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hashmizaid
Community Member

Jobless for 3 months on Upwork

Hi folks! I'm a top-rated freelancer with about 15K+ earnings and a 100% JSS. I had a long-term project with an old client, which went inactive in July-August. Now, I'm jobless for the last 3 months. I didn't get a single legit invitation even though I rank in the top 60 without filters and in the top 20 with filters in my category. I have spent more than 100 connects applying to extremely relevant jobs, I follow the art of applying to jobs - no templates, keeping it short, focusing on clients problems, providing solutions and value, call to action. I have read almost all articles on how to become a successful freelancer, started listening to the #workunlocked podcast, re-watched tutorial videos on Upwork and YouTube, built a perfect and curated profile, launched Project Catalogs. I don't understand what's going on! I didn't join a full-time position at MNCs or Design Agency because I am passionate about freelancing. I feel Upwork cannot even serve top-rated freelancers and it seems like a mere luck or temporary algorithm that helped me get this far. Does Upwork even care about the freelance community, or is it just about the client's needs & money? I trusted this platform with my heart, but I don't think Upwork will even take my case into account and that's why I sometimes think about switching to Fiverr or Toptal. They might value my potential and skills. Can you help me out? EDIT: Genuine advice only, no mockery! 🤞

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alexandrak83
Community Member

Have you tried tweaking your profile? I had a look at it and would recommend you selecting ONE niche where you are good at (websites, presentations, pitch decks...), one-two industries, and reworking your profile to be something along these lines:

 

"I help blockchain startups stand out from the with simple, clean website designs that get results"

 

Just an example. I did something similar with my Copywriting profile and focused only on Blockchain and SaaS (I am an expert in these). I saw many invites coming to me from other industries too. When people see that you are an expert in your niche, even other niches will approach you.

 

I suggest you spend 1-2 days just reworking your profile. You can always make a new post here and ask people to evaluate it and give you their feedback.

 

Just a piece of advice.

 

Good luck!

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9 REPLIES 9
martina_plaschka
Community Member

You are mistaken. Upwork cares about freelancers. They care so much that they don't establish even a minor threshold to join, such as a little test or something. They let almost everybody join who wants to. This is why you have more and more competition each day. 

What do you expect from Upwork, Zaid? Upwork doesn't get to decide which freelancers clients hire. 

It's funny because he just listed all the features that Upwork offers to freelancers (tutorials etc.), yet "Upwork doesn't care about freelancers." Lol

alexandrak83
Community Member

Have you tried tweaking your profile? I had a look at it and would recommend you selecting ONE niche where you are good at (websites, presentations, pitch decks...), one-two industries, and reworking your profile to be something along these lines:

 

"I help blockchain startups stand out from the with simple, clean website designs that get results"

 

Just an example. I did something similar with my Copywriting profile and focused only on Blockchain and SaaS (I am an expert in these). I saw many invites coming to me from other industries too. When people see that you are an expert in your niche, even other niches will approach you.

 

I suggest you spend 1-2 days just reworking your profile. You can always make a new post here and ask people to evaluate it and give you their feedback.

 

Just a piece of advice.

 

Good luck!

That's a very clever observation! I used to specialize only in Presentation Design and used to get good leads. Since I have changed my role to Visual Communication Designer, with five specializations at the moment (Editorial, Presentation, Publication, Branding & UI), even I have observed that circumstances have changed drastically for me. For example, I might be perceived as just a Visual Designer and not a Presentation Expert OR that may also affect my profile ranking based on Upwork's algorithm. I will definitely work on your advice to see if things work out for me. Thanks for your help, Alexandra!

Alexandra, after working on your feedback situation has changed dramatically for me. As suggested by you, I spent few days tweaking my profile overview. I started focusing on a niche in just Presentation Design & targeting the Branding industry as my interest & skills lie therein.

In the last 3 months, I didn't get a single invite or interview call for any jobs whatsoever even after writing more than 100 proposals. But now, after so much struggle, learning the skill of writing powerful proposals, building my profile, and with your great feedback, I have got fruitful results this week. I had sent about 8 to 10 proposals with 20 to 50+ freelancer proposals on each and got interviewed for 4 of them. Out of them, I won 2 great jobs at my desired hourly rate and had to kind of reject the other 2 as they didn't fulfil my requirements. Things seem really positive for me now but I want to keep growing & improving.

I am just writing to thank you for your advice & time. It definitely helped me! 🙂

prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "Upwork doesn't care about freelancers"

 

You have completed 71 jobs and have 100% JSS.

 

It seems you already know how to succeed here.

 

Why do you need Upwork to care about you?

This new Bid connects totally sucks. I used to bid on 8-15 projects per month and I usually interviewed 70% of them. Now, this week I applied for 26 jobs and got 1 interview only!

Man, what most people don’t get is that upwork is a platform, not your employer. Its job is to help you find clients and get paid. Your job is to stand out and create a winning profile, also, do a great job to be found.
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