Upwork - Job Success Thread **title edited**

[jademilburn]

I want Community Forum Moderators to add to this thread, and really listen to what is going on.

I, like many others am sure have the same story.

I used to love Odesk, and got many job interviews each week. I had all 5 star feedback, and glowing written references from my clients. Then Odesk made alot of changes and introduced Job Success rate. I was shocked that mine was 67%. That was until I looked at other discussions and heard of other people who had five star feedback, lots of good references and yet had a very low job success rate.

This system is beyond unfair as

!)Upwork introduced new changes and a new feedback system. They should NOT include information that people believed was being entered anonymously, prior to the changes. The Job success rate includes information that clients did not think would be shown publicly. They left star feedback that would be shown publicly. You CANNOt use retroactive data for a new system.

2)Since the Job success rate has been started, I am now not getting invited to interview for ANY jobs, so how could I get my Job success rate, even if I tried?

You have made a very bad error with this.

Can every freelancer on this forum who wants to get rid of the job success rate feature, reply with 'Get rid', and lets see if they listen to us.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Hasibur,

Please, note that your Job Success score includes outcomes of all contracts you have taken on Upwork, even those where no money was paid or full refund was issued. Therefore, we always recommend discussing all the terms and the scope of work with the client prior to accepting the offer and only accepting the offer if you are absolutely sure you are able to complete the task and provide quality product.

I am sure you will be able to bring your Job Success score up by following those recommendations.

[naqash4u]

I'm Working on Upwork form Last five years and complete many large projects successfully. before Job Success TOP Rated Program launches I get many interviews for relevant job because I have 4.90 or above stars rating but when TOP Rated program launch I have 100% job success rate for one month and nothing do wrong still give high quality work to my clients but after one month my JS score getting down & down and I don't received any related interview after my JS score below 91% and at some point even my rate comes to 82% which freaks me out barbecue I get new jobs after few month in 2015 - 2016 but my job success rate never go up to 90% again even I get new jobs good feedback.

Is upwork focus to only new or upgrated freelancer to get all the jobs?

The most painfull time is last month I work hard with my client in past few months and I expected that this time JS cross the 90 figure but funny thing is after update my JS is 89%. Most of the job these days have 2 requirements Job Success Score: At least 90% , Rising Talent and for me becaue of have 87% to 89% JS score I'm not meet any of the job requirement and believe me it's very hurting when after working 5 years very hard and you see RED circle with this message "You did not meet this Qualification".

Instead of getting higher in my field year by year I'm getting down and facing very hard time to get new jobs. Even some times I thought it's time to bye bye upwork and find something else to do for survive in this world.

If anyone here have any helpfull points for me please share or I am sure some other freelancers facing the same problem like me.

[shub_k]

Hey Naqash,

Yes, I know man. We are all in the same boat here. JS score is a total failure as I think. For some guys, it does work but for most of us, it does not. 

You are the more experienced guy here, I have been working since only a couple months now. I also waited  for fortnights with the hope that my JS will rise. But then, UpWork said , Dream On. 

But I have been applying to jobs and also getting them. Just yesterday, I bagged a deal worth almost triple what I currently write at. (I am a writer). 

What I want to tell you is: 

Do not get disheartened by simply seeing the parameters set by the client. 

In half of the instances, the clients also do not understand what such parameters are. They do not understand that RT badge is not some level such as English 4 or English 5.

And even if the client has a long list of such parameters, just submit a crafty proposal telling them what you have done, and what you can do. 'What you have done' is the most important. I visited your profile and I do not understand that tech jargon, you do, but you must be having some proven results. Just show them in your job proposal what you can do.

In the end, a client is here to get work done. And if he/she feels you are the right fit, ain't no RT and JS gonna stop you buddy. 

P.S- The job I told you about, the client had said she would need a North American native speaker, 100 hours Odesk and +90% JS score. I fulfilled none of them. But I showed her my samples, right in the proposal and Bang! 

So make sure you make your work stand out in your proposals. This has worked for me on several occasions now.

Hope you get back to rocking ways. Best of Luck!

[naqash4u]

Hi Shubham,

Thanks you for your detailed respond definitely I'm working here from almost last 5 years and done some big projects that means I do right things in my proposal and complete the projects successfully that's why I get those big projects and survive till today. 

