Invitations are still not what they used to b...

dsmgdesign · ‎01-04-2020

Hello,

I'm a top-rated freelancer, and from early 2019 to about August 2019, I used to get at least 1 invitation a day...sometimes as many as 3 invites a day.

Since August, there has been a sharp decline, and I'm still not back to what I used to be. I just checked and I received 7 invitations in 90 days. It's been around this number since August.

I heard (on this forum), that the algorithm cycles freelancers every so often so that all freelancers get a chance. I also heard on this forum this cycle happens every 5 to 7 weeks. Well, it's been alot longer and I've been waiting patiently. I also heard clients aren't sending as many invites because they have to pay to send more than X number of invites. I'm not buying that because I have heard from freelancers (on this forum) say they get the number of invites that I used to get. Also, plenty of clients (including my own client account) can still send as many invites as the want without paying a cent. I think I read somewhere this is because we are "grandfathered in". I'm also not buying UW's line that most clients don't send invites. This concerns me because from about April 2019-August 2019, I didn't need to send a single propposal to a job. I got ALL of my jobs througb invitations. Sure I got plenty of useless invites, but I also got a lot of really great paying jobs through invite-only opportunities. And, I would really like to get those opportunties again.

My guess is that it has something to do with profiles or it's a setting that's "off". That's because it was around that time (early August), when I did two things: start an agency, and built out 2 additional profiles (because UW didn't let me add more portfolio items until I created a profile). After I did these two things, it was like I flipped a switch...literally. See, when I started the agency, I noticed it wasn't showing in the marketplace. An UW customer service agent helped me change a bunch of settings to get it to show. Thanks to UW's filters, it didn't take me long to discover that my agency was showing in the marketplace, but my freelancer profile wasn't showing. Apparantly freelancers must choose one or the other to show in the marketplace, so I chose my freelancer profile. That was restored, but I don't think all of the settings were changed back that I had to change to get my agency to show, and I don't remember what they all were that got changed.

Anyway, after ALL of that happened (in less than a day), the invites stopped suddenly, and its still not the same. It was early August, and so the other thing I heard was people are on vacation...relax it will be back to normal soon. Well, again, been waiting patiently (for 4 months), and nothing is changing. So I really do believe it is because I did something wrong with the profiles (maybe I should only have 2 profiles, not 3??).....or, it's one of the setting changes that the UW support agent help me make to get my agency to show.

Sorry for the long-winded story. Any help would be appreciated.

tlsanders · ‎01-04-2020

Wasn't it some time in the summer when Upwork started severely limiting the number of invitations clients could send without paying the monthly fee?

dsmgdesign · ‎01-04-2020

Tiffany S wrote:
Wasn't it some time in the summer when Upwork started severely limiting the number of invitations clients could send without paying the monthly fee?

No, I believe it was earlier than early August. And, that's not true. I can send as many invites as I like on my client accountwithout paying anything. I just did this about a month ago. I believe some clients are "grandfathered in." It's just new clients that have to pay more for invites. I doubt this is the issue anyway, there are plenty of freelancers who get the amount of invites that I used to get.

tlsanders · ‎01-04-2020

That's very interesting. They DID say existing basic accounts would be grandfathered, but they switched mine to the new more limited version nonetheless and I saw several others post the same around the time the change was happening. You're the first person I've ever seen say that you were actually grandfathered.

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I do know that shortly after a lot of people started posting that their invitations had suddenly dried up and disappeared, while others were posting that they were getting more invitations than ever. It didn't seem like the effect was to cut down invitations across the board, but to create some weird split where some people nearly stopped getting them and the spigot opened up for others. Based on the people I saw posting both, though, I wouldn't expect you to be on the negative side of that split.

2a05aa63 · ‎01-04-2020

Interesting... I remember reading that they won't grandfather old accounts. I tried to invite, and was able to do 5 invites without any issues.

dsmgdesign · ‎01-04-2020

Based on the people I saw posting both, though, I wouldn't expect you to be on the negative side of that split.

