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nerdymike99
Community Member

Clients rarely responding to proposals

Dear upwork staff,

I need you to forward this concern to site admins and developers.

Me and many other upwork users noticed that clients rarely respond to freelancers proposals, and when they respond it is usually late (3-5 days after the job posting) the reason for this seems to be that the clients are not aware of those proposals, especially those who are new to upwork platform.

I would suggest upwork team to improve the notification and alert mechanisms in order to inform the clients when they receive proposals immediately either by desktop alerts, email, SMS etc.. with scheduled reminders as well, because honestly it is a waste of time and money to have to spend at least 50 connects to get the chance to be interviewed in 1 job !

I hope that will you will address this issue as soon as possible to make upwork easy and efficient for everyone.

Best regards.

Omar K.

13 REPLIES 13
petra_r
Community Member


Omar K wrote:

... the reason for this seems to be that the clients are not aware of those proposals, especially those who are new to upwork platform.


Where do you get that absurd idea from?


Petra R wrote:

Omar K wrote:

... the reason for this seems to be that the clients are not aware of those proposals, especially those who are new to upwork platform.


Where do you get that absurd idea from?


Well, I can't find any better explanation when the job is still pending for weeks and 0 freelancers got hired despite all the proposals. I see this happening a lot with many clients and especially new ones.

I do understand @Will L point about selecting the best for the job but, if the clients don't hire anyone for that long after posting the job it seems like there's wrong to me.


Omar K wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Omar K wrote:

... the reason for this seems to be that the clients are not aware of those proposals, especially those who are new to upwork platform.


Where do you get that absurd idea from?


Well, I can't find any better explanation when the job is still pending for weeks and 0 freelancers got hired despite all the proposals. I see this happening a lot with many clients and especially new ones.

I do understand @Will L point about selecting the best for the job but, if the clients don't hire anyone for that long after posting the job it seems like there's wrong to me.


It's simple, really. The clients dont have to hire anyone. Sometimes, people come in just to "kick the tires" so to speak. If you walk into a store, are you forced to buy something? Of course not.

 

Clients get a list of every proposal. Whether or not they click on one to actually view it is up to them. A lot of jobs are posted that get dozens of proposals, and they never hire anyone. That's just the way it works. They're not obligated to hire anyone, and there could be any number of reasons why they don't. They could have just not found what they were looking for, something could have come up, they could have been flooded with garbage proposals...the list goes on. And it's also not feasible (at all) to reply to every single person who sends in a proposal.

 

The best thing you can do is be selective in what jobs you send a proposal for. Look at their rating, look at their hire rate, and make sure it's a job you know you can do well.

 

But, once you click "submit", forget about it and move on with your life. It will cause you a lot less stress. If they want to talk to you, they'll contact you. If not, stop worrying about it.


Omar K wrote:

Petra R wrote:

Omar K wrote:

... the reason for this seems to be that the clients are not aware of those proposals, especially those who are new to upwork platform.


Where do you get that absurd idea from?


Well, I can't find any better explanation when the job is still pending for weeks and 0 freelancers got hired despite all the proposals. I see this happening a lot with many clients and especially new ones.


Here are a few:

 

Clients are busy

They don't like any of the freelancers they hear from

The bids show them that the project will be more expensive than they were prepared for

They hired someone on another site

They broke the rules and went off platform with the person they hired

The project gets put on hold from above

They were overwhelmed by the number of cut and paste proposals they got and abandoned the site

 

 

They broke the rules and went off platform with the person they hired...

 

And the person they hired will probably be back here in a week or two compaining about how they were cheated by the client.

@Petra R: Why do you always have to be so patronising in your responses?  People have different experiences with UpWork and have the right to raise a concern even if you don't like what they say. 

 

Regards,

Justyna  

Thank you so much for addressing this Justyna. Being fairly new to the platform, I've always used this community to learn more about Upwork whenever I have any questions or doubts. I've seen Petra respond to a lot of questions but most of her responses are outright patronizing or rude. This discourages newbies and even other Upworkers to post any questions or concerns they might have.