I know many clients even don't know how to use Upwork properly that's why they trust on Upwork parameters more than a contractor that's why they prefer those proposals first who highlights by Upwork parameters. 

Every skills and every field have different kind of work process in my field most of the client need only one time work not repeated work and In JS score the most important thing for increase JS score is repeated work from same client that's why I thought my JS score not back on top even I get new jobs but these jobs comes from new clients not by old clients.

So my Concern is Upwork must take a look every skill and category and make calculation of JS accordingly which fits all kind of jobs category.

[ivan-klimovich]

OK Upwork. I had bad time working my JSS up during past couple months due to the bad experience I had with the client in January. They were sending me TopRated emails!!!

I had closed 2 jobs:

1) 1 200$ job with 5 star feedback with great client.

2) 2 jobs with an old client of mine who asked for a small favor (skype call 6 months ago, never finsihed the contract + small 2 hours gig to validate some options which I did)

She provided the feedback with 4.55 stars for a skype call which took place 6 months ago - 20 $ for me.

                                                      4.85 star feedback for 2 hours job (my current rate is 50-60 so I gave her a HUGE discount)

Now I don't blame my client. She probably DOESN'T know that by giving me 4 out of 5 stars for 20 $ gig she will hit me with 10% of JSS drop.

PLEASE EDUCATE YOUR CLIENTS THAT ANYTHING BELOW 5 stars WILL BE CONSIDERED AS A BAD EXPERIENCE. CAN YOU AT LEAST DO THAT UPWORK?!!

[prestonhunter]

Ivan, the star average number is far less important than you suppose it to be.

[ivan-klimovich]

Here is a part of our conversation with the client:

Yeah they can't blame it on the client or the freelancer
No one told us about this before
Maybe just file it with Upwork and tell them it s unfair

And since I always try to make my client happy - here I am, sharing this with Upwork

[shafal]

3 month go my job success score was 70% and after one month later (that means 2 month ago) it became 100 % job success score for ending 3 tasks with good reviews. Since my job success score became 70% to 100% that means, “Those clients gave me good private feedback also.”  And then I went offline for 2 month. After comeback from my vacation I also see 100% job success score 1 week. But suddenly one morning I see my job success score being 83%.  Why?
My last three month average are three works and $625 erning with all of them 5 stars.
I talk with a customer care service by live chat. He said, “For giving bad private feedback from client now my job success score start decreasing.
What a live joke man!!!!
If they gave bad private feedback, my job success score would decrease within two or four weeks.
After those clients ending my contact my job success was increasing. Now 2 month later my job success score is decreasing for their bad private feedback. What a bad joke it is!!!
**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[nkalog]

Dear All,

I have already completed successfully about 10 jobs on upwork.

All clients have been very happy with the result and all of them had given a 5 star rating feedback.
So far my job success score was 100%.

Recently I started a contract with a client and delivered the job even before the due date.
Client was happy, released the payment but did not close the contract since a new milestone was about to come (already moved to 2nd milestone).
Afterwards, I noticed that my job success score dropped to 89%!
I am not sure if this (open contract) is the reason behind the change on success score or something else which I can not guess (I also have two open jobs for some time now that clients are not yet ready to provide guidelines).
However, you appreciate that having completed successfully 10 jobs with all clients being happy but having a job success score of 89% is a little disappointing and not fair.
I did a further research and realised that there is a big issue on this field and lots of people have faced similar problems. So this is known to the community.
At the end of the day, clients are taking false information since when they are looking at a job success score of let's say 90% or 80% they would assume that 1 or 2 out of 10 clients were not happy with the result, which is not always the case. Furthermore, since a lot of jobs require score of 90% or higher, losing opportunities without real reason.
Maybe upwork should reconsider the way that job success score is calculated. A score based on the actual feedback seems more appropriate. It does not make sense to penalise the freelancers if a client does not have the time to give a feedback for example.

[st-leipzig]

Hello Nickolas,

I think you're interpreting JSS as something it is not. It's really a representation of your overall success in the eyes of Upwork. And since one of your clients walked away without giving Upwork reassurance that the project went well, and two more clients seem to not be going forward with the projects they originally intended to have for you (for whatever reasons that Upwork doesn't know, and frankly, doesn't care about), so in their eye it is only natural that they are assigning you an imperfect score.

