Is it really worth to boost every proposal?

[lucioric]

Hello. I want to survey how much your hiring process is based in the boosted proposals, for the software development projects? I have broken out the piggy bank every time that I find a project already bid with 50+ connects, but I rarely get contacted. So, I am wondering how much you think freelancers boost proposals for doing a massive application to jobs when they are desperate, despite the real experience in the technologies needed.

[ajbj2012]

I don't believe every proposal needed a boost, in my opinion. Because I believe you can move forward with your boosting proposal if the job description fulfils your criteria and you believe you have something unique compared to the others. Also, it depends on the client whether they want to review the entire proposal or just the boost proposal.

[mmancia]

I do not think that it will make a difference.  The clients will hire whoever they want.  One of my last clients wanted a superstar, good at everything and when I started to work with her.  She often questioned me if I had the skills.  After leaving I realised that she wanted to pay less for more.  I was too expensive for her, she said it one too many times, and she would often say that she can do it in less than 3 minutes.  So she belittle my work and myself.  And she settled for someone cheaper than me.  So, I understood that applying and boosting your proposal won't make a difference.  The client will hire who they want.  And you will be spending connects.  I do not see that paying in any kind of situation, will make you stand out.  So you are just spending money in boosting your proposals.  I have sent 32 proposals the last 2 weeks.  Noone has ever contacted me, and those proposals I have sent, half of them were boosted.  NOT ONE PERSON has contacted me at all.  So I guess, the idea and the vision of those connects it only benefits to those that are charging you the money.  Not us freelancers who spend it.  I have bought so many connects these last two months, and I haven't found any good and reliable client. Apart that those clients they post their jobs, and they never finish the hiring process and they leave the jobs open for a long time.  

Hope this helps.  Because I have been working on UpWork since it was oDesk and before it was a lot easier to apply and find something.  And I have seen that the last years, it is really difficult to find jobs on this platform.  Sounds like Freelancer.com.  You pay and pay and pay, and you never get a client to work with.  So at the end we freelancers are without money and also without clients to pay.

[2f863be5]

So true!

I also had a client who belittled my work, just so she could pay less than I'm worth.

I'm pretty new to this platform, and so far my experience here is quite discouraging.

[sajal36]

I believe it depends on case to case basis. If the job requires big effort to write the proposal in terms of research, solution etc. than it is worthwhile to boost the proposal if you are not early on submitting the same.

But be ready for disappointment too, I do have experience where I invested 4 hours in writing the proposal for the job post as it required to address multiple problems. I submitted the proposal and after couple of hours the job got closed and my connects refunded.

[filip_knezevic]

4 hours for a proposal? Maaaaan...

[sajal36]

Why not if it is worth.. Moreover it is not only editing, you need to run a check on the job post, review client feedback, and many other factors..

[tlsanders]

I hope it was a $50,000 job.

[sajal36]

My clients works on millions dollar ROI.. So what you said might be correct but may be not a vison statement. However, if every freelancer understand and work from clients business vision and mission perspective and their success then they all have same potential..

[tlsanders]

I don't care what your client makes. I'm saying I hope you're making at least $50k on that project to make it worth spending 4 hours on a proposal. 

[wlyonsatl]

There are many scenarios, Tiffany, in which it is worthwhile for a talented freelancer to spend four hours on a proposal for a project that will pay $50,000,  which is the same as spending one hour on a proposal for four projects that will pay $12,500.

For the right freelancer looking at the right projects, these numbers make as much sense as a freelancer spending four hours submitting 16 proposals that take 15 minutes each for projects that will pay $3,125 each.

If that math doesn't make sense to you, please let me know. It's pretty simple, but maybe not for everyone.

[2f863be5]

I'll advice that you not continue boosting.

I realized that it is just a waste of connects.

Aim to apply for jobs as soon as they are posted. Responsive clients will interview you straight-away.

In any case you see jobs that have a large amount of bids, just take your time to craft your proposal. If you are good enough, the client will reach out to you, despite the pool of bidded proposals.

[mmancia]

I have decided not to apply when more than 20 applicants are already bidding.  YOU will 100% waste your connects on this.  Because peopel just see the first 7 people on top. 

Whoever came up with the vision of the connects should be fired.  It doesnt work at all.  Anything to get $$ for wasted connects

[yofazza]

---

Myrna M wrote:

Whoever came up with the vision of the connects should be fired.  It doesnt work at all.

Works or not depends on where you stand. The person who came up with this actually got a raise for finding a way to profit! from the oversupply of millions of freelancers, who used to only contribute burden on server power and network bandwidth.

It remains to be seen how long this business model will last.

[7f7628b3]

I used to find bidding a way to get my job but I have realized that bidding deducts my connects which is best to save them rather than waste it. 

[filip_knezevic]

hmm, so now you get jobs by saving connects and not applying? makes sense...

[83487c00]

I do the same now. If I see a job already has 20 to 50 applicants I don't even bother. Most clients aren't responsive in the first 24 hours though, at least in my experience, so even if I apply early my proposal gets drowned...and I just waste my connects.

