Do having a lot of clients Interview You, but don't hire you, affects anything? (Algorithm/Etc?)

[shivafernandes]

Hello there!
I understand things like the JSS score, your rating and what not aren't affected by this. But I'm curious if things like how/when you show up on searches, or the order in which your application lands on the clien'ts page, is affected by having a lot of open interviews where the client didn't hire you?

Last few days I'm being a little looser about sending applications, sending to clients that have a big history of interviewing a lot to hire 1/none. New clients that don't even have a verified payment and etc... 

Should I keep doing it, in a "nothing to lose scenario" or should I stop?
Reason I'm asking is that on my first month on UpWork I was hired 90%, and fearing lowering this rating may affect anything.

Thanks!

[kinector]

Shiva, your message is a bit hard to read, but this is what I can tell you.


1) Does getting a lot of interviews but not getting hired affect JSS?

No, it doesn't. JSS comes from private reviews your clients leave.


2) Does getting a lot of interviews but not getting hired affect anything else?

Yes it does. Or should, at least.

It probably affects your motivation to keep it going out here. And probably it should affect the process you have for talking with your potential clients.

Ask yourself, why can you not close a deal? What is it that others must be doing that you're not yet doing?

Perhaps try becoming a client for a week and see how good freelancers you hire run their interviews. You'll learn a lot really quickly.

[shivafernandes]

Hey Mikko, sorry my message wasn't clear. I'll try to explain myself better.

I know that UpWork has an internal algorithm that deals with things like: Where do you show up in searches (meaning who pops up first, who pops up last), Where do you show up in job applications (ie: the order in which a client see proposals is not the order they were sent).

My question is: Do these algorithms take into consideration the metric "times interviewed - times hired"? Meaning if "I get 90% hiring rate" I have more chances of showing up first in a search/job application than if my hiring rate as 60%?

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@kinector wrote:
Ask yourself, why can you not close a deal? What is it that others must be doing that you're not yet doing?

Now this is great advice, and I always try to polish my "interview skills"! So I thank you for that.
But my questioning has more to do with investing in clients that a) Have a track record of interviewing every one that applies for a job but only hiring one/none; b) Are "brand new with big ideas" and ultimately there is chance they won't really hire anyone; 

So, is it more clear now?
It's not a matter of "why i'm not being hired?" I don't really have much to complain about it! But a matter of "do I have something to lose, "system/algorithm-wise", if I keep investing in these clients that ultimately, have a big chance of not hiring me, or anyone else?

Thanks for your reply, anyway!

[kinector]

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Shiva S wrote:

So, is it more clear now?
It's not a matter of "why i'm not being hired?" I don't really have much to complain about it! But a matter of "do I have something to lose, "system/algorithm-wise", if I keep investing in these clients that ultimately, have a big chance of not hiring me, or anyone else?

Thanks for your reply, anyway!

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No sorry, I'm still lost.

Of course, you lose something for spending your time online, hoping something to happen, but still no business. Definitely, you will lose something system/algorithm/otherwise. No point in investing your time in these things as long as your business requires the use of your personal time.

But will it affect your stats? Probably no.

You're selling to people, that is the key point here.

You could try to attract them better by redoing your profile and trying to define some kind of subset of services that not every other graphic designer here offers. The third paragraph tells something about you, the other three are just meta-text. And no mention of who your ideal clients would be (=people who need you most... you only need to attract these kinds of people).

Hope this saves some of your time.

[feed_my_eyes]

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Shiva S wrote:

But my questioning has more to do with investing in clients that a) Have a track record of interviewing every one that applies for a job but only hiring one/none; b) Are "brand new with big ideas" and ultimately there is chance they won't really hire anyone; 

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Nobody will be able to definitively explain Upwork's algorithms to you, but I wouldn't apply for either (a) or (b) because for me, it's more about sniffing out good clients and not wasting my time. If you see clients who have a history of interviewing everyone and hiring no-one, then I would be inclined to think that they're scammers (they're either taking projects off the platform, stealing work in the form of a "test", or they're actually freelancers who are posting fake projects just to give their friends free bonus connects). As for "b", if you sense that the client's ideas are unviable and their project won't actually happen ("build me a Facebook-type website for $50"), then I wouldn't apply either. 

[ceefaeca]

Hi Shiv,

I totally get it what you are trying to ask here. You mean if the profile gets impacted by having many active candidacies and submitted proposals?

I asked this question a few days ago to some folks and I realized that it doesn't impact anything. I guess it is hard to follow when you are more visible and when your profile appears much lower. Don't worry about that, it doesn't affect anything, I recently struggled through this question for which I found that it is fine to have many active candidacies and apply as much as you like. 

I don't think there is any part of this that is there in Upwork's any algorithm.