These things have a somewhat harsher effect on newer freelancers and a somewhat softer effect on freelancers who have already established themselves on the platform.

However, new freelancers can actively contribute to letting Upwork know that they are a good attribution to their platform. By having clients close contracts and reassuring Upwork that a project went well for example, or by not accepting contracts until they have everything they need to actually start on the project.

[nkalog]

Hello Sandra,

Thanks for your reply which is understood and appreciated.
Indeed am not sure what is the JSS and what does upwork think it is. Apparently we do have a different understanding and since a lot of people seem to have a different understanding, obviously this is something that should be further reviewed...
Let me also reply to your specific statements:

You say that
"one of your clients walked away without giving Upwork reassurance that the project went well"

In my case the client did not walk away. I delivered my job for review and payment. Same was accepted within 4 days and money dispatched, client did not close the contract, i politely asked him to close the contract, he replied that he was preparing further work for me - then he assigned me a second milestone which I have already prepared and sent it for review. No change to the JSS has taken place during this period of about 1 week.

You also say that: 
"two more clients seem to not be going forward with the projects they originally intended to have for you (for whatever reasons that Upwork doesn't know, and frankly, doesn't care about)"

Frankly speaking, I also don't care at all why a client does not want to move forward with the job at this stage. They hired me to work on a job and I am waiting for client's instructions as appropriate. From my side, I have acted properly and already asked (again politely) clients either to end the contract or move on with the job but they advised that they are not yet ready. Do you really think that a client's readiness can be an indicator of freelancer's success?

Furthermore, there may be a lot of clients who either do not have the time or they do not care at all to give feedbacks/ reviews for someone (irrespective of their satisfaction) or anyway don't mind to move quickly in order for freelancer's JSS not to be penalised!

Last, you say:

It's really a representation of your overall success in the eyes of Upwork.

Actually JSS should be the overall success in the eyes of the clients, not in the eyes of Upwork. And an open contract or a contract without review it says nothing to me about freelancer's success! Not sure if it says something to the eyes of a client which I really fail to understand..

Anyway, I really think the case is very straightforward and I feel I can not do anything more than what I have already done so far (please let me know if you think otherwise). Really hope the situation will get improved in the near future.

Thanks again for your kind response & feedback.

Best,
Nicholas

[st-leipzig]

---

@Nicholas K wrote:

Do you really think that a client's readiness can be an indicator of freelancer's success?

---

 Hi Nicholas,

I don't, but again, it doesn't really matter as JSS is all about what Upwork thinks. Personally, I find it to be a relatively accurate meassurement tool for overall performance that lacks some tolerance space for minor individual occurances. Hence I try to give tips on how to work (not cheat!) the system to newer freelancers as like I wrote before the system is somewhat harsher on them.

Great to hear that your client is actually become a repeat customer. Upwork will honor that if multiple tasks are given over a period of 3+ months. I let some clients just add on milestones to a single contract too, but I am generally careful about that with new clients. A friendly message on how closing the first contract and setting up a new one for another task would be beneficial for both parties will usually suffice. This is just my own way of doing things, I like to keep my contracts "clean" and don't like "just adding on to the tab". Also closed contracts with positive feedback given can come in handy in case you need to increase your score 🙂

If everything works out fine with those other two clients, there should be nothing to worry about. Their positive feedback will increase your score and assure Upwork that you turned them into a success.

I don't think Upwork will implement any dramatic changes to how JSS works, it will probably only be finetuning at best. However, I also don't think good freelancers need to worry about it too much as long as they follow a few do's and dont's. Clients, btw, are also aware that are multiple reasonable reasons behind an imperfect score. Your's currently says B+ which is actually really good. Bumping it over the infamous 90% line shouldn't be much trouble at all, it actually comes fairly automatically if you deliver good work and screen your potential clients well.

Good luck!

[nkalog]

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for your comments and nice suggestions.

