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

[tomzilla1]

---

Pavlo L wrote:

I have seen "clients" who have a hundred jobs in their statistics, with 100% hire rate, and a spend of $1000 USD.

Although not all jobs were visible in their history - the ones I saw were $10-12 USD "gigs" with job names/descriptions like "create a fully functional website" or other, very large contract names with a miniscule budget.

I believe that many of the community members which I see addressing these posts, suspect those "clients" being cheap and not bogus accounts, fronts, which are being used for boosting "freelancer" acccounts with ratings and badges. 

I believe a reporting system has to be put in place, because it takes two to make a "fake" freelancer account look real (the second one being a "client", handing out "jobs" and ratings).

---

You'd think any real client looking at a freelancer's profile with mostly $10 gigs would say "man this looks fishy." But yes, this needs to be addressed by C-levels at Upwork because when a real client comes and sees this, they're going to see Upwork in a low value perspective and thus not utilizing the platform, or have a huge question mark over its touted Top Talents, thus offering lower rates. With this observation, it adds on to the decline of quality client & freelancer this year.

I humbly urge C-levels to tackle this or any board members to bring it up at the next board meeting. Upwork has done extremely well last year, however, this year there's many quality/technical issues on the platform that has very little to do with the economy.

[tjmisny]

Fully agree.  It's all about perception.  Any reasonable person (Client or Freelancer) would take a glance at the platform as it is now, and assume it is a dumping ground for cheap work and scams.  When Clients post jobs, they are even given guidance about suggested rates... and those are wildly low.  Again, suggesting that Upwork is a place that does not offer, or does not cultivate quality work.  So many aspects of the platform suggest a Race to the Bottom, and it takes much more careful inspection to find the quality on the platform (which is there!  It is just not apparent without effort).  

[muhmasood]

Its really hard to even getting an interview since last two months. I dont know what is happening. I am on 100% JS since last 1.5 years and Top rated plus to Top Rated from last one year.
Honestly, Other platforms are providing many benifits to old freelancers and upwork is just getting rid of them by making the job hunting even more harder than before. 

[heavenmade]

Hi All,

The reason is simple we are in a recession (recession started Feb 2022 and will get way worse looks Grim)! Fewer jobs, and more people going after a smaller pie.  What you need to do is try and up your skills! and be the best of the people going for the pie. Nothing beats quality it wins 80% of the time. Don't bother with jobs that start off with Quick or Easy these are the 20% of the clients you Don't want! Avoid them like the plague! Also in times like this, you may see a drop in the quality of clients you get too.

[belenc2018]

Hi All,

I'm struggling to get new jobs. Even if my JSS is 98% (some weeks even 100%).

I update my profile often, trying to get visibility. Now it seems people from outside US are invisible, since clients can't seem to find them

 Unless they publish an offer that is what they see. No way to find anybody outside there. They don't want people from any other country?

That's why I decided to create more projects. No way either: even if all of them are approved, only a few can be seen. Not that they appear in different pages, but that they aren't there (for example, one category has 100 projects and I checked them all, but mine isn't there).

I work on several categories within content writing and I created a project for each specialty. All of the 20 projects have been approved, but they're nowhere to be found. Then why do they encourage you to create projects? I dedicated time and effort and it's wasted.

Now we have to bid on offers to be seen. I gave it a try. This is the result for the last 7 days:

The week before was even worse.

What's the point in spending connects? Upwork makes money, but what about freelancers?

Then this morning I get an email saying they 're celebrating a new feature and they're going to award badges for participating in this forum, voting and chatting with others freelancers. Well... Talking to other freelancers and knowing their point of view is interesting. But I'm here to earn a living: reply to job posts, get contracts, make a good work, getting a nice review, get more contracts and so on.

That's where Upwork should be investing time and money and they seem to have forgotten all about it: improving their features to help people find jobs; monitoring job ads to avoid spam; help freelancers because that's why we pay them for.

