Proposals

[kariuki-kamau]

You go to find work and see the one you choose shows less than 5 proposals. Immediately you apply the number count jumps to 10-15. It's such a coincidence this happens always taking into account less than 5 could have meant 1,2,3,4, or 5. As this seems to happen always, I have always wondered whether the number count is that accurate.

[tlbp]

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Dann K wrote:

You go to find work and see the one you choose shows less than 5 proposals. Immediately you apply the number count jumps to 10-15. It's such a coincidence this happens always taking into account less than 5 could have meant 1,2,3,4, or 5. As this seems to happen always, I have always wondered whether the number count is that accurate.

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It's not very accurate. Plus, 20 bots could be shipping proposals in the few minutes it takes you to prepare yours. Don't get too hung up on being among the first to apply. Upwork's algorithm sorts proposals before presenting them to the client. So proposal #20 may actually appear at the top of the client's list. 
If you are the first to send a proposal, you might have some advantage because the client gets a notification that a proposal has arrived. After that, it's up to how well the algorithm thinks you match the client's needs.