Just to mention that the scope of my message was not to complain or make noise. Also am not worried since I think that everything comes after high-quality hard work. Though, I still have a different opinion about the role of the JSS: Actually, freelancer's role is to work on their jobs and serve their clients in the best possible way. The JSS should be a service which will follow freelancer's work and evaluate it. At the moment, freelancers (or at least those freelancers who are interested about a high JSS) should take relevant actions in order to serve the JSS, which doesn't make sense! For example, If a job is taking place in various milestones or in different contracts or whatever should not make any difference on freelancer's JSS evaluation.

Anyway, to make the long story short, unfortunately I fail to understand the logic but anyway It does not matter if Upwork think that the system works properly. However, one of the principals of management says to listen your customers especially if a big part of the audience shares the same opinion.

All the best,
Nicholas

[VladimirG]

Hi Nicholas,

Please keep in mind that other factors are also taken into consideration when calculating a freelancers Job Success Score, for example private feedback on all of the contracts you have had etc.

[nkalog]

Dear Vladimir,

Thanks for your response. I also did a research and found out some of the factors which seem to affect the JSS.

Though, the only change that I had in my profile during the last 2 weeks before the downgrade (from 100% to 89%) was the contract which did not close/ feedback was not given since the client was preparing a 2nd milestone. Therefore, I guess this is the reason of the downgrade,  unless a bad private feedback of let's say 2 months ago affected my score.

Also all my previous clients really sent fantastic comments -even in private messages- after the completion of the jobs, therefore I would be surprised if any of them gave a bad private feedback..

Anyway, the scope of my message was not to complain but just express my opinion that, the JSS should be reviewed and be improved for all parties' benefit and in order to result in more fair figures than relying on things which stand beyond freelancers' control.

Thanks anyway.

Best,
Nicholas

[islam_shamira]

Hi there,

I am social media marketing expert.
I have two jobs in which, one job has been paused by upwork about 1 month ago and another one hasn't been started yet.

I sent messages to both of my clients couple of time .But they haven't replied yet.

At first my job success was 69%. After 4 weeks it is now 73% only.

Will these two jobs effect on my Job success?
And would you suggest me what should I do.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards,
Shamira.

[puneet00923]

Hi,

My profile Sucess rate has been down from last 4 weeks.Earlier it was 97%. Now it is 71%. I completed my job with 5% ratings.And I was expecting my ratings will be Up.But very disappointed with UpWork my profile success rate is going down.And as a Freelancer, it is getting very difficult for me to get a new job.Now If it does not go up I need to look job on other platforms.Till now I did 29 jobs.And 28 jobs completed with 5-star ratings.Please help I am feeling very much disappointed after so much hard work on UpWork.

Thanks for the help!

Regards,

Puneet

[natacharodriguez]

Your profile is private. Anyway, even if you get 5 stars remember JSS is about private feedback.

[nkalog]

Unfortunately It is not only due to private feedback.
For example, If you complete a job and the client moves to a new milestone instead of ending the contract+giving feedback, freelancers are penalised since it looks like the job is incomplete or the client did not give feedback.

[VladimirG]

---

@Nicholas K wrote:

Unfortunately It is not only due to private feedback.
For example, If you complete a job and the client moves to a new milestone instead of ending the contract+giving feedback, freelancers are penalised since it looks like the job is incomplete or the client did not give feedback.

---

 Hi Nicholas,

I think you are referring to a new contract when you say new Milestone. A couple of contracts with money paid but without client's feedback will not affect your Job Success Score.

---

@Nicholas K wrote:

Also it seems that if the freelancers do not have long term relationships with clients may experience lower JSS as well ! 

---

 This is incorrect.

[nkalog]

Hi Vladimir, Thanks for your response

I meant a new milestone under the same fixed contract. My understanding is that even a single open contract, without feedback, affects the JSS. I had 8 contracts and a JSS of 100%. Finished the 9th contract without taking feedback since my client was waiting for a new milestone and JSS went down to 89% (=8 out of 9 jobs). In the meantime there was not any other change to affect the JSS. Then, this client ended the contract and gave feedback and In the meantime I started the 10th contract which finished but client did not give feedback due to the same reason and next Sunday JSS went to 90% (9 out of 10 jobs). Anyway, at least this is my understanding on this complicating JSS.

Regarding the long-term relationships you are right; my mistake. Notes say that long term relationships may boost your JSS but don't count against you.