Exactly. Which is why I think there is something else at play. Either a setting is "off kilter" when the UW support person had me change a few of my settings to get my agency to show in the marketplace (which is now back to my freelancer profile)..or had something to do when I added 2 profiles...as I mentioned in my long-winded story (sorry it was so long)....both happened around August 5th, and that is to the day when my inivtes stopped.

tlsanders · ‎01-04-2020

I don't think it's a setting, because although you don't show up in the first several pages when I search a general term like "graphic designer" from my client account, you do come up as the first result when I use something more specific to your profile, such as "graphic designer-digital," and that's true whether I search for freelancers only or for agencies and freelancers.

dsmgdesign · ‎01-04-2020

True. I do show up in the marketplace. I tested that myself, as well, by selecting some key words from my profile like you did. Think it might have something to do with having 3 specialized profiles? I did that on the same day things went south, too.

feed_my_eyes · ‎01-04-2020

I don't think that you're experiencing anything unusual - I was under the impression that invitations are down for all freelancers. I continue to hope that Upwork will see the light and change the limit to 5 or 6 invitations instead of 3. As things stand now, i firmly believe that this policy is hurting everyone - clients, freelancers and Upwork.

tlsanders · ‎01-04-2020

Christine, I've received more invitations in the past few months than I ever have on Upwork. I even received one or two while my profile was allegedly set to private. I've seen a handful of others say the same (the first part, obviously, not the set to private part)

feed_my_eyes · ‎01-04-2020

I'm glad that it's working out for you, but judging from most forum posts and people that I've talked to, I think that you're the exception and not the rule.

dsmgdesign · ‎01-05-2020

Christine A wrote:
I'm glad that it's working out for you, but judging from most forum posts and people that I've talked to, I think that you're the exception and not the rule.

Perhaps. Still, I'd be very interested to hear how many invites that other actively working Top Rated freelancers on this forum have received in the 90 days (under MyStats, in the Communication section)? Mine is 6 out of 6. Prior to August it would have been somewhere between 50-150...just guessing based on the math of how many times I received invites..I never really monitored this stat. Christine and Tiffany, mind taking a peek and sharing the number that shows up there for you?

feed_my_eyes · ‎01-05-2020

David S M wrote:

Perhaps. Still, I'd be very interested to hear how many invites that other actively working Top Rated freelancers on this forum have received in the 90 days (under MyStats, in the Communication section)? Mine is 6 out of 6. Prior to August it would have been somewhere between 50-150...just guessing based on the math of how many times I received invites..I never really monitored this stat. Christine and Tiffany, mind taking a peek and sharing the number that shows up there for you?

I've had 22 invitations in the past 90 days, but nearly all of them have been requests to design proposals and templates using Word, which is a bit of a niche service that I don't think you offer? Only two of my invitations were for more general graphic design work - a much more crowded category - so you're comparing apples and oranges here (even more so with Tiffany).

tlsanders · ‎01-05-2020

I've had 17, which is probably pretty much on par with what I was getting before the change (generally 1-2/week with the occasional flurry). But, my profile was set to private for a few weeks of that time.

ETA: Also, FWIW, my response rate is crap. I only responded to about 3/4 of those invitations, and only about half of them within 24 hours.

a_lipsey · ‎01-06-2020

David S M wrote:
Christine A wrote:
I'm glad that it's working out for you, but judging from most forum posts and people that I've talked to, I think that you're the exception and not the rule.
Perhaps. Still, I'd be very interested to hear how many invites that other actively working Top Rated freelancers on this forum have received in the 90 days (under MyStats, in the Communication section)? Mine is 6 out of 6. Prior to August it would have been somewhere between 50-150...just guessing based on the math of how many times I received invites..I never really monitored this stat. Christine and Tiffany, mind taking a peek and sharing the number that shows up there for you?

You didn't ask me, but I was invited 25 times in the past 90 days. I don't recall what it was the previous 90 days, but I do recall feeling like I was having an increase in invitations to respond to during the past few months (as in, feeling more irritated than usual that I was being invited to so many jobs I wasn't interested in, lol). But that could have just been because I was insanely busy.

dsmgdesign · ‎01-07-2020

Amanda L wrote:
David S M wrote:
Christine A wrote:
I'm glad that it's working out for you, but judging from most forum posts and people that I've talked to, I think that you're the exception and not the rule.
Perhaps. Still, I'd be very interested to hear how many invites that other actively working Top Rated freelancers on this forum have received in the 90 days (under MyStats, in the Communication section)? Mine is 6 out of 6. Prior to August it would have been somewhere between 50-150...just guessing based on the math of how many times I received invites..I never really monitored this stat. Christine and Tiffany, mind taking a peek and sharing the number that shows up there for you?
You didn't ask me, but I was invited 25 times in the past 90 days. I don't recall what it was the previous 90 days, but I do recall feeling like I was having an increase in invitations to respond to during the past few months (as in, feeling more irritated than usual that I was being invited to so many jobs I wasn't interested in, lol). But that could have just been because I was insanely busy.

