Recent Difficulty Landing Work / 100% JSS and Top Rated Plus

[dustin_slack]

Hello Upwork Community, please tell me if you are experiencing similar issues. Or if I'm crazy or doing something wrong, please tell me straight up. Also let me preface this by saying that I realize I'm not the best designer in the world. Always room to grow, I get that. But I do stand by my work and the vast majority of my clients are pleased with my work as well. 

I've been top rated plus 100% jss (graphic designer) since way before Upwork implemented these ridiculous changes. Connect boosts, 10 free connects a month (oh how generous - let's push the freelancers to boost their proposal so they'll run out of connects sooner and have to buy more), consultations, project catalogs... my work is in my profile! CLIENTS CAN VIEW MY WORK IN MY PROFILE. Not only that, if they search my name in Google, they will find my actual portfolio website. This leads my to my first concern listed below. 

Project Catalogs: If a client wants a fixed price pitch deck, they can find me and invite me to interview and discuss it with them in detail. Not all graphic design projects are alike. Some require more effort, some require minimal effort. Three tiers for a project just doesn't cover it. It is a nuanced discipline. It's more work for us trying to comply with Upwork's new standards and less money coming our way. Looking at it from a client perspective, it seems like they would think of us freelancers as unflexible, rigid, unwilling to budge, too complicated, and then just give up on the platform. I had to wait about 15-20 days and multiple fixes to get my first Project Catalog to go through. You know what Upwork said when I asked them what was taking so long? They are having trouble getting through the influx of similar concerns. I mean, that's a red flag right there. 

Consultations: Clients aren't dumb, they might need direction or need advice and might not know exactly what they are looking for, but they aren't dumb. Why are clients going to pay for a consultation when they can just message me through Upwork by inviting me to a job - even if they are unsure they'll even want to hire for the job? If the project looks good, my type of client, or design style, I'll respond, for free - because I potentailly want that specific work. What does Upwork think they are getting out of this? I'm not a lawfirm, consultations... I just don't get it. 

I haven't been receiveing invitations or landing jobs like I used to. I started noticing it about 3-4 months ago. It used to be like I'd snap my fingers and there was a good job at hand (even when I wasn't top rated plus!). Now it's nothing. I've been complaining to Upwork support about this for about a month, but I'm to be assured, these changes are working and are great for freelancers! I'm just not seeing it and I can't be the only freelancer not getting the same amount of work they used to get, not even close. I can't be alone in this, maybe I am, but intuition and years of experience tells me I'm not. 

Let me know if any of you fellow freelancers, especially graphic designers, if you're experiencing similar things or feel the same way or if you have a different opinion. I'm just trying to understand what is going on. I used to be able to make a living straight through Upwork. I've always respected Upwork so much that I'd route clients who reached out to me through my website back to Upwork, those who found me through Behance, or Dribbble, etc. Currently, it's almost impossible though. I've been using Upwork since about 2015-2016 or back when it was Freelancer. I've never had such a hard time getting work while being top rated plus at 100% jss. Something is amiss and it has to be these recent (within the last 9 months) changes to the platform. 

At this point I'm just frustrated. I put in so much work and so much effort to increase my jss to 100% and become top rated plus in my field. Now it feels like I did all that work for nothing. Great for discipline in general, not seeing the benefits monetarily anymore. 

Also, the less us freelancers get work, the less Upwork gets their cut of our pay. I think Upwork isn't looking at the fact that we (freelancers, clients, and Upwork) rely on each other. Which is why none of these changes make any sense to me. If I'm not making money on Upwork then Upwork isn't making money from me. When things start messing with your income, you notice. If I'm not the only one, then Upwork has to be experiencing less income (their cut), unless they are relying on us freelancers buying more connects to fund their platform - which just doesn't add up in my mind. 

The thing is, I'll keep using Upwork because aside from a few other sites, they've cornered this market - and like I stated before, I've been on here working since it was Freelancer. I just hope things change for the better and soon. During a time of inflation in the States, I'm not so sure about other places, having my income interrupted because of platform changes is quite frustrating. Maybe it's the platform changes, my feeling is that it is, but then I again I could be wrong. This is just my experience as of the last couple months. 

Anyway, let me know your thoughts. Whether we agree or not, much love and respect to my peers for responses.

