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irieislandgirl
Community Member

No invitations to intervew

Has any else noticed fewer invitations for jobs without sending in a proposal, or is it just me? 

I haven't received an out of the blue invitation to interview in 2 months. I used to receive them often.

 

Thoughts?

16 REPLIES 16
wlyonsatl
Community Member

Melinda,

 

I don't know what clients previously had to pay Upwork for more than 3 invites per job post, but this is the policy now:

 

Clients on an Upwork Basic account are limited to 3 invites per job post. If you’d like to invite additional freelancers and agencies to your job, consider upgrading to an Upwork Plus account.

I hope Upwork is keeping some statistics with this one because it seems like 3 free invites is just woefully inadequate for most clients. The serious ones will already be Pro members (or Plus or whatever it is) but I imagine some potential/would be Plus clients are ending up disappointed and leaving because with only three invites they are likely to have all three either be ignored or declined. I don't know what the correct number of free invites would be but I feel certain it's more than three.


Kelly B wrote:

I imagine some potential/would be Plus clients are ending up disappointed and leaving ...


Where would they leave to lol?

I don't know another site that had a better algorithm for suggesting potential matches to invite like Upwork does.

All other freelance sites, even the second largest, are largely based on the open marketplace model.

It appears the Upwork team decided from their data that the ability to invite a ton of freelancers is a feature most clients can do without. Call it a non-essential feature, if you may.

And also because limiting the number reasonably will help freelancers command better rates.


Abinadab A wrote:

Kelly B wrote:

I imagine some potential/would be Plus clients are ending up disappointed and leaving ...


Where would they leave to lol?

I don't know another site that had a better algorithm for suggesting potential matches to invite like Upwork does.

All other freelance sites, even the second largest, are largely based on the open marketplace model.

It appears the Upwork team decided from their data that the ability to invite a ton of freelancers is a feature most clients can do without. Call it a non-essential feature, if you may.

And also because limiting the number reasonably will help freelancers command better rates.


There are plenty of other freelance sites. Everyone on here says the reason so many jobs just stay open forever with no hires is because the same job is listed elsewhere. I never said they should be able to invite a "ton" of freelancers; I said from my own experience (of declining the majority of invites I receive), I don't think three invites is enough for a client to have a good shot of finding a good/suitable AND AVAILABLE freelancer. Apparently enough clients agreed with me that Upwork is changing the amount.

allenwatson23
Community Member

I have always gotten a decent number of invites. After Upwork rolled out specialized profiles, I was getting one to two a day and I believe I secured a contract or two from them. However, I came here today to ask this exact question. Over the last few weeks, I've gotten virtually no invitations to interview. 

lysis10
Community Member

Clients have to pay to invite more than a few people now. I don't see many featured or Plus members in my section, so my personal opinion is that they are posting publicly instead and not finding good freelancers and that is why people seem to feel that hiring percentages are dropping. If clients could invite 10ish people, they would be able to find a least 2-3 people that they like. 

 

I think they said they raised the invite limit to 6, but I still don't think that's enough.

Seems Upwork is ruining aome things for Freelancers. It has changed a lot.

Seems to me like there is no rhyme or reason to it. I've been actively using the site for 4 months. I have a JSS of 99% and great feedback, got plenty of work out in the open market place and delighted with how things have gone, but receive less than 5 invites per month.


Melinda M wrote:
Seems Upwork is ruining aome things for Freelancers. It has changed a lot.

Ask the freelancers on this forum who say they've landed unbelievable contracts on Upwork in the last few weeks/months, and you'll hear a different story.

Have you landed a great job through out of the blue invites?

I'm writing about clients reaching out to you without you submitting a proposal.


Melinda M wrote:
Have you landed a great job through out of the blue invites?

I'm writing about clients reaching out to you without you submitting a proposal.

I've lived the last couple of years on Upwork on invites, which is why this change makes me rage (charging client change). I don't think I've won an open marketplace bid in ages but it's possible I just don't remember. 


Jennifer M wrote:

I think they said they raised the invite limit to 6, but I still don't think that's enough.


Yes, one of the mods (Valeria) said they had carefully considered feedback from clients and would be increasing the number to 6.

But I don't think the Team is serious about implementing that increase because everything on the present Upwork documentation says it's 3 invites for Basic. Last I checked (a few days ago).


Jennifer M wrote:

Clients have to pay to invite more than a few people now. I don't see many featured or Plus members in my section, so my personal opinion is that they are posting publicly instead and not finding good freelancers and that is why people seem to feel that hiring percentages are dropping. If clients could invite 10ish people, they would be able to find a least 2-3 people that they like. 


That's an interesting take on the situation, and I bet you're right. Upwork says that they implemented the new connects policy because clients don't want to wade through tons of bids, but at the same time, they've effectively stopped clients from controlling the amount of bids they receive by setting up invite-only projects (since three invites doesn't leave enough options to choose from, especially if one or more freelancers decline). Ten invitations WOULD be more reasonable. 

 

The three-invite policy hurts clients, hurts freelancers, and hurts Upwork. It doesn't make any sense. 

I used to get multiple invitations to interview per day.

 

Now?

 

Close to none.

 

Funny how it's coincided with the new Connects policy, where we have to pay to apply...

 

Not a fan of these changes at all.

It didn't necessarily coincide with the Connects policy, but rather, the new client plans.
In any case, you can be more successful on Upwork with little or no invites.

It seems to me that all the changes have been implemented to push freelancers in the direction of purchasing as many Connects as possible.

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