Ok real quick and simple, "Always make sure your client sets up and funds a milestone for any task you're about to do!!!"
Pay attention! some clients would just make up some random post with an attractive budget just to reel you in. Then they will proceed to ask you if you could do just a quick test job, and if you're a freelancer who hasn't been hired in a while you'd surely be eager to do that test job just to get hired. But here is the thing, that test job which they will give you may just be the actual job they are just looking to get done which could be totally unrelated to the random post they used to reel you in. And by the time you put in all your efforts to get that job done so you can impress that client, at the end of the day, that client may just leave you on read and never respond to you again after getting what he/ she wanted. And at this point, Upwork can't help you because there was no milestone/ contract to begin with, so you can't file a dispute.
To avoid this kind of scenario:
- On the page of their job post, scroll to the bottom of the page to see their reviews (sometimes they don't have any)
- Always make sure your client's payment method is "Verified". If payment method is not verified you can still tell him/ her to kindly verify their payment method.
- Kindly tell your client to set up a milestone for that test job (If your client agrees don't expect a huge amount "It's a Test Job")
NOTE: Not all clients who request test jobs are "scammers", you just have to think smart in some situations.
I for example have done some test jobs in the past, but i made sure the job i was actually doing seemed like a test which only took me less than an hour, and i only submitted a screenshot with my name as a watermark across the screen, and luckily for me, i got hired. A friend of mine even went as far as using his phone to snap his own work displayed on his PC screen.
Summary: Always make sure your client's payment method is verified and he/she sets up and funds milestones for all tasks they want you to do. If you have to do a test job, think smart and make sure it's worth it.
Cheers!