[nkalog]

If all the 29 jobs have been completed, the contract ended and all clients gave you a feedback, it means that probably some of them gave a very bad private feedback which is not shown to you.

If any contract is still open or if any clients did not give a feedback at all, system penalises your JSS!

Also it seems that if the freelancers do not have long term relationships with clients may experience lower JSS as well ! Apparently JSS needs much improvement but unfortunately seems Upwork think it works properly...

[andriansogocio]

I recently had 100% Job Success Rate when I reached the $1000 mark in just a couple months. After it updated the next day (which was a couple of hours after I received that 100% Top Rated), it was 83%.

I contacted Upwork Help and Support, and file a request.

Their response was the same with what I am reading in this thread.

I do not have any bad rating, all 5 stars and all that...I respond to all the work invites prompty, and communicate with my clients in a professional and timely manner. I have no idea what computation they are using, and at this point, I deem it flawed and should be replace, reconsidered and revised. 

It's good to have a system that can be a basis on whether you stand out among the rest of your competition, but with the current system, I can say that that is not a good scale on whether or not you a client will think you are can be a good fit for a work--this is specially bad because it is the first thing a client sees when a Freelancer bids on a job. I think the rating system is unstable and fluctuates too often even though the consistency of a freelance is steady, or even improving.

Upwork's perception of an improving Freelancer is definetely something that needs improving in itself.

Get Rid

Revise

Reconsider

Upwork is the most direct outsourcing platform there is and is available in my country, and I really love what Upwork is bringing to Freelancers. More power to Upwork....'cause it seems you really need it with this one, Upwork.  

[andriansogocio]

* "...whether or not a client will think you can be a good fit for a work..."

* "...even when..."

* definitely 

I've fallen so low that I had to grammar nazi my own post. 

LOL

Hahahahaha

[cody-fisher]

Job Success Scores - long rant to follow:

I was recently awarded Top Rated status by Upwork - 96% job success. Great, even though I thought 96% seemed off, since I’ve never had a single client unhappy with my work. In as little as 3 months I’m down to 86% JS and lost Top Rated status, why? I still have not had a single client unhappy with my work. 

It seems that if your client doesn’t leave you any feedback, or a job goes past the original deadline, even through no fault of your own, you get penalized. Also, if you don’t have repeat clients all that much, be prepared for a penalty to your job success score.

In my work, video and motion graphics, one-off clients are VERY common. Especially, on a freelance site like Upwork and when they’re bigger, more expensive projects. Oftentimes they set the deadlines not realizing how long it will take or even what assets THEY as a client have to deliver to meet the deadline. I’ve never missed a deadline when I’ve had all of the assets from the client. I don’t know if Upwork expects us as freelancers to micro manage our clients by having them adjust deadlines etc…, but that isn’t reasonable to do to an already busy freelancer. Nor will it always work, even if we did. And I have done it.

I’ve had 16 jobs, only 9 have left me feedback. Even though all have messaged me on Upwork saying how great it was working with me and how great the final video is. They have 14 days to leave feedback or you get penalized. I ask all clients to do so, but I don’t get pushy, for obvious reasons.

They’ve said that no feedback on occasion doesn’t affect your rating, but what if half of your clients don’t do so?? How is this on the freelancer and not on the client??

If you leave a job open too long you get penalized. Recently, I had an hourly client that hired me, I completed the job. They kept the job open and kept sending me new work, totaled about 30 hours over 4 different projects under the same job. The job extended beyond their original deadline, obviously. Did I get penalized? Client was thrilled with my work. No feedback left - double whammy.

While I was on Elance for several years I maintained a perfect 5.0 rating. Only thing that’s changed on Upwork is this arbitrary Job Success rating that really isn’t giving an accurate picture of me and my work.

I’ve messaged support, only to be sent the same link I’ve read 15 times - “Your Job Success Score on Upwork”. And they say, we are always reviewing our JS scoring system. While we freelancers get chewed up in the process. This what I do for a living. While Upwork is not all or even most of my business (thankfully!), I still count on it. And would consider it being a bigger part of my business if I believed it was fair. 