It's nice talking to you all, vent and make networking. But I need jobs to earn a living and that's why I'm here. Otherwise I'd spend my time in Facebook or Instagram or TikTok.

[heavenmade]

Can't close your eyes the reason is simple we are in a recession (recession started Feb 2022 and will get way worse looks Grim)! What you need to do is try and up your skills! and be the best of the people going for the pie. 

[tjmisny]

How does increasing skills solve issue of our proposals, even boosted ones, not even being viewed?  

[yousaf_hassan]

Hi,

Thanks for posting the issue I have been facing for a long time but didn't post anywhere. I infact contacted upwork support to ask why I never receive any job invitations.

I also had this confidence of getting atleast 3 responses whenever I applied for 10 jobs. But now I feel like either there are too many candidates on upwork or some other reason but I keep on applying, not even getting the responses. Something has definitely changed

[08c7e44f]

Dear Dusty,
You're not alone here. I joined Upwork since August this year. I am very proficient in my area of specialization but I haven't gotten a single job because of this connects thing. I was given a total of 40 connects and I used it to bid many jobs yet none of them get to me.

How I wish this issue of connect will be stopped so that our skills will speak for us not connects. Because once new members exhaust theirs without landing any job it simply means they can't connect any job again until they get a new connect from the platform the next month which is very frustrating.

[Anonymous-User]

There has definitely been a change, whether you think it's a conspiracy or not.

A regular client of mine asked me why I hadn't put in a proposal for one of their jobs, I had, as Top Rated, but it never appeared on his view. So what did he do? he messaged me from another contract and made a direct offer.

That tells me two things, my proposal never got to him, and the other proposals were not good enough for him to go to, so who are those, newbies? I dont know, but I do know that something has changed.

Fake jobs, are they from Upwork? Who benefits other than Upwork? Their stats improve, most people see them as fake and don't reply anyway, so it appears to me it's Upwork generated.

Now it may only be my line of work, but I have been busier than normal over the last few months, probably around the time of the changes, but a large percentage of my work is from long term clients, and as i type, I just got another invite, now I do think there is work out there, but the type of work available may not be in your area of expertise.

As for boosts, dont use them, consultations, dont use them, all the other drivel set up to compete with Fiverr, dont use them.

I don't apply for jobs that have specifcially invited freelancers and it isn't me, there is no point, they know who they want, they will go with tried and tested, even my very long term client does it becuase they need to improve their talent pool. And if they aren't happy with the trawl, they invite me anyway.

Good luck

[getcheeky]

Hi Pete,

Thanks for your input! That is VERY strange that your long-term Client did not receive your proposal! I'm so glad he personally reached out to you and made the direct offer!--- what a blessing! But WOW!--- even a Top Rated, PREVIOUS freelancer's proposal got tossed.....just like that!--- that just doesn't make sense.

I'm glad you're getting business! That's awesome! And for the nay-sayers who foretell MORE doom and gloom, well, I've been through some really, REALLY dark days myself, so I can handle pretty much ANYTHING!!!--- whatever comes, rain or shine, so be it. (but more shining would be preferable!) 😊

Keep on rockin' it, brother!

[arakt]

Hey Dustin,

You definitely are not alone, I have been facing the same situation. My long term client's have been the ones who helped me survive most of the past months, no new clients and now for over a month, I have earned less than what I earned in my first month of upwork. It has been really depressing since Upwork has been the only source of my income.

I am an Architect and 3D visualizer, and a TOP RATED PLUS in my category, 100% JSS, 100% profile, my availability badge is ON, I regularly update my profile with new works, I dont have even a single bad review and have a 5 star rating from each of my client, still I am nowhere in the top search pages, I mean I understand upwork rotates the freelancer to "give everyone a fair chance" but come on its been months now, I am not getting a fair chance. I even upgraded to the PREMIUM PLUS membership of upwork just to see if it helps, but no, I got nothing.

