Dead job postings

[harper_marzanne]

Hi all, 

I have been having a problem for the last 2 months, and was wondering whether anyone else is experiencing this dilemma. 

A stable Client of mine ended his project and gave me excellent feedback. I have been applying for projects ever since and have no problem getting replies. However, after Clients contact me, they disappear, and never respond to any follow up messages. The activity on the posting also ends there. 

It seems Clients are posting jobs with not much intention of hiring. Now that we are having to pay for all connects, this is a serious concern, as I am using all my connects in applications that just end up being stagnant. 

This is upsetting. I recently turned down a Client for wanting to take the position outside of UW. Since I feel that UW has only been an excellent avenue for my freelancing career, I wanted to be loyal. But now this system is failing - is there no way to root out this new element by getting Clients to cancel dead projects so we at least get our connects back? Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me? 

[pudingstudio]

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Marzanne H wrote:

Hi all, 

I have been having a problem for the last 2 months, and was wondering whether anyone else is experiencing this dilemma. 

A stable Client of mine ended his project and gave me excellent feedback. I have been applying for projects ever since and have no problem getting replies. However, after Clients contact me, they disappear, and never respond to any follow up messages. The activity on the posting also ends there. 

It seems Clients are posting jobs with not much intention of hiring. Now that we are having to pay for all connects, this is a serious concern, as I am using all my connects in applications that just end up being stagnant. 

This is upsetting. I recently turned down a Client for wanting to take the position outside of UW. Since I feel that UW has only been an excellent avenue for my freelancing career, I wanted to be loyal. But now this system is failing - is there no way to root out this new element by getting Clients to cancel dead projects so we at least get our connects back? Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me? 

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It was existent, but noticeable only after new connects system.

Before it was a nuisance, now it a problem.

Many options have been offered as potential solution.

It is probable that UpWork makes notice of those ideas.

[harper_marzanne]

Sounds good, I will watch for this. Thanks so much! 

[chrisprince]

Howzit Marzanne, 

*Absolutely do not agree to take an UpWork client off-site and report them if they suggest it.  It's a violation of the ToS and you might get a ban*

You're not alone.  A lot of people** have said that they've found it harder to successfully bid for projects recently. ** At least I have.  It's been suggested that I'm seeing a pattern where none exists.  I don't think that this is the case.

There's a lot of frustration (apologies for earlier Antun ) following some changes to how UpWork does things and many of us are trying to figure out how best to adapt.

From what I can tell freelancers are getting one hire per 20-60 proposals.  Still trying to get a more accurate consensus figure for this.  

Interestingly, others say that things have actually improved for them. 

So, it's clear to me that UpWork is shaking things up a bit.  

It's a head-scratcher for sure.  I thought things might improve if I could only get that vaunted Top-Rated status but I see that you're Top-Rated and you're still having difficulties.

I'll be sure to post here if I find out anything useful.  

[pudingstudio]

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Chris P wrote:

Howzit Marzanne, 

*Absolutely do not agree to take an UpWork client off-site and report them if they suggest it.  It's a violation of the ToS and you might get a ban*

You're not alone.  A lot of people** have said that they've found it harder to successfully bid for projects recently. ** At least I have.  It's been suggested that I'm seeing a pattern where none exists.  I don't think that this is the case.

There's a lot of frustration (apologies for earlier Antun ) following some changes to how UpWork does things and many of us are trying to figure out how best to adapt.

From what I can tell freelancers are getting one hire per 20-60 proposals.  Still trying to get a more accurate consensus figure for this.  

Interestingly, others say that things have actually improved for them. 

So, it's clear to me that UpWork is shaking things up a bit.  

It's a head-scratcher for sure.  I thought things might improve if I could only get that vaunted Top-Rated status but I see that you're Top-Rated and you're still having difficulties.

I'll be sure to post here if I find out anything useful.  

---

No harm done.

Here to share opposed opinion, here to be misunderstood, here to mock, here to be helpful. Here to be mocked.
Mostly, here to vent. Not a greatest of human kind, myself.
Yet, exist.

[harper_marzanne]

Hi Chris, yes, for sure - not planning on going down the road of taking work out of Upwork. I was just saying, this is my level of loyalty, and now I am really struggling.

A head scratcher for sure! 

Thanks for the results based answer - this is one instance where it does not feel good to not be alone!

 

[gilbert-phyllis]

I've experienced this, too, and puzzled over the strange (and unprecedented) client behavior. Then, one day last month, a prospective client (who had responded to my proposal) stood me up for a phone appointment. I checked the message thread and my msg to her confirming had disappeared. I msg'd her immediately, apologizing and offering alternative availability. Heard nothing back, even though I was checking teh thread every day. (It was a good opportunity.) On the 14th day, a message from her suddenly appeared in teh thread, suggestnig we speak teh following day (13 days before I got teh message). By the time we finally cnonected again, she had hired someone else. I've had one other cilent reach out to me in response to a proposal, requesting a phone appointment and then disappear, and I suspect it is also a message problem. I have a ticket open but there has been no progress in solving it. Maybe today's widespread outage is connected to the technical team's activities. In all honesty, I'm glad because at least today, they can't treat it as an isolated incident.

[harper_marzanne]

Wow, ok, I did not even consider a technical problem...

I will have to look into this. Thank you!