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dsmgdesign
Community Member

Experiencing a slow-down in invitations to intereview

Hey, Upwork! 

 

It's been about 7 days since I received an invitation to interview. Prior to that I used to get at least one invite every couple days (and often as many as 2 or 3 invites a day). And that was a pretty consistent rate from earlier this year to roughly late July. I used to enjoy the fact that clients were coming to me, instead of the other way around.  I'm top-rated, 98% JSS, and maintain a 24-hr response time to client invitations.

 

Why the sudden change? 

11 REPLIES 11
florydev
Community Member


David S M wrote:

Hey, Upwork! 

 

It's been about 7 days since I received an invitation to interview. Prior to that I used to get at least one invite every couple days (and often as many as 2 or 3 invites a day). And that was a pretty consistent rate from earlier this year to roughly late July. I used to enjoy the fact that clients were coming to me, instead of the other way around.  I'm top-rated, 98% JSS, and maintain a 24-hr response time to client invitations.

 

Why the sudden change? 


The primary thing is they changed the number of invites a free client account gets and also what reports they get.  Many clients are unhappy with this, so it may mean there are less jobs but there are certainly less invites.

 

Another consideration is that it is the summer in the US.

 

kbadeau
Community Member

I feel like I've been getting my "normal" amount after being at the top of the algorithm in June, but they're not the greatest projects.

 

I read somewhere that they were going to give Basic Clients more than 3 invites, maybe as a test? Because the website still says you only get 3. Three is just not enough for the vast amount of people who come here to just post one one-time job.


Kelly B wrote:

I feel like I've been getting my "normal" amount after being at the top of the algorithm in June, but they're not the greatest projects.

 

I read somewhere that they were going to give Basic Clients more than 3 invites, maybe as a test? Because the website still says you only get 3. Three is just not enough for the vast amount of people who come here to just post one one-time job.


Hi, Kelly, Thanks for your reply. I agree 3 is pretty small. I'm curious how many is your normal amount now? 


David S M wrote:

Kelly B wrote:

I feel like I've been getting my "normal" amount after being at the top of the algorithm in June, but they're not the greatest projects.

 

I read somewhere that they were going to give Basic Clients more than 3 invites, maybe as a test? Because the website still says you only get 3. Three is just not enough for the vast amount of people who come here to just post one one-time job.


Hi, Kelly, Thanks for your reply. I agree 3 is pretty small. I'm curious how many is your normal amount now? 


I think about the same as you... around 1 every other day but sometimes I get little flurries. But in June it seemed like I was getting hammered.

Thanks for your reply, Mark. I heard rumors of this change in the community, but haven't experienced it myself yet. I posted a job for some work I needed done on my free client account about a month ago and invited some freelancers without issue. Do you know when this change took effect? 

Here is the announcement in the community, but I think it was early July:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Announcements/Changes-to-Upwork-s-client-membership-plans/td-p/60624...
dsmgdesign
Community Member

Going on 9 days now. I did make some changes to my freelancer profile recently: 

 

- I increased my rate 

- I created a secondary profile with an increased rate for creative direction 

- Changed my availability to "as needed - open to offers" (because at the time at had more contracts open that I could just about handle). 

- Made some changes to my profile overview 

 

Could any of those (or all of those combined) mess up the algorithm? Should I have made these changes incrementally instead of all at once? 


David S M wrote:

Going on 9 days now. I did make some changes to my freelancer profile recently: 

 

- I increased my rate 

- I created a secondary profile with an increased rate for creative direction 

- Changed my availability to "as needed - open to offers" (because at the time at had more contracts open that I could just about handle). 

- Made some changes to my profile overview 

 

Could any of those (or all of those combined) mess up the algorithm? Should I have made these changes incrementally instead of all at once? 


I don't think there is anything that you can do to influence the algorithm at all. 


David S M wrote:

Going on 9 days now. I did make some changes to my freelancer profile recently: 

 

- I increased my rate 

- I created a secondary profile with an increased rate for creative direction 

- Changed my availability to "as needed - open to offers" (because at the time at had more contracts open that I could just about handle). 

- Made some changes to my profile overview 

 

Could any of those (or all of those combined) mess up the algorithm? Should I have made these changes incrementally instead of all at once? 


If you're open to getting more invitations now, why not change your availability back to 30+ hours per week? Also, your increased rate may have something to do with it (not in terms of influencing any algorithms, but maybe your prices are now too high for some clients).


Christine A wrote:

David S M wrote:

Going on 9 days now. I did make some changes to my freelancer profile recently: 

 

- I increased my rate 

- I created a secondary profile with an increased rate for creative direction 

- Changed my availability to "as needed - open to offers" (because at the time at had more contracts open that I could just about handle). 

- Made some changes to my profile overview 

 

Could any of those (or all of those combined) mess up the algorithm? Should I have made these changes incrementally instead of all at once? 


If you're open to getting more invitations now, why not change your availability back to 30+ hours per week? Also, your increased rate may have something to do with it (not in terms of influencing any algorithms, but maybe your prices are now too high for some clients).


I think those are both good points. I'll give them a try and report back with whatever happens. 


David S M wrote:


If you're open to getting more invitations now, why not change your availability back to 30+ hours per week? Also, your increased rate may have something to do with it (not in terms of influencing any algorithms, but maybe your prices are now too high for some clients).


I think those are both good points. I'll give them a try and report back with whatever happens. 


Just to be clear, I wasn't recommending that you should decrease your rate. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to invitations, no?

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