Less Invitations.

[ashraf_nazar]

Hello Team,

I have being awarded with Top Rated badge for few months before and as usual i was receving invitations even after that. Most probably 3-4 invites per day. But, from few days before I'm not receiving much invitations. 

Below attached image depicts that I haven't received any new notifications for the whole day.

Please, ping me if any of you know the solution for this issue 🙂

Best regards,

Ashraf Nazar.

[alexandernovikov]

I think this is just an economic downturn. People are on the fence in terms of starting any new project. Everyone is in the "sit and wait" mode now. We have to wait... I have same thing here - much fewer invitations and almost no replies to my bids.

[ashraf_nazar]

thank you

[759e32fa]

Hi Ashraf,

A lot of factors come into play such as the demand for the field you're in but please understand that getting hired and invites are all up to the clients, not Upwork, as they are the ones responsible for their staffing. This isn't an issue or bug in the system.

With more and more freelancers signing up, the competition gets tougher. But I suggest that you check your profile and update your skills, tweak your title, make use of Project Catalog, and of course, apply for jobs. The more you send proposals, the more you increase the chance of getting a reply from a client.

Here's an additional tip: try to filter your search by the number of proposals the job posting has received. You may want to skip applying to those that have more than 50+ proposals already as yours can get lost there. And make sure to apply for jobs that match your skill set and previous experience.

There's really no telling how the client selects their freelancer but focus on what you can control- your cover letter, your profile, your skills. Additionally, you can reach out here in the Community and look for blog posts from successful freelancers to help you get back on your feet.

[ashraf_nazar]

thank you

[hdunsky]

I hear ya Ashraf! I am a Top Rated Plus freelancer and have been on Upwork for many years. I have always received mutiple invites most days of the week. Now, I don't get any invites at all (aside from spam invites that are removed before I even click on them). I noticed that the downturn in invites happens to correspond with the rollout of the availability badge and boosts on proposals. I'm wondering if Upwork isn't trying to encourage us to use more connects

[ericaandrews]

I actually tried both the 'available' badge and 'boosting' when those programs were in their pilot phase and actually got FEWER invites and FEWER interviews:  If you go on the 'Client' forum, you'll see that many clients actually find both a big turn-off.  "Available now" screams 'desperate for a job', and the boosting irritates many clients because completely unqualified freelancers are 'boosting' their proposals to the top of client's dashboards, causing clients to see proposals ranked by who 'wants' the job the most, not who is most qualified. Boosted proposals also show a 'note' to the client that basically says something to the effect of 'This freelancer paid extra connects to be noticed'.   If I were hiring somebody, I'd toss that proposal straight in the trash because it screams 'desperate for a job'.  I know a few clients that actually automatically reject proposals that come in boosted, because it's like paying a bribe to cut in front of the 'interview' line.   Both features appear to be back-firing and should have been shut off months ago.  More likely, the slow down in invitations for some fields has more to do with economic factors, trends, and inflation.  The cost of everything is sky-rocketing, so I assume some clients can no longer afford to pay the labor costs for some services and are delaying or cancelling some projects

[praina]

CJ A,

If that's the case, BOOSTING proposal does not make sense and it's more like we are wasting money! 
The mindset you have, are other clients thinking the same way? That's the question!

I boosted the proposal, and no response so far.
I applied normally, using asked least connects, but no response.

What to do next now.
The invites are drastically fallen down too!

[praina]

Hallee D,

Same the case here and seems Upwork is more on letting us freelancers to use the connects and connects are like anything when someone boosts the jobs!, With 80 connects we get, and 2 job BOOSTED jobs max we can apply and it's done! Getting really tougher and tougher!

[hdunsky]

Thank you so much for your take on the situation CJ! I am definitely going to try turning off my availability badge and refrain from boosting any proposals to see what happens. As you mentioned, with everything sky-rocketing in price, I'm certain there's a combination of reasons why getting invites is more challenging. But that just means its more important to experiment so we can position ourselves in the best light for the clients who are left!

[praina]

Hi Hellee,
Tuning off the "AVAILABLE NOW" and not BOOSTING PROPOSAL? Did it help?