quality freelancers.

I think it's probably that. Upwork used to turn down new freelancers if a category was already oversaturated or if the profile was barely filled out; now new freelancers are joining in droves, with no requirements at all. I see profiles all the time that just contain a few lines of gibberish from people with no experience or skills, no portfolio or a stolen portfolio, and/or who can't write clearly in English. Every job in my category has more than 50 bids in less than an hour, and you can't blame clients if they look at the applicants and see one bid after another from really poor-quality freelancers, and decide to look elsewhere.

There are also freelancers who post fake jobs in order to see what their competition looks like, or so they can get free connects, so that's undoubtedly contributing to the number of projects that close without anyone being chosen. Add that to freelancers who take clients off the platform in order to avoid service charges, plus all the scam jobs, and I wouldn't be surprised if most jobs are going unawarded.

cyber_sec007 · ‎06-07-2022

Christine A wrote:
Jarrad C wrote:
It is also possible that they get overwhelmed by all of the unqualified proposals they get and decide not to sift through them looking for quality freelancers.

There are also freelancers who post fake jobs in order to see what their competition looks like, or so they can get free connects, so that's undoubtedly contributing to the number of projects that close without anyone being chosen. Add that to freelancers who take clients off the platform in order to avoid service charges, plus all the scam jobs, and I wouldn't be surprised if most jobs are going unawarded.

Omg, I mean, I have never imagined that someone would invest time and effort to create a fake job post. That is just rude, making FLs waste connections, and time writing a proposal. Why not switch to the client account, and browse the top-rated ones?

ri3dviz · ‎06-07-2022

This has been going on for years. I suggested they cap proposals at 20, then if the client needs more job applicants they can open it up to more.

00137e0a · ‎06-07-2022

I don't think it's a good idea. The client will probably end up with 20 copy/paste, automated "Dear Sir/Madam" proposals.

It would be best if the client could choose who can visualize and bid for their job posts based on a few pre-selected criteria.

For example, a client may just want people who have been on the platform for more than six months, with a top-rated badge, and with an 80% + JSS to bid on their job posting.

To make things accessible for newcomers, Upwork could enable this kind of selection only for projects with a budget of X dollars (depending on the category) or more.

Something like this would reward those with a proven work record on the platform, while still enabling newcomers to get jobs and grow.

Allowing anyone to bid on any project ends up not benefiting anyone: Good proposals get lost between dozens of bad ones. Clients become overwhelmed and don't hire anyone. Freelancers spend their time and connects in vain.

feed_my_eyes · ‎06-07-2022

That's a terrible idea. The people who are quickest to respond to proposals aren't necessarily the best match for the job; they're people who have nothing better to do than hover over their keyboards hitting the "refresh" key.

But I would support the idea of Upwork charging more for connects/limiting the number of connects that we're allowed to use each month/stop giving out freebies as a way of reducing the proposals. There should also be a mandatory readiness test for new freelancers to filter out the ones who are unlikely to ever get a job here, and ensure that they're better informed and less likely to fall for scams.

studioquixote · ‎05-03-2021

Hello there.

Great that I'm not alone. I'm active at UW for few month and it started good and progressing well till about few weeks ago. I had some other jobs besides also in video production, 3d, animation field like here. when I came back I can't get proper job.

Only one, small one. Trying to get any info about it but it's really weird. I'm getting repplyes and even some offers for ridiculous small amount. I even mentioning that I can work for less and fit in any deadline and budget just to "brake the ice" again. Prices went down, people work for less, overcrouded, I can understand all of that but still a lot of ghosted proposals. And now how not to send 4-5 proposals per day. Getting one ore more answers for average 4 proposals. I hope this is some weird period but still it could go vorse I'm afraid.

I know I'm not perfect but still clients are overwelmed and I think I'm not to price whit more than 20 years of professional expirience. I hate this uncertiny but probably it's a style which I hated. Sorry about the long text but I couldn't find fresh post about this for days.

To summ it up yes I'm noticing it's much harder to get the job. My question is hom much conects and proposal I should trow to get one decent job and not to wait for weeks. It's not problem to spend if I get something in return but this should be improved somehow (algorythm or gost clients whith unfair offers ).

9 active candidacies

31 submitted proposals

robinhuood · ‎05-03-2021

Hey everyone.