Dusty

[e3publishingco]

If the clients feels it's so difficult to understand the necessity for the platform to vet all accounts, then they're probably not the kind of clients to be taken seriously. 

Quality > Quantity always.

There's too many fake client accounts on this platform.

[moonraker]

Who is "we"? Because I don't agree with some of your recommendations. It's not cool to go speaking for others.

[81f2681a]

---

Jamie F wrote:

Who is "we"? Because I don't agree with some of your recommendations. It's not cool to go speaking for others.

---

"We" is "Us, the freelancers" in this platform. You are not being forced to agree to my points, as I said, these topics is what I thinks is most important in my opiniom. I reads the community everyday and I see the most complains is about boosting proposals and project catalogues, so I´m pretty sure that I´m not alone, then I have rights to talks in the name of thoses that agrees to me. And I believes the majority of freelancers agrees to at least the 3 top topics in my list. If you don´t agree, it is ok, I´m not forcing anyone to follow me. This community is here to us talks about ideas and gives our opinions about the platform.

[getcheeky]

My man, Andre,

If you want something, you never demand. Kill them with kindness. 
It's about a mindful strategy that benefits the majority of all of us freelancers. 
But we do not make any demands. 
No anger in this initiative--- that'll get us nowhere fast.

[81f2681a]

Michelle, we are just in "nowhere". And there is months that freelancers is saying that dislikes many things that was implemented. A lot of freelancers just asked changes with kindness and they were ignored. As Upwork depends of clients and freelancers to earn money, so if any of these groups is unsatisfied, they will leave the platform. In fact, if we freelancers continues being unsatisfied, then we will leave the platform and Upwork will loses a lot of money. That´s what will happen. And a lot of freelancers wouldn´t like to leave, I´m one of them. So, yes, I thinks we are in position of making some demands, that is fair demands. We are not demanding anything abusive. Buying and spending connects to have no return like many freelancers said, is unsustainable. I believes I´m not being tiranic.

Calls the term as you wish "demanding", "requesting", "negotiating", "asking", "desiring", "imploring"... anything you think is most appropriate. Anyway we must shows Upwork what we wants and what we expect from the platform. I don´t think I´m doing something wrong.

[c4e453ac]

6. Have some kind of censorship controls for client-to-freelancer messages.  Literally this forum is more censored than client-to-freelancer messaging is.  Scammers can send t.me links to unsuspecting new freelancers who are thrilled to get a "job offer" and lose their senses (this happens over and over).  A simple, technical solution would prevent scammers redirecting new people off-platform to perpetrate their scam.  Website security is about prevention, not "hey new guys, you really ought to/should do this".  No should or ought-to when there's a simple, technical solution.

[paywell]

I believe that filtering through personal messages is a gray area, far less possible than moderating a forum.

But implementing a code, which would say "the client sent you a link, please read this guideline to avoid scams". 

And right underneath - a choice "I understand the risks, show me the link" or "Read guidelines". 

[c4e453ac]

It's not a grey area.  It's just string matching for URLs.  That's not a privacy issue when ToS already states pre-contract, no client is allowed to send a freelancer off-platform.  

Furthermore, there's two issues wrong with their current policy of warning people:-

• it doesn't work (see the amount of posts on this forum about people being scammed)
• it's all manual, and requires freelancers to flag jobs, newcomers to bear the brunt of being scammed, and then flagging jobs.  If you have a system that automatically detects scammers (and it IS easy to do), the job can be automatically removed, the scammer automatically suspended, the proposals automatically refunded for connects

Scammers perpetrate scams because they can.  UW are enabling scams by putting the entire onus on newcomers to do their due diligence.  This is not working (people have been saying this for years on this forum). If something doesn't work, you look for better solutions.  Again, I believe UW know the better solutions, but don't want to take the traffic hit just like Twitter don't want to remove bots from their platform as it will affect stats.

[paywell]

That "solves it". It would be great to have that implemented. 

A valid alternative would be placing links at the top of every chat, leading to an informative article about possible scams.

[the-right-writer]

Upwork already has popups about going outside the platform. I do not want Upwork spending time and money repeatedly warning people too lazy to bother to read the rules and too greedy to follow them. If you can't be bothered with reading the rules then you shouldn't be a freelancer on an online platform. Why not make experienced freelancers write their proposals, too?

