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dereksey
Community Member

Client Vanishes during Interview

Why do clients do this?

One client sends me an interview invite, I respond and he sends me a video to watch so I can understand the task ahead. I watch the video and respond that I understand the task and am ready to work. Bam, he mutes. He has not answered any of my prompts even.

 

Another client sends me an invite to propose on her job post, I do and she has not been online since I responded.

Why do clients do this? Someone help me out.

7 REPLIES 7
martina_plaschka
Community Member


Derek S wrote:

Why do clients do this?

One client sends me an interview invite, I respond and he sends me a video to watch so I can understand the task ahead. I watch the video and respond that I understand the task and am ready to work. Bam, he mutes. He has not answered any of my prompts even.

 

Another client sends me an invite to propose on her job post, I do and she has not been online since I responded.

Why do clients do this? Someone help me out.


They might have lost interest, found somebody else, their project changed, their house was struck by a tornado. Who knows? Best is not to worry about that at all. 

Oh ok, but that is very strange and it leaves me hanging. Guess I should not bother. I am fairly new on Upwork and it hard getting an interview so when I get a couple of interviews and they ghost on me, I get worried.

Hi Derek. Welcome to Upwork. 

 

When I started as a freelancer, I was shocked by how often people ghosted in all sorts of situations (not just on Upwork). Now I've accepted that it's an unfortunate part of freelancing. As someone pointed out, you can't really know what's going on at the other end (tornado?), so I aim to forget it unless I have payment or a deadline in the balance.

 

I hope you didn't spend too long watching the video. As time goes on, you'll get a better feel for where you want to spend your time and how much you're prepared to give for free.

 

Beware of people who ask you to do a long trial for work with no guarantee that you'll get hired. Be professional: you're providing a service, not hustling for a job.

 

If I feel that a trial will take time, I ask the client to set up a milestone for that amount. Sometimes a client will refuse, but then it's better that the project didn't get started in the first place.

oh wow! fortunately, I did not spend much time on the video. Thanks, Zoe.

prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "Another client sends me an invite to propose on her job post, I do and she has not been online since I responded."

 

I recommend that you never again check to see if a client is "online."

 

I am usually online, but I permanently set my profile to display offline. Many Upwork users do that. Checking to see if a client is online provides you with no benefit. It has nothing to do with you. The only thing that matters is if a client contacts you.

re: "so when I get a couple of interviews and they ghost on me, I get worried."


Ghosting is when a friend, particularly a girlfriend or boyfriend, suddenly stops responding to you with no explanation.

 

There is no such thing as ghosting on Upwork.

I had that same thing happen to me this past week.  The only thing that's weird is that these clients who spoke with me, ended up ghosting during a conversation and after which I receive a message from upwork say that "my proposal was declined" when they were literally drawing up my contract.

I informed them that Upwork autogenerates a contract based on the criteria they used when they created the job to speed up the process then the next thing I know I recieve messages and notifications from Upwork stating the "proposal was declined and contract closed".

 

About an hour or so later (today) I receive an email stating that they violated T.O.S. and to "remain vigilant".

I understand why it happened, the client was inexperienced when it came to using Upwork but (during my encounter with them) they didn't seem particularly beligerent, they just seemed to be set on hiring me, though it's possible they could have made that same error with someone else they were interviewing.

They didn't try to extract PII (private information) about me or bank account numbers, I think the only thing they did was try to show me this app they wanted me work with them on and posted a link in

the process from google with a picture of the app in googles app market. 

 

I'm just bummed, I feel like I was sooo close to being hired lol

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