[tlsanders]

Of course, if Upwork considers you one of the best matches, you will be in that top 7 even if you sent the 74th proposal.

[mmancia]

Also... something that I have noticed is: why clients want to post 4 postings of the same position?????  

[7f7628b3]

If this is the case then it is a fraud which is best to avoid such scams. I have reported a position that asks you to send your resume with email mentioned.

[riabiswas2021]

No, It is definitely not necessary to boost every post as it does not give any extra chances of you to get that proposal approved. You can still try your luck by boosting a few but only to which you feel that your skills are adhering to the tasks.

[d0bf30f3]

I would add that each job post I recently had posted was boosted in a minute with zero profiles. They bidded 50 connects. It is impossible for other freelancers to spend too much on boosting. It looks like cheating.

[wlyonsatl]

Lucio Ricardo M.,

Based on limited information from Upwork, I'd estimate boosting a proposal increases a freelancer's chance of winning a particular project by 6%, assuming boosting puts the freelancer's proposal in the golden Top 4 among all proposals on the project. 

Upwork Says Boosting Proposals Improves Propo... - Upwork Community

Of course, individual freelancers' experience in this respect my be much higher or lower than 6%, but it's not an irrelevant consideration in deciding whether to boost or not. Personally, I have seen no boost in my testing of boosting, so I will continue to both manually search for new projects and rely on receiving regular requests for proposals from potential new clients.

Good luck!

[chris_bannu]

Not sure if it's worth it, but it's sure  expensive. Also, I'm not sure how it looks for the client, but if the boosted proposals are highlighted as being boosted, they're totally gonna get ecnouraged to only view those proposals and make freelancers who don't boost their proposals seem like they're not that interested in that specific job. And that totally kills the competence based competition. It's not fair having to pay so much for just applying to jobs, having to pay to be visible in the search engine, having to pay to show as available and having to pay the 10% commission, which for me is a huge loss, as many of my contracts are way above 10k, which in the past were commissioned at 5%. It seems to me that it's more profitable to sell connects rather than earn from the freelancer's hard work. It used to be very easy for me to find jobs in the past, before this connects madness started, now it's proving to be qquite difficult.

I'm not sure how this will look long term, but it's definitely  gonna kill a few careers.

[wlyonsatl]

Based on limited information from Upwork, I'd estimate boosting a proposal increases a freelancer's chance of winning a particular project by 6%, assuming boosting puts the freelancer's proposal in the golden Top 4 among all proposals on the project.

Upwork Says Boosting Proposals Improves Propo... - Upwork Community

Of course, individual freelancers' experience in this respect may be much higher or lower than 6%, but it's not an irrelevant consideration in deciding whether to boost or not. Personally, I have seen no boost in my testing of boosting, so I will continue to both manually search for new projects and rely on receiving regular requests for proposals from potential new clients.

The dollar volume of projects completed on Upwork over the past year has only increased very marginally (and went down inflation-adjusted). If there are a lot more freelancers who have started work over the same period, that's probably the main reason old hands are finding it more difficult to win new projects compared to a year ago.

But I'd expect clients with $10,000 projects would pretty much ignore boosted proposals, or at least not pay more attention to them than to non-boosted proposals. It's highly unlikely the most enthusiastic freelancers are also the most highly skilled and experienced.

[chris_bannu]

Relying on invites became non existent after the introduction of profile boosts within the search engine and the availability badge, which became paid products. From 1-2 invites per week in the past year, I managed to not get invited ince in the past years or so (8-9 months I think) So, personally, I can't rely on other finding me either 🙂 It's sad though, this used to be a competitive marketplace, where skilled mattered more than paid advertising.

[wlyonsatl]

Cristian B.,

As of this time last year I had submitted proposals on about 180 new projects.

So far this year, I've submitted proposals on 135 new projects.

That's a 25% reduction. Nothing to sneeze at.

I don't keep track of how many invitations I receive, but I'd guesstimate that number is down by at least 40% - 50%. And many of them this year have been irrelevant to my skills and experience, or violated Upwork's rules about the kind of projects or payment terms that are allowed.

With Upwork reducing its spend on advertising and marketing, it's hard to say where management thinks revenue growth and , eventually, sustainable profits will come from. It appears that raising prices for both freelancers and clients is part of the answer, as well as reducing operating expenses (including paying out substantially less money to reconcile client-freelancer disagreements and client-freelancer fraud).

We'll see.

[tlsanders]

I think they've made a hard shift from drawing in the type of clients we're accustomed to here to soliciting large corporations that will use hundreds or thousands of freelancers. You don't bring in that type of client with advertising--it's a direct pitch game. 

[joansands]

No. I don't boost my proposals.

[r2streu]

Honestly, when I look at the numbers on the proposals clients have looked at versus haven't looked at, I almost do better NOT boosting proposals. At best it doesn't seem to make any difference at all, and at worst, I've heard about clients who actually hate it when you boost. 

[wlyonsatl]

If boosting a proposal only increases your chance of winning a new project by six percent compared to freelancers who don't boost their proposals, working on improving your choice of jobs to apply for, your cover letter, your work samples, etc. may be a better option.