[c4e453ac]

---

Jeanne H wrote:

Upwork already has popups about going outside the platform. I do not want Upwork spending time and money repeatedly warning people too lazy to bother to read the rules and too greedy to follow them. If you can't be bothered with reading the rules then you shouldn't be a freelancer on an online platform. Why not make experienced freelancers write their proposals, too?

---

This argument doesn't work because it's been used year after year on this platform, and the fake job/scam problem is only getting worse.

Let me give you an example of where technical solutions are far better than "people should do this":-

• Imagine a website that allows weak passwords - as weak as "12345" or "abc" -  and then users complain that their accounts are being hacked.
• The site owner replies with "well you should use stronger passwords, duh!"

Frankly, this is a terrible response from a site owner with very weak security.  No website merely encourages strong passwords, they will enforce them. There is no "should" or "ought to" when there are technical solutions. 

They already censor this forum, so it's not a time/money thing.

Allowing scammers to break the ToS when there's a simple technical solution to actually prevent them from breaking the ToS (and thus, being able to automatically flag them and suspend them when they hit such a trip wire) is frankly terrible website security.

[paywell]

I'm backing Andrew L on this. 

Being idiot-safe *should* be in Upwork’s interest, if they are doing what they are saying.

New Freelancers are not "Navy SEALs" in the ways of internet security, but rather “baby seals”, requiring care and attention.

Freelancers being scammed means that:

• Either the system is flawed because it doesn't correspond to the average user's level of security-savviness.
• Or the funnel, which leads to educational material, is weak and/or the material is written vaguely (as compared to Wes C’s post on scams).

Jeanne H, sorry to point that out, but your argument doesn’t hold water:

“Upwork shouldn’t implement costly measures, and if they do so, then Freelancers might as well write proposals for the new guys”

• Firstly, showing a “read about scams here” link for new Freelancers at the top of every message thread isn’t costly.
• Secondly, what do Upwork implementations for newbies have to do with experienced Freelancer effort?

[the-right-writer]

Upwork is not in the business of forcing people to not act like idiots. Nowhere does Upwork state they are idiot proof, or that they will save the poor freelancer when they engage in breaking the rules or greedy behaviors.

It does not take a Navy Seal to understand the rules and regulations. If you are not willing to do what is necessary in business, like following the rules, then the buisiness will fail or the owner will be in serious trouble with a variety of agencies. I have no sympathy for people who continually break the rules and then cry that Upwork failed them.

There are already warnings, like the one that says don't go outside of Upwork it isn't safe, right before people go outside of Upwork.

We are adults. Freelancing is a business. I'm not interested in any platform or business that needs to hold the hand of the people doing the work. If they can't be bothered with the rules, they are not going to follow other rules either. This makes those people bad freelancers that drag down the platform.

There is no excuse for joining and applying for jobs. Only a person who is greedy and doesn't care or someone who just can't be bothered with the rules will do so. It is not new freelancers; it is people who think they can make money as a freelancer with no real skills. and break the rules because they think they can and get away with it.

Maybe Upwork should have a new banner. "If you can't function as an adult in business, stick to doing surevys."

[the-right-writer]

If 99% of the freelancers who are scammed didn't violate the Terms of Service, there would be no scammers posting constantly. If a freelancer can't be bothered with following the rules or are doing it on purpose because they are greedy, they have created their own situation. Freelancing is a business. I often relate it to walking down the street. Suddenly, someone in a dark alley is whispering in your ear about making lots of money for nothin'. If you just go with them, ignoring the giant signs posted, saying don't go with this person down the dark alley, they will give you lots of money. Do you go down the dark alley?

If the freelancer wants to run the risk of being cheated and losing their Upwork account, they have free choice. But choices have responsibilities.

[martina_plaschka]

I'm not banding together with anybody before he has presented ideas to get behind of. What are the ideas you want upwork to hear? 

[dustin_slack]

Hi Martina, 

Glad you are skeptical, it's a good trait.

It's a variety of issues. The most crucial, which encompasses pretty much everything being discussed in this and other threads. Response rate is low, there is a dry spell that is relatively wide spread, and Upwork isn't doing anything about. Us freelancers who are legit are getting tossed aside and it's messing with our money. Something Upwork has done has caused this. 