Hi Amanda, thanks for your reply. Yes, I am asking all actively working Top Rated freelancers on this forum. Sorry, I probably did a terrible job of making that clear. I can't see your profile because it's private, but I'm assuming your an actively working Top-Rated freelancer.since your a Community Guru, and you said you were insanely busy. Even if you are not top rated, and you received 25 invites in the past 90 days, that's something I would love to know, too.

a_lipsey · ‎01-07-2020

Oh, it's not intentionally set to private. I have some long-term fixed price contracts on here and so I haven't hit the "Submit work" button in a couple of months. I need to email them to set it back to public. That's probably why my invites have been down this week. They really had ticked up to a few a day over December for me.

I am top-rated, yes. JSS of 93%. But, as others mentioned, I work in a specific niche. I tend to stay with fixed-price as it works better with my business model, and all of my contracts both on and off of Upwork are long-term at this point. I am trying to build capacity for a few new clients but my projects are always at least 3 months, so I feel like my business model and structure of work are a little different than the majority (although I know there are others on here who only do longer term projects too). But it seems like there are a majority of freelancers working projects that take less than a month to complete, and taking on multiple less than 7 day jobs every week, so it's hard to compare business with someone who has a new client every day versus me taking on a couple of new clients a year.

Thanks for reminding me to set it back to public. 🙂

dsmgdesign · ‎01-07-2020

Your welcome...and thanks again for responding.

tlsanders · ‎01-07-2020

David, clearly 6 is low and a huge drop for you, but it's worth noting that it seems like before the drop, you were getting far more invitations than most of us. What was that mix like? (Meaning, were they mostly good opportunities in your field at pay rates appropriate for you?)

dsmgdesign · ‎01-07-2020

Hi, Tiffany, Thanks again for jumping back in here. Indeed, I did a search on my emails for "Invitation to Interview Congrats!" and found that I had 54 invites from May 1 - Aug 1. I'm pretty selective with the clients I want to work with, so I declined about 60% of that because the project or the client didn't meet my criteria. That said, nearly ALL of the projects that I did accept from roughly May 1, 2019 to August 1, 2019 originated from invitations. And, probably the best opportunities that I worked on came from invite-only jobs...which is why this concerns me so much.

I think I'm going to take a creative approach to the advice and insight that you, Chirstine and others had given. From the responses I read the more niche-specific roles seemed to get more invites. I, too, have a niche, but looking at my specialized profiles, both my specialty and speciality profile summaries could use an overhaul to better respresent what my niche is. I highly doubt this kind of move will prompt invites to jump from 6 in 90 days to 50-or-60 in 90 days overnight, in the same way that it dropped practically overnight. But if it creates better opportunities for me, well then it will be worth the effort. I'll report back and let everyone know the status.

northcorner · ‎02-14-2020

I'm a top rated graphic designer/brand designer who has not had a single invite this year. I've applied for about 40 jobs and had very few (two) responses. Not sure what is going on. Yesterday I made some tweaks to my profile for the second time as that often results in an invite, so far nothing... I'm at a loss.

tlsanders · ‎01-05-2020

I've heard from several other freelancers that they're getting more invitations than ever, but they are all niche-specific like me. My not-even-sure-if-this-is-my-theory-but-crossed-my-mind-as-a-possibility thought is that perhaps some clients (or clients in specific niches) are focusing in on freelancers who are more clearly specifically qualified for their projects now that they have fewer invitations to send, whereas in the past they had the opportunity for greater exploration.

a_lipsey · ‎01-06-2020

Tiffany S wrote:
Christine, I've received more invitations in the past few months than I ever have on Upwork. I even received one or two while my profile was allegedly set to private. I've seen a handful of others say the same (the first part, obviously, not the set to private part)

Yes, my invitations have been on the rise overall. I definitely have weeks where they drop, but on the whole, they have been up for me.

lucioric · ‎01-07-2020

Lastly, I have got few invitations, not to say that when I send proposals, I rarely get response.

richard_wein · ‎01-08-2020

I've never relied on invitations, but it's nice to get the occasional good one. At a very rough guess I would say that invitations and unsolicited job offers have accounted for about a quarter of my clients.