Same Here. i spent buying 80 connects just this week. Not even one single contract. It's also first time that it happened and i consider it very weird. As long i'm not the only one, maybe something is going wrong with the algorithms

studioquixote · ‎05-03-2021

Oh, good that it's not just me realy,

i'm going trough net and forums for days trying to surch something that could help me figure out situation. My good friend also has no luck in the same video-animation category. Hope we'll get in to proper work soon. Or we should accept few $ that ocationaly someone offer which is again shameless but much more popular moves here, at leest for me.

cyber_sec007 · ‎06-07-2022

Yes, I also experience this (50+ applications in my niche - security management was unusual until recently), fewer job posts to apply to, less response, and less hiring, what we need to understand is the global context. Because of the war energy prices are increasing, including fuel, and basic foodstuff (oil, sugar, flour) prices as doubled/tripled in the EU and I'm pretty sure elsewhere, the stock exchange in the US is falling in the last 4-6 weeks. So there is global uncertainty, and a recession is ongoing, it is not yet full scale but seems like impacting the freelance market:

- Companies will only spend on what is necessary only, e.g., either not posting jobs, or not hiring on the already posted jobs, just probing the market, the prices

- Many new joiners to the platform, more competition means price war, and good for clients sucks for us.

- Many new joiners are inexperienced and can impact the client experience - I read the community forums and see a bunch of - not sure the best word for it - dumb questions from the new joiners. I mean no offense but seems like - according to the posts in the forum - does not know anything about freelancing basics, and has not taken the time and effort to try to understand how the platform works.

- Scammers on both sides are a big problem, If you check the Clients forum many legit clients are complaining about services not delivered, and faked profiles (for example someone claiming to be fluent in a language but during an interview can't speak a word), etc, which is again ruining the business for legit hard-working freelancers

During my 3 years + on Upwork it happens from time to time that there are fewer or no jobs posted in my niche, but usually, these periods lasted for a max of 4 weeks. What scares me is the length of this period, there is a massive drop in quality job posts since mid-April.

Upwork uniqueness for me (as a seasoned professional with 20-years of experience) is the number of quality jobs posted, and as of now, I feel that (based on the last 6 weeks) the quality of the jobs is decreasing to low-level, not complex basic services.

ee63b3b0 · ‎06-06-2022

Same thing here its very strange that these projects get 50+ proposals and they dont interview anyone. Maybe there are fake projects to get us to spend connects?? Very fishy

pgiambalvo · ‎06-06-2022

I've been noticing the same thing.

AveryO · ‎06-06-2022

Hi Ryan,

When I posted a project on Upwork, I received more than 50+ proposals for my translation project. It took me some time to review and hire freelancers because I wanted to make sure I was hiring the right candidate. We can't say for sure that having this number of proposals for a job post means the job is a scam. Clients have different hiring practices. However, if you suspect that the jobs are fraudulent, you can flag them by following the steps here.

~ Avery

00137e0a · ‎06-07-2022

I've noticed identical job postings, with identical job titles, text, and requirements, which pop up every few weeks and always close without hiring anyone.

These are apparently legit proposals, fairly clear and well written, not scams.

00137e0a · ‎06-07-2022

I'm a top-rated freelancer with a 100% JSS and 15+ years of experience in my field, and I was doing well on Upwork.

However, it appears that my proposals are simply not reaching anyone lately.

I spent a lot of connects on proposals over the last few months and didn't get a single response. None. I'm not even talking about not getting hired. I'm not getting any replies at all. This never happened before.

I've also noticed an alarming number of jobs that are closed without hiring anyone, which I believe has a lot to do with the fact that these jobs are quickly overwhelmed with an avalanche of super amateurish copy/paste proposals, and they give up hiring anyone entirely.

If these trends continue, Upwork will make it impossible for highly qualified individuals to use the platform.

To make matters worse, this boosting feature allows anyone to jump to the top of the list, and I've heard that some people spend over 40 connects on boosts, which is insane.

With this and the spam/scam crisis, I believe Upwork needs to get their act together, or else it will become a platform for amateurs looking to make a quick buck here and there, and clients and freelancers looking for professional, high-quality work will have to look elsewhere.

Upwork will eventually have to decide what kind of platform it wants to be and set some boundaries.

I believe they should work on a progressive job access feature, which means that the more you work and prove yourself, the more high-quality opportunities you'll get to show up on your feed.

Furthermore, if someone wants to hire a professional at a certain level, say, an expert, their job posting should not even be visible to people who do not fit into this category.

Maybe, if someone is posting a job with a budget of X or above (depending on the category), they get to choose who can actually view their job posting, i.e; people who are on the platform for more than six months, who have earned more than X, top-rated only, and so on...Currently, it's possible to pick similar requirements, but it doesn't really change anything because anyone can still see the job and apply, which leads to an avalanche of copy/paste unqualified applications.

I'm not even sure if these are, specifically, the best ideas, but some sort of experience/quality visibility feature will have to be implemented eventually.

I was just talking with someone from Reddit's Upwork sub, and he said he received more than 150 proposals for his job post in just a couple of hours, most of which were copy/pasted/automated. This is crazy. Nobody has the time or patience to read 150 proposals, let alone decide which one is the best fit for the job.

Just my two cents, anyway.