You could also read my recent long rant post and other freelancer's posts regarding topics in this thread. But if you're not onboard, no skin off my back. To each there own. There is a collective disappointment with Upwork felt by a lot of freelancers right now though, it's just facts. Can't speak for all, but I can say that I've heard numerous situations similar to mine. Enough to consider it widespread - and these are just the people voicing their concerns. 

Thanks for the response!

Dustin

[martina_plaschka]

I*m not sceptical, it's just that my experience is very different. I don't use projects, I don't boost, and I have no complaints. But this is anecdotal evidence, nothing more, like the handful of people reporting their own experience in this thread. 

Why people are not getting jobs at the rate they would like to - the answer is very simple. Too many freelancers competing for a relatively stable number of jobs. Upwork accepts thousands of new profiles a day. There is no meaningful entrance test, or in fact, any at all. 

What could upwork do? Restrict access for freelancers, and continue with their efforts to win clients. Purge freelancers who have not demonstrated in a reasonable amount of time that they can find success on the platform. Clients usually report being horrified by the automatic proposals they get, and their extremely low quality. 

In order for upwork - and the freelancers - to succeed, That needs to change. Clients need to have a better user experience to be convinced to use upwork on an ongoing basis, not recoil in horror when they read the proposals they get. 

[dustin_slack]

Upwork could go back to the way they did things before? That's a suggestion. 

Martina, I'm glad it's not your experience. But it's more than a handful of people, let's be real. 

Also how do you know for sure it's new or too many freelancers impeding on our ability to land clients? 

Seams to me and the "handful" of people that it's changed since Upwork has implemented changes to the platform. 

I can't even say that for sure, but you've got a lot of confidence behind your reasoning. Maybe you know things we don't? 

I don't know. It's a problem though. Maybe not for you and good on you for that. Maybe you'd feel it differently if you were in our shoes? 

[martina_plaschka]

I might, but I would look at the reasons why people are not winning jobs. But the boosting thing, or project catalogue, has nothing to do with not winning jobs. Don't boost, don't do projects. Thousands of freelancers join every day. The number of jobs stay roughly the same. The Russia business has gone *poof*. That's all there is to it.  

I don*t know what the content of your petition to upwork would be. Please provide bullet points. I really don't know what people will be asking upwork to do. I'm not being cynical, just really interested. 

Complaining does not lead to solutions. So what do you suggest?

[paywell]

Thank you for the inspiration.

I have created a list of bullet points and posted them as an idea:

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Community-Idea-Exchange/Features-to-change-the-UW-job-search-experie...

Feel free to review and add your own points to make the Freelance experience better at UW. 

[martina_plaschka]

You need to find another way to voice your ideas, you posted it in the community idea exchange. This is for ideas about the community (the forum), not upwork itself. I know many people misunderstand the purpose of it, or if there is even a need to discuss ideas about the community. 

There are millions of little things that upwork could do better, no doubt. I guess I was hoping for some dramatic manifesto to be nailed on a wall or something, they way this thread is going. Thank you for your effort anyway!

[paywell]

First of all: this is a positive topic, which should encourage the developers to take action. 

Please moderate yourself before posting: the ideal reply should sound like a sales pitch, not a bad review. 

Secondly: it is about adding what you would like, not subtracting what you dislike.

I strongly believe, that a good idea will be linked or sent to a decision maker.

Disclaimer: I do not guarantee it will happen, but that is how I see it working.

Here it goes. A list of features, which could optimize / enhance the Upwork Job Search experience:

Adding Client Management functionality for Freelancers:

• A „favorite” button to add a client (not the job posting alone), with a possibility to receive updates, whenever a client is posting new jobs;
• A „like” and „dislike job posting" option with the possibility to add keywords and categories, which were mentioned in the job posting. The goal is to „teach the algorithm" / personalize the search , therefore the option to „clear or edit the like/dislike” cache if you see far too little posts;
• A blacklist for clients, which you would not like to propose to again;
• A „registered on” filter to weed out clients, who registered today/last week/etc.
• A „hired on” date to see, whether the client views the posting after hiring
• A „hired” search filter to see which jobs are probably taken (this could be combined with a „last viewed by client” indicator in the visible search result data)

Adding functionality to the „Favorites” section:

• Allow Freelancers to see other job postings by the client, if he made the „favorite” job private
• Introduce filters like „Proposals” and „Hired” (or not), „Client spend”, „Last viewed by client” and the possibility to sort Favorites (ascending/descending) by those criteria

Changes to Job posting requirements:

• I would also recommend that the client chooses a time zone and working times or chooses the amount of „flexible” working hours (i.e. 04:30 hr. 10AM-00PM UTC), with the option to indicate obligatory working windows, (i.e. 8AM-10AM UTC 00)
  This could enhance the UW experience as well as solve some problems, Freelancers seem to have, according to recent UW Forum posts.