My Stats page says I've had 31 invitations in the last 90 days. Since I haven't paid much attention to that figure in the past, it's hard to say if that's a change, but it feels like I'm getting about the same rate of useful invitations that I used to.

Unfortunately, most of the new jobs I've had recently (invitations or not) have been small ones, while old larger jobs have come to an end or are paused. So my Upwork earnings are down. But I have no reason to think that this has much to do with changes in Upwork. I'm hoping things will improve now that the holidays are over.

VladimirG · ‎01-06-2020

Hi David,

Following up on your initial post and statement about having unlimited invites, I checked and do see you have a 3-invite limit on your client account. Please feel free to pm me a screenshot and additional information in case you're not seeing this limit on your end. Thanks.

~ Vladimir

2a05aa63 · ‎01-06-2020

After commenting here, my account has now the 3 invitation limit 😄

dsmgdesign · ‎01-06-2020

Viacheslav K wrote:
After commenting here, my account has now the 3 invitation limit 😄

That's funny, mine had changed, too. I PM'd Vladimir asking him when this change took affect, but have not yet heard back.

2a05aa63 · ‎01-06-2020

They might have messed up their database function, and they just change manually people here and there 😄 to bad I guess, but i'm sure they will just redo it again on everyone.

efc5e71c · ‎01-18-2021

Why am I not surprised.

dsmgdesign · ‎02-27-2021

Thomas S wrote:
Why am I not surprised.

No idea.

I posted this in August 2020. Now, my invites have increased exponentially. It's definitely due to how Upwork is programmed.

Invites (or lack thereof) has absolutely nothing to do with client perception, or the competitive landscape, or any reason other than Upwork's algorithms.

wlyonsatl · ‎01-06-2020

David,

Upwork tells me I have responded to 67 of 67 invitation over the past 90 days.

I don't have numbers to compare to previous 90 day periods, but I am noticing that there are more and more low budget clients sending these invitations.

And new business has slowed waaaaaaay down over the past two months. Maybe this is random; I hope it's not a trend.

sergio-soria · ‎01-06-2020

Hi David, I don't think the problem is with your specialized profiles at all, but I do think that creating an agency may have had an impact. All I have read in this forum about that brings me to the conclusion that having an agency or being part of one is just a misstep... In short, most clients prefer working with sole freelancers and not with agencies.

I work in the Design & Creative area too, however I don't do branding/printing. I am mostly on the video/animation side. I had 4 invitations in the last 90 days. I was private for a couple of months. I don't remember well how it was before, but it has always been like that for me, maybe 6 or 9. I have never had more than 10 for sure, so when you said 50-150 invitations I was dropping my jaw here on the keyboard. I agree with Christine that you must be the exception, not the rule. I must tell you I am not in the US nor in the UK, and I know that makes a helluva difference for me, so take my stats with a grain of salt. But did you change anything about your location by mistake, even for a while? Just wondering what the problem could be.

dsmgdesign · ‎01-06-2020

Sergio, thanks for sharing. I've heard that too on this forum, and I think you're right the majority of clients are looking for individual freelancers. There are clients looking for agencies, but they are in the minority, I think. Still, I have my reasons for starting an agency.. I weighed the pros and cons, and don't regret doing it at all. It didn't take off, yet, but that's due to me in the large part.

That said, I don't know how that would impact the number of invites that my freelancer profile has been getting. But I'm not at all surprised that someone mentioned it. The 50-150 was a guess based on how many invites I remember getting per week, then doing some rough math. I did not change anything about my location, and I too am wondering what the problem could be.

petra_r · ‎01-07-2020

David S M wrote:
Still, I have my reasons for starting an agency.. I weighed the pros and cons, and don't regret doing it at all. It didn't take off, yet, but that's due to me in the large part.

That said, I don't know how that would impact the number of invites that my freelancer profile has been getting.

Because you will now always, ALWAYS show as an agency freelancer. As many clients actively filter out agency freelancers, their searches would never show your profile.

As far as invites are concerned, I seem to get less, but better targeted ones since clients are restricted to less. I don't seem to get the mass invites anyore, where clients look for something quite different to what I offer.

dsmgdesign · ‎01-07-2020

Petra R wrote:
David S M wrote:
Still, I have my reasons for starting an agency.. I weighed the pros and cons, and don't regret doing it at all. It didn't take off, yet, but that's due to me in the large part.