I too have been facing the same issues from the time upwork started implementing these new changes. Each new projects has 0-50+ proposals withing 1-2 hours of project being posted, and the bidding process, oh my god, it has been the biggest issue I guess, people have started bidding upto 30 connects even on a small job. I have spend more than 400 connects in less than a month now, and landed 1 job, from the 57 proposals I sent. I have no idea what else I can do, all this time all these hours given to maintain a reputable image and it seems its of no use, it makes NO DIFFERENCE what so ever.

[d05922fe]

Hey Dustin! 

You gave words to my feelings. I am Top Rated freelancer here and I was very happy with everything and I did left my job ans switched to Upwork! But, after that, it has become extremely difficult to hunt jobs. No invitation comes for days, I am not sure what exactly is going on with Upwork.

What should we do?

[d2db16ed]

I used to get at least 5 to 10 proposal invitations every single day, for the past 6 months or so, especially since around the beginning few months of the year, it has gone down tremendously, even though my profile is still public (except for now, for the purpose of this thread), I'm still top rated, with thousands of hours, with 100% job success rate. My guess is Upwork changed their algorithm and clients just can't seem to find me for some reason, can you tell me, is anyone else experiencing this problem? Or is it just me? Is there something I can change? 

Upwork profile: Rana Tarakji

[9cad714b]

Hello Rana,

I went to your profile and I am not able to view it. Its set to private. Please see screenshot.

[dddd5c48]

Please, can you take a look at mine and suggest any improvement?

Thank you

[9cad714b]

Hello Precious. I am just a member and still waiting to get my first job. 

[anthonyflood]

You're right, Dusty. I've been on Upwork for four years as a copy editor/proofreader and have a 97% JSS, but recently went from Top Rated Plus down to Top Rated because I'm not getting big jobs any more. No more interviews for profile-relevant jobs.

What I am doing, is spending money every day to "boost" proposals, which guarantees nothing: I can spend 30 connects or more for first position, but other bidders can knock me down to fourth just as quickly. I had always had two or three projects going per month, but it all dried up a few months ago. 

It's a buyers' market: clients who get bombarded with 50 proposals won't spend their day reading all of them: they'll take their pick among, say, the first ten, find someone they like, and ignore the rest. Boosting reduces the odds of being ignored, but it's a way we have to pay for. All I know is that my year-over-year earnings will decline and my JSS along with it. 

Wish I could put a better spin on this.

Tony

[calado-marco]

Hi Dustin

You're not going crazy, it's not just you.

Like you i have 100% jss, top rated (plus) and i feel the same.

Currently, i need to make around 5 to 10 bids to get an interview and 15- 20 bids to get a job.

We all know that are busy times and lazy times annually. That's the market.

Nevertheless, and specially after Covid, i've been noticing that's becoming harder to land a job.

Two years ago it only took me about 10 bids max to get one and now it basically doubled.

In fact two years ago i didn't even need to bid 'cause i had lots of invitations, and the connects just pilled up.

Currently, this past two weeks for instance i only got two.I can only figure that the freelancing market boomed, there are more freelancers and therefore more competition, and also more freelancing platforms.

And when a clients posts a job don't think that he's only posting it in UW.

That's my thoughts...

[jonsimpson]

I'm a 12 year full time veteran of Upwork and I have noticed that my profile views have decreased significantly in recent months, along with the number of hires.  Nothing has changed on my end and I am still Top Rated Plus, 98-100% JSS.  I've gone as long as a year and a half without having to apply to any jobs, everything coming to me, but now, I'm having to be very aggressive with applications.  Thankfully I have a few hundred connects built up, but are any other long-timers experiencing the same difficulty?  

[joncraig]

I think I started around 2016.  I took a year off to pursue other ventures but am back now and ya, my Upwork experience was entirely invites.  Probably 3 a week, for years.  After taking my break I noticed I no longer have Top Rated, fair I get it and will have it back in no time.  But it is tough to get back into the swing of things now, I get an invite once every 2 weeks, and usually nothing thats a fit... though I am negotiating with 2 that are. 

I think since Ive been logging in more regularly I'm getting shown more.