To the Upwork Team: Thank you for your consideration.

To fellow Upworkers: Thank you for your self-moderation!

[d00g]

I would suggest to implement a filter for jobs with already hired freelancers, so that you can eliminate them from search results. If the client wants to hire more than 1 freelancer, they can indicate that in the job offer and when the count reaches the maximum, the job offer is excluded from search results. 

It doesn't make sense to have such job offers under search results and open them only to see that the client already hired someone.  It is a waste of time and not productive.

[dustin_slack]

Martina, you don't have to be onboard with anything, espeically if it's not your situation. Which makes want to understand what your intentions are here on this thread, if you really are that interested. I suggest people keep posting their experiences. We don't all have to agree with each other, we all have different experiences, albeit the majority are similar. Others as well as myself are trying to figure this out. I will share "bullet points" with whoever the appropriate people are when I or we are ready to and if others want to join in, feel free, if not, feel free not to join in. By all means, keep posting, I don't own this thread, obviously you can post what you like.

[lysis10]

---

Dustin S wrote:

Martina, you don't have to be onboard with anything, espeically if it's not your situation. Which makes want to understand what your intentions are here on this thread, if you really are that interested. I suggest people keep posting their experiences. We don't all have to agree with each other, we all have different experiences, albeit the majority are similar. Others as well as myself are trying to figure this out. I will share "bullet points" with whoever the appropriate people are when I or we are ready to and if others want to join in, feel free, if not, feel free not to join in. By all means, keep posting, I don't own this thread, obviously you can post what you like.

---

I can't speak for Martina, but I think a lot of ideas here are terrible and I make sure to say something because terrible freelancers and their terrible ideas will affect me negatively. 

I keep seeing people say that Upwork should listen to freelancers because they make money, but so do I and I think a lot of ideas here are terrible, so who do you think they should listen to? People not making any money or the ones killing it?

[a_lipsey]

---

Jennifer M wrote:

---

Dustin S wrote:

Martina, you don't have to be onboard with anything, espeically if it's not your situation. Which makes want to understand what your intentions are here on this thread, if you really are that interested. I suggest people keep posting their experiences. We don't all have to agree with each other, we all have different experiences, albeit the majority are similar. Others as well as myself are trying to figure this out. I will share "bullet points" with whoever the appropriate people are when I or we are ready to and if others want to join in, feel free, if not, feel free not to join in. By all means, keep posting, I don't own this thread, obviously you can post what you like.

---

I can't speak for Martina, but I think a lot of ideas here are terrible and I make sure to say something because terrible freelancers and their terrible ideas will affect me negatively. 

I keep seeing people say that Upwork should listen to freelancers because they make money, but so do I and I think a lot of ideas here are terrible, so who do you think they should listen to? People not making any money or the ones killing it?

---

I agree with Jennifer. I think most of these ideas are terrible, and I am a freelancer making Upwork money. And if you want the stats I'm a TR plus freelancer with over $100k in earnings. I have been getting lots of invites (more than earlier this year) and landing lots of contracts. I dislike the boosts and the visibility badge, but otherwise, things are better than ever for me on Upwork. Many of the suggested changes would significantly impact my client base and ability to earn money, as Jennifer mentioned. 

Upwork has become more competitive. That's all there is to it. The people who joined at the beginning of the pandemic have earned their sea legs and now you have to compete with them. If you're as good as you think you are then you will figure out how to do it on your merit than by asking Upwork to change things specifically in your favor. You aren't asking what's good for freelancers, you are asking "what's good for me" and that is what you are suggesting. 

[dustin_slack]

Good for you Amanda. That's great news. 

I started the thread to figure out what's happening and if anyone could relate. Turns out many can, you don't, but many do. 

Think what you want, post you want, make your money. Good on you, for real. 

Of of course I want to keep making money through Upwork. I don't know where you got the idea that I'm just trying to be some savior who isn't concerned about themselves and ONLY helping other people. 