That said, I don't know how that would impact the number of invites that my freelancer profile has been getting.
Because you will now always, ALWAYS show as an agency freelancer. As many clients actively filter out agency freelancers, their searches would never show your profile.

Petra, thanks for jumping in here. I tested this before (and just now) by filtering on "freelancers" in the "Talent Type" category, and my freelancer profile is still there, not my agency. I thought I made sure this is how it should be by working with UW support to help me change some settings. I don't see a filter called "agency freelancer", but if there is another association with my agency that I'm not seeing that clients can use to filter me out, could you take a screenshot? Also, some of those setting changes that I mentioned DID impact my freelancer presence in the marketplace. The only change I remember was “My Teams” under “User Settings.” I thought there were some other setting changes she had me make, too, but I don’t remember what they all were now. I was hoping someone would know of a setting somewhere that said something like "Always show my freelancer profile in the marketplace", or some other words to that affect, but obviously can't find that.

tlsanders · ‎01-07-2020

David S M wrote:
Petra R wrote:
David S M wrote:
Still, I have my reasons for starting an agency.. I weighed the pros and cons, and don't regret doing it at all. It didn't take off, yet, but that's due to me in the large part.

That said, I don't know how that would impact the number of invites that my freelancer profile has been getting.
Because you will now always, ALWAYS show as an agency freelancer. As many clients actively filter out agency freelancers, their searches would never show your profile.
Petra, thanks for jumping in here. I tested this before (and just now) by filtering on "freelancers" in the "Talent Type" category, and my freelancer profile is still there, not my agency. I thought I made sure this is how it should be by working with UW support to help me change some settings. I don't see a filter called "agency freelancer", but if there is another association with my agency that I'm not seeing that clients can use to filter me out, could you take a screenshot? Also, some of those setting changes that I mentioned DID impact my freelancer presence in the marketplace. The only change I remember was “My Teams” under “User Settings.” I thought there were some other setting changes she had me make, too, but I don’t remember what they all were now. I was hoping someone would know of a setting somewhere that said something like "Always show my freelancer profile in the marketplace", or some other words to that affect, but obviously can't find that.

I also found you in search when only the "freelancers" box was checked.

blackmail1819 · ‎01-11-2020

Yeah David,

Its really terrifying when you know that you're the top freelancer in your niche but at the same time you're not!!

I only got 10 invitations in the past 90 days! Can you imagine that no. 1 lead generation specialist on Upwork's global search results only got 10 invitations in the past 3 months??!!

Please let me know who you can see at number 1: https://www.upwork.com/hire/lead-generation-specialists/

Please set the freelancers country filters to global ''Any Country''

I expertise in Sales & Marketing which is a very competitive field but I know that tons of jobs are also being posted in that field on Upwork daily!

I've been always been a Top-Rated Freelancer since this feature was introduced! As far as I remember my job success rate didn't drop below 100% for more than a year now!

I personally think whatever search algorithm, calculations or methods Upwork use for inviting freelancers are simply screwed up! Invitations are not favoring the top talents as it supposed to be which I would like to call a failure from Upwork's end! But I'm optimistic that Upwork will fix it in future!

And I'll always remain thankful to Upwork because if it were not for a freelance marketplace like Upwork formerly oDesk then I honestly don't know where I would have been today!

So Thank You, Upwork!

lysis10 · ‎01-11-2020

Md Ashifur R wrote:
Yeah David,

Its really terrifying when you know that you're the top freelancer in your niche but at the same time you're not!!

I only got 10 invitations in the past 90 days! Can you imagine that No. 1 lead generation specialist on Upwork only got 10 invitations in the past 3 months??!!

Please let me know who you can see at number 1: https://www.upwork.com/hire/lead-generation-specialists/

lol dude that page depends on your location and results are rotated. You are nowhere on that page for me.

tlsanders · ‎01-11-2020

Md Ashifur R wrote:

Please let me know who you can see at number 1: https://www.upwork.com/hire/lead-generation-specialists/

Some guy named Sakib. You are not on the first page.

Not that it matters, since that page isn't about rankings and appearing in the top slot doesn't mean a thing except that you'll likely have a good week.

Invitations are still not what they used to be