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alphaville
Community Member

Clients Are Wasting Our Time And Should Be Charged A Fee To Post A Job

At least half of the clients that interview me never end up hiring anyone for the job. It seems like they want to conduct these 30-minute interviews to get free advice from a pro so they can go off and try to do the job themselves.

 

Upwork could easily combat this by charging a nominal fee to post the job in the first place.  This would curtail all of the wasted time from these bogus interviews going on. You'd think Upwork would make more money going this route as not only would they make a small amount on the job charge but also taking in more from commissions from people like me who would actually be doing work for existing clients instead of wasting time dealing with tire kickers. 

How about doing something about this problem Upwork to get rid of these people who have no intention of hiring in the first place.

 

49 REPLIES 49


Greg M wrote:

Amanda L wrote:

Greg M wrote:

Amanda L wrote:

Greg M wrote:

Actually, I close plenty of jobs, Amanda.

 


I'm glad you've learned something then, Greg. 


You're not making any sense...and frankly, I don't care anyway.

 

 


Based on your comments it seems like a lot of people/things don't make much sense to you. If you don't care anyway, then why are you drudging up a year old thread? You've been given a lot of advice and suggestions, and you are ignoring pretty much all of it. You've chosen to make sexist remarks to me, someone who is a client on this platform, and for all other clients to see as well. You're lucky that the moderators have removed that remark for you so that it doesn't impact your business.

 

Since it's not making any sense to you, let me put it plainly: making sexist/misogynistic comments on a public forum to a client (and complaining about clients) shows the kind of attitude you have as a freelancer and what it's like to work with you. If clients choose not to hire you after interviewing you, it's less likely that it's because they are taking your free advice and more likely that the same condescending, sexist attitude you have presented here is coming across in your interviews. Since you don't care anyway, I expect another offensive remark, but hopefully other freelancers will see this and remember it's a public forum where clients can see how they behave and what they post. 


I have no interest in anything you have to say to me.

 

 

 


Continuing to reply suggests otherwise. 


Phyllis G wrote:

Greg M wrote:


I have no interest in anything you have to say to me.


Continuing to reply suggests otherwise. 


It also confirms the overall picture rather well...

 

vango44
Community Member

For some time I've been wondering if a freelancer could also have a client persona and might be posting to see what the market is like on Upwork. There seem to be an greatly increasing number of requests without payment verification. If I should ignore such, I likely would miss some real work. Sometimes it is possible to tell from their language/communication that they are just new to the site and afraid to commit $$.

Things that have crossed my mind...

a_lipsey
Community Member


Donald G wrote:

For some time I've been wondering if a freelancer could also have a client persona and might be posting to see what the market is like on Upwork. There seem to be an greatly increasing number of requests without payment verification. If I should ignore such, I likely would miss some real work. Sometimes it is possible to tell from their language/communication that they are just new to the site and afraid to commit $$.

Things that have crossed my mind...


Donald, a great deal of my clients are new to the platform and, therefore, do not have payment verified when they interview me. It's the internet. We can never tell who is on the other end of the line until we start talking to them. So to worry about who they are or what they job might be until we get to the point of actually discussing it is a waste of time. That's why so many of us say just fire off proposals and move on. If the client wants to respond they will. 

 


Donald G wrote:

For some time I've been wondering if a freelancer could also have a client persona and might be posting to see what the market is like on Upwork.


You are allowed to have a client and a freelancer profile, as long as they are linked under the same account. Sometimes I outsource small tasks on my client account, or need help with something out of my wheelhouse to assist a client and then I post on my client account.

I can't speak to the "testing the market" theory, but it is permitted to have both as long as you don't have two separate logins.

Resurrecting this thread to say that Upwork is a great platform to actually learn how to sense these types of time-wasting clients.

 

I am now busy with stuff outside of Upwork but have an ongoing conversation with one potential "client" who is a mother of all "brain pickers" :)). He keeps messaging once in a few days asking about how to do this and that. At first, I thought he has a clear hiring intention. Now, I am good 85% certain he just wants to be shown how to do things for free. The guy is interviewing no less than 8 people right now and I am sure he's playing the same game with everyone.

 

Since I am busy with other stuff, I don't mind really spending a few minutes replying to his messages. It's getting hilarious really. I think Upwork is teaching me fast how to spot these "brain pickers" with no intention to hire (or hiring one person while getting consulted by an entire rugby team count of freelancers). He's using a flattering language (things like "wow, I think you know your stuff") as well as hire anticipation-building language ("we are close to the final hiring decision but I need to clarify regarding .....").

 

I think a lot of freelancers would be helped by developing a skill to sense these kinds of "clients". Contribute your knowledge to how you identify those I say. In my, yet limited experience on the platform, good signs of a "brain picker" without an intent to hire are:

 

1. Interviews a large number of potential hires at the same time for a job (easy to see these stats for each job)

2. Gets info bit by bit using a language that builds anticipation of hire (e.g. "I am about to make the decision but I have to clarify regarding....")

3. Spends more time asking pointed questions about exactly how you plan to do the job (process) instead of focusing on how useful the deliverables (outcome) are going to be to them. Basically, asks you to lay bare what others in this thread already called "giving out the store".

4. Other factors? Please share your XP.

 

I must say Upwork is a great learning platform in some ways, including sensing these types.    

rainmaker1145
Community Member

Ah, the great challenge and hidden fee associated with Upwork.  This is one of my biggest challenges.  I'm a consultant in the capital finance space.  There are a blizzard of regulations, requirements, legal issues, and business issues that attend what I do.  99.99% of clients have no idea they are exposed to criminal liability when it comes to raising capital and think they can put anything out there and nobody will mind.

 

So, they have questions.  They eat up time.  Some are part of that dreaded group of "something for nothing" trollers who frequent this site.  Some are looking to just obtain validation in one form or another.

 

SOLUTION?

 

"I'm glad you asked about this issue, Mr. Zabazaba.  All new clients of mine go through an exclusive onboarding process review of their account and this matter is covered in that process exclusively for my clients and includes my presentation on ____ that speaks to this issue.  I think this is a point where I can add real value, and look forward to having you as a client where we will spend a considerable amount of time putting this one to bed for you."

 

Does it always work?  No.  Are there time-suck jerks to deal with?  Yes.  Do you wish you were doing something/anything else? Yes.  Remember, you can always pull your Ejection Seat Handle and exit the cockpit, Maverick (it's called the "END MEETING" button).  It's not like you are going to see them at your local grocery store and have to go down a separate aisle.

 

REMEMBER: the Be Back Bus never comes to your neighborhood.  You're a pirate out there on the lone sea, so be a pirate.


Clinton L wrote:

SOLUTION?


Solution for what? Which post on this old thread are you responding to? The whole post makes absolutely no sense without any context... 

Please accept my apologies, as I did not mean to offend or intrude upon the perogatives of others whose wisdom is greater than my own on these matters.  Please, feel free to take down that which offends you.


Clinton L wrote:

Please accept my apologies, as I did not mean to offend or intrude upon the perogatives of others whose wisdom is greater than my own on these matters.  Please, feel free to take down that which offends you.


All you have to do is use the quote feature so people can tell which comment you're responding to. If the quoted comment is lengthy, you can delete all but the part you're commenting on, or all but the first line or two which identifies it. Refusal to do this makes hash out of the conversation, especially in the case of zombie threads.

 

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