I am concerned though that so many are experiencing a dry spell. I'd like them to keep making money too. 

You know there are gray areas right? More than one thing can be true? 

But yes, good job, keep at it, you're killing it, good for you and I truly mean it. 

[dustin_slack]

Yeah some ideas are good and some aren't. We all have different opinions on that. We're human. 

I don't know what you're reply to my reply to Martina has to do with it. 

Like I said to Amanda, there are gray areas. More than one thing can be happening and true at the same time. Some ideas are bad some are good, I get that. 

Thsnjs for your input. Keep speaking up redsrding what ideas you think are good and bad. I take no offense. 

It's feedback, it's input. It's why I started this thread. 

[roberty1y]

---

Jennifer M wrote:

---

I keep seeing people say that Upwork should listen to freelancers because they make money, but so do I and I think a lot of ideas here are terrible, so who do you think they should listen to? People not making any money or the ones killing it?

---

At least 95 percent of freelancers here don't make any money at all. This percentage is growing all the time, as hundreds more join up every day. I bet they have some great ideas on how Upwork can help them make money. Just pray that this platform never becomes a democracy.

[lysis10]

---

Robert Y wrote:

---

Jennifer M wrote:

---

I keep seeing people say that Upwork should listen to freelancers because they make money, but so do I and I think a lot of ideas here are terrible, so who do you think they should listen to? People not making any money or the ones killing it?

---

At least 95 percent of freelancers here don't make any money at all. This percentage is growing all the time, as hundreds more join up every day. I bet they have some great ideas on how Upwork can help them make money. Just pray that this platform never becomes a democracy.

---

Yep, that's why I make sure to shoot down these terrible ideas cuz I know Upwork reads this stuff. It's all so tiresome that they want Upwork to just change everything so they make money and then they try to package it as "it's for alll the freelancers!" but really they'd throw us all under the bus and take all the money if they could. Shady shady. The ones who haven't made much at all are the worst because they can't win anything so they want to just sit and let the 100% JSS win them jobs without putting in any effort. At least the ones who have been doing well for a while have reason to complain. I've always said these people would stab anyone in the back for $5 and 5 stars. 

The funny thing is I agree that they changed something in search. I was in their shoes like 2-3 months ago.   Crying to Upwork to force clients to do things = ngmi and weak. Every complaint is within our control. Clients can't make us do anything we don't want, but when I say "we" I think that's a really small "we" and most just need to go back in the wagie cagie so they don't need to do any bigboy thinking.

[zainulabidinarif]

Hey Dustin,

I am a top-rated freelancer and am facing the exact same issue. Last year Nov to Jan was amazing but things started drying up after that, I thought it was only me that was getting affected.

[danijel_konatar]

Also same problem here unfortunately. I quit my job to build a career as a freelancer.. I was inundated with offers, literally working 24/7. Now not a single offer for months.

[synergywriting]

Like so many others answering this I have also noticed a significant drop. I'm Top Rated Plus, over $90k lifetime earnings, and for the first time in years I've had a drop in invites and engagement.

[cmcocumen]

Top Rated Plus Graphic Designer (100% JSS) here too.

Upwork was the gift that kept on giving.  I could always rely on it for the last 8 or so years to find new clients regularly. Before one project ended, I always had a couple new ones booked. This was either through a job invite or through sending out proposals. I could even afford to reject jobs that I simply did not find interesting or would do nothing for my portfolio.

I thought it was a dry spell at first, I’ve had my fair share of those. When this started happening, the first thing I did was figure out what I was doing wrong. 

The formula I was using for my proposals has probably gone stale. Maybe I’m just charging too high for my skill level. Maybe I just wasn’t good enough. I tried:

• Updating my bio
• Changing my proposal strategy
• Sending out more proposals
• Updating my skills or adding to my list of skills

It’s been about half a year of this. I’ve always had more Connects than I knew what to do with. Recently I’ve had to top up twice. Still did not get any new projects. I’ve tried:

• Available Now Badge
• Boosted Proposals

Available Now Badge ironically made my views drop. I tried it twice and literally nothing happened. I tried searching for my name on the client slide while the Available Badge was on. I wasn’t even in the first 10 pages of the search results.

Boosted Proposals. I would bid up to 10 Connects but still would not get a response.