Thank you Matrena. I could not agree more. Not only it is discouraging, but it's simply disrespectful and unprofessional.  I don't understand why someone would do it to others and what is Petra's motivation to treat other freelancers in such condescending manner.  Just because somone has a label as a "Community Guru" next to their names (what does actutally mean?) does not entitle them to look down at others. I am not aware of any mechanisms to report such behaviour on UpWork, but we can call it out at last. I hope Petra will read it and reflect on our feedback. 

And, please do not hesitate to ask any questions or concerns you might have.

Justyna 🙂


Petra R wrote:

Omar K wrote:

... the reason for this seems to be that the clients are not aware of those proposals, especially those who are new to upwork platform.


Where do you get that absurd idea from?


No proposal is invisible to the client, but someone here has said that proposals from the best-matched freelancers get more prominence in the inbox. This puts newer or less qualified freelancers at a disadvantage.

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Omar,

 

Every freelancer's experience on Upwork is probably different, but I have been using Upwork for a few years now and only get responses on 5% to 10% of all the proposals I submit. I really don't care whether I hear from the clients who don't respond - if they aren't going to be paying me I have no reason to give them any thought once my proposal has been sent.

 

Clients can easily see which freelancers have applied to their projects and will only very rarely (in my experience) contact freelancers they don't expect to hire. I appreciate the gesture of clients who contact me to tell me they've chosen another freelancer, but it's courtesy you shouldn't expect in the online world. (As you can see on this message board, courtesy is a quaint old idea to some posters.)

 

If you are not getting (m)any responses to your proposals, that's because clients are not convinced by your cover letter, your portfolio of previous work, your Job Success Score or any of a variety of reasons that you're the right freelancer for their needs. Some specialties on Upwork are very, very competitive. Don't expect clients to contact you if you are not in the running for the projects you have submitted proposals on.

 

It can take some time to find your sweet spot on Upwork. Some people never find it.

 

Good luck.

arjunagroupdotin
Community Member

Hello Omar,

     You got the nerve.

 

This is because of some maintance on upwork.  there should be an option for the client, when ever job posted selection done in 3 days.  after all client is need of services and why they prolong and eat away credits.

 

Good option is credit is added once job expires but why months of time to select a freelancer. this is happening clients are not charged for cancelling or prolonging projects.

 

Upwork is only strict with freelancers and not clients.  if strict lazy people are out of upwork and genuine clients with work will encourage all to earn.

 

We freelancers should come together and raise voice.  individual request cannot change things.  a group can suggest and get it implemented.

 

Thank

I suggest once you click submit forget about the proposal and move on. Clients rarely responding to proposals is actually normal behavior 🙂 and it has been like that for years, so get used to it, otherwise you'll be on your nerves quickly.

 

Be very selective and only apply to jobs you are 100% sure you can do. Also check the client's history, how much do they usually pay, if they actually hired someone before, etc. That will take you some time if you are new but after a while it will become second nature. Last but not least, be brief with your proposals, don't spend more than a couple minutes to write one, because if you do... THAT is a waste of time, and also connects.

resultsassoc
Community Member

Omar,

 

Freelancing sites are run by people who know a great deal about managing transactions and using hash tags and/or key words to match needs to skills. What these sites' staffs do not understand is freelancing.

 

Online job boards do not educate either buyers or sellers, few of whom understand business. I've been a buyer for quite a while on this and another board. I typically hire subject matter experts who at some point might have direct contact with my own clients. I spend a couple of hours reviewing pofiles to select talent to invite to the job. I don't care about JSS or decimal points in ratings. I want to be convinced that the freelancer knows his own domain and understands my business needs. Those that ask questions get bonus points. I acknowledge every response because whether or not I select Omar for this job, I found him qualified and want him to apply to my next similar job.I keep providers informed through the selection process and usually tell the unsuccessful applicants why they weren't selected, hoping that they'll take notice and improve their skills for the next round. it is advantageous for me that freelancers feel good about their espeirnece with me. UW doesn't tell this to clients, nor to freelancers.

 

When I dominated large high-value projects on the internet boards I posted a lot of jobs that never resulted in a hire. I wouldn't submit a response unless I was absolutely certain I could deliver. Thus, if I needed  left-handed Lutheran biseuxal bowling team captain to do maybe $3K or a $200K contract I would post a job and tell applicants that the work wasn't yet won. In about half of all cases, I didn't hire anyone because the project was cancelled before award.

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