They are not going to tell you how they calculate your Job Success score, fine. They say they don’t want people to be able to artificially boost their score, but I’m not sure how you could do that anyhow. You can’t control what your client says about you or what they do. So, that seems more than a bit disingenuous. Transparency is the key to maintaining trust, that apparently is not the motto of this company. And now we all get hit with higher rates as well.

Rant over. I don’t expect anything to change, just had to say it.

Anyone else having simialr issues?

[unadinic]

JSS is a joke, and we can just deal with it. Upwork is not listening obviously. So, we can just educate our existimg clients (again stupid, Upwork should educate them and really point out know how important it is and WHAT affects JSS) and hope that some future clients ignore JSS while searching for new freelancer. All of my clients havent got a cluuue what does it mean and what parameters are included in JSS!! 

[st-leipzig]

---

@Cody F wrote:

I’ve had 16 jobs, only 9 have left me feedback. Even though all have messaged me on Upwork saying how great it was working with me and how great the final video is. They have 14 days to leave feedback or you get penalized. I ask all clients to do so, but I don’t get pushy, for obvious reasons.

---

 Hi Cody,

I looked at your job history and it looks like you closed the contracts yourself in the hope of receiving feedback. The "trick" is to steer clients towards them closing the contract, as they automatically have to give feedback that way.

The algorithm is harsher on newer freelancers (due to lack of data?). Jobs without feedback or idle contracts have less of an effect once you have a longer job history or the different time windows to back you up.

[suraiyabibi]

Hi All,

My Job Success score was 79% in last month. In this duration, I did not get any feedback. But now My job success score is 71%. Is there some can assist me? What this happened?

Hoping to hear you soon,

Thank you,

Suraiya

[AveryO]

Hi Suraiya, 

The Job Success score is updated every two weeks, and it’s important to note any movement in this score (either up or down) reflects both recent activity and activity over a longer period of time. Because we look at trends over a 24-month period, you can see your score change, even without recently closed contracts, due to past jobs slipping out of the 24-month window.

You may read this help article to learn more about how a Job Success Score is calculated. 

[suraiyabibi]

Deviation can be from 79% to 71%? Is it logical? Have you solid argument?

[suraiyabibi]

You want to have the right to destroy thousands of freelancers careers without telling the reason. Deviation from 79-71 is not the loss that you think better for a freelancer.

You want the right against the human being?

[strong91]

Since is clear that a non-active contract might affect your JSS then I briefly explain my situation:

I started this contract at the end of March, got paid at the beginning of May. Then the client (a trustful one with excellent feedbacks) told me that he will submit more work in the near future because he needs someone to translate and proofread his website. My question is: How much time needs to pass before a contract is considered inactive? In this case, I'll ask him to close the contract and leave me a feedback, and then text me again for more work.

[VladimirG]

Hi Roberto,

While we can't share the time frame, the steps you're planning to take are the ones I'd suggest. Your client can easily rehire you for the same contract once they have more work for you.

[strong91]

Hi Vladimir,

Thanks for your reply. I understand that you can't share this information but could you at least tell me whether this "countdown" starts from the day the client opened the contract, or from the day he released the payment?

[m_terrazas]

Vladimir forgives but, why strange reason you can not share the time frame?
I think that given the obscurantism that exists with the issue of JSS, at least you could tell us what is it.
I am in the same case and I would like to know.

[VladimirG]

Sorry Maria, but like we posted before, we need to protect the integrity of the score and prevent potential abuse.

[m_terrazas]

I've read but do not understand.
I think the whole issue of JSS is a mess. already seems an "abuse" that may leave comments "secrets". If a customer is not happy with the work done, to say it clearly, do not allow comments hidden.
How will I understand a decline in the JSS (I still have not) if on one hand the customer gives me five stars and clearly says that everything has been wonderful and on the other hand, from behind, without my knowledge, he is saying what contrary.
Everything is too "dark". It is a real disaster.

[suraiyabibi]

1. If you do not share, It means we are still living in the stone age.

2. If client does not end the contract, Should it be punished to freelancer. Why?

Please Can I have solid argument?

[mareaa]

Is it just me or upwork's JSS criteria really bizzare? I mean look at my profile, how can the success rate be this low? I don't understand! 

[quared]

I'm loosing my JSS too, last few month with no reason.

It is terrible system.