These new products being rolled out feels more focused on squeezing money out of their users than helping them.

Whenever I get the now extremely rare job invite (Talent Scout or otherwise) it would usually be for a job unrelated to my field.

I look at my stats regularly and it says I get interviewed 60%+ more often and get hired 60%+ more often as well than other freelancers in my field. But over the past 90 days, I’ve hardly been getting any invites and have had 0 hires. So what does that mean for 60% of my peers?

My income keeps dwindling. I’m down to earning less than a hundred dollars a week.

I’ve actually had to take extreme measures and try other platforms. Something I’ve never had to do in all my years of freelancing.

I will probably lose the Plus badge soon. I might even lose the Top Rated status if this keeps up. It pains me to think of it. Those badges are the pride and joy of my freelance career. 

But survival is more important. And if getting projects through a different platform and consequently losing my Upwork streak is what I have to do, then I’ll just have to do it.

[00137e0a]

Thank you for putting it so well. Camsy.

I'm in the same boat.

I'm new to the platform, but I was doing pretty well, quickly becoming Top Rated Plus, until suddenly, poof. Nothing.

I was overjoyed to receive a steady influx of work from Upwork because I had previously tried all major freelance platforms and didn't like any of them, but since the implementation of these recent features, everything has gone down the drain.

Like you, I tried everything, and I'm also burning through my connects like crazy. It's very frustrating.

Something has definitely changed.

[cmcocumen]

Thanks Rafael, 

I also preferred to work on Upwork. This was the only platform where I felt like they treated freelancers as humans, not as commodities. 

They had programs—although not without issues—that were literally built around the idea of helping freelancers find great clients.

I hope you felt comforted that apparently there are factors outside your control. It’s crazy how so many of us are driven into desperation lately. 

It could be because of the Great Resignation, or the recession, or  it could also be these platform changes.

These changes… for me, they’re giving off the same vibe as those other platforms. Before, it was all about communication and building rapport to win projects. Now it feels like going to a slot machine and praying to win.

I’m starting to think that Upwork is a sunk cost for me. I really want to change my mind about this. I really want to continue working on Upwork. But I just can’t sit around buying and “gambling” on Connects as my bills pile up.

For all our sakes, I hope whatever’s happening gets fixed. Hopefully, they could just reset it back to the old one. And soon. 

[dustin_slack]

Hi Camsy, 

I think I accidentally hit "accept as a solution" when the issue hasn't been resolved. 

I hope you're not upset about me changing it to not a solution... please let me know if it bothers you. I just don't want anything to impede this thread as it's getting waaaay more traction than I expected. 

Also, I agree and relate to pretty much everything you're saying. Just to be clear. I'm on your side. 

Wish you all the best and I mean it. 

Dusty

[cmcocumen]

Hi Dusty,

LOOL I did assume that somebody clicked it by mistake. I was also worried too that it would get buried because it was marked as “solved”. 😄

I hope we all get through this without burning out.

Cheers,
Camsy

[tjmisny]

If you thought showing up in first 10 pages of search was bad, earlier this year I showed up around page 300... and I am an Expert Vetted 100% JSS freelancer.  Upwork's broken search is a massive problem and Upwork is fully aware that search is broken.

[Anonymous-User]

Hi Dustin,

I'm a motion designer and I'm experiencing the same thing. Everything was going smoothly until late April than poof! 
It feels like I'm starting freelancing on this platform from scratch. I'm having a hard time in finding decent clients and keeping myself motivated to continue sending proposals. Buying connects is the hardest as it makes me feel like a fool to keep throwing money at a non working system.

I'm also convinced that we're used in a large scale experiment in Upwork.  If Upwork loses money while experimenting, they may reinstate the previous version of the system (whatever that is) but I fear that they will keep playing with it. Perfecting a proposal, keeping an open communication with clients, sticking with a niche and getting better at it, keeping an active portfolio won't mean a thing if Upwork continues to shift things at the expense of freelancers who put up the work to deliver projects year after year.

I'm seriously considering not only a platform change but also a career change. I don't think that the move will make any difference in emotional or financial terms at this point and I'm getting sick of staring at the computer screen. 

Anyway, I know that this rant will be lost among hundreds of similar messages but I appreciate your post. It's nice to know that one's not alone, even in a sticky situation like this.

Take care,

Mehmet