Anyway, this is my first post in the community I think, if that goes to show ya anything.  I came here to see about the whole "add to your network" angle on offer now.

[heavenmade]

It's not a conspiracy it's not the Upwork algorithm It's a recession and a lot of freelancers fighting for a smaller piece of the pie. This is why I said before to increase your skill set every day and work on your sample profiles and cover letter so you can have a piece of the pie.  

Nothing beats quality it wins 80% of the time. Don't bother with job postings that start off with Quick or Easy will take no time at all. These are the 20% of the clients you Don't want! Avoid them like the plague! Also in times like this, you may see a drop in the quality of clients you get too.

[getcheeky]

No doubt--- those "quick and easy" jobs are a nightmare! hahaha (funny, but not funny 😉 )
Yes, many Clients seem to want a lot for a little and of course, by tomorrow.
Sure thing! Coming right up!

[d2db16ed]

Hi Dustin, I recently posted a thread somewhere in the community, and I got an email about your message I guess they notified me of a relevant topic or something. Let me tell you, I'm not a designer I'm an SEO expert, and I have been having the EXACT same issue as you, I used to be able to make more money than most people working a normal day job now I barely make any money and I am, just like you, top rated plus, with a 100% success score, I even run my own agency, my team and I have been seeing our clients, revenues and profits shrink since around the same time you mentioned. I haven't been able to figure out why, but the only thing that makes sense is inflation and recession in the US (now I am convinced that's not it) and/or algorithm/other changes that Upwork has undergone. It's plain ridiculous. If a top-rated agency owner with 100% JSS, more than 5,000 hours of work, and a stellar portfolio can't land decent jobs on Upwork, then what's the point of even being on this platform? And I am not sure if it's the same with you, but I consider applying to jobs on Upwork a waste of time since most potential clients don't respond and the success rate is extremely low compared to when you receive an invitation. Now, I barely even receive job invites anymore. I check my profile every day to ensure everything is updated, 100% optimized, filled out, accurate, etc. And still, barely any job invites. It's gotten so bad that I had to venture into another business. Then I thought perhaps the whole connect thing could be of help, a waste of money and time! Upwork better fix these changes soon, or it will lose some of its valuable talents. It's been more than 6 months, and some of us actually rely on our earnings to live. 

[tjmisny]

Agree with you 100% Rana.  Expert Vetted / 100% JSS / nearly $300k in earnings and a total drop off in performance on this site in 2022 with most proposals going unviewed/ignored.  

[getcheeky]

Hey Rana,

Girl, I lost my Top Rated Plus Badge after a weirdo Client from Haites gave me a low private review back in July 2022. Don't you just love it when you ignore your gut feeling? Yay. Well, it took me 4 months to cycle out that hideous job from my queue, and FINALLY, when it dropped off, I regained my Toped Rated Plus badge. And IMMEDIATLEY I got 2 job invites!
What the???
I had BARELY gotten a nibble in FOREVER......and NOW, I get 2 job invites just like THAT!!! Now, two things were happening concerning my Upwork account: 
1. My Top Rated Plus badge was reinstated and 2. Upwork was "investigating" our complaints about the drought many of us have been experiencing since May'ish 2022.
Now, do I KNOW if Upwork even investigated my account to see if there were any "bugs" lurking in the shadows that could be causing my account to be, I dunno, INVISIBLE to ALL POTENTIAL CLIENTS? No, I don't know if Upwork did anything of that sort. I believe the Upwork admin, Emily, was investigating this "drought issue"— I privately messaged her, but I never heard anything back from her.

It's all very strange. Yes, I do think inflation and the recession have indeed affected the Upwork community— it's affected everyone, BUT there IS a bigger problem going on with Upwork. I'm getting more invites; however, the amounts are MUCH lower than what I'm used to getting, but, at this point, I'm not being too picky. Copywriting jobs seem to be hotter than Design jobs at the moment. Or, actually, I've been asked to do both— since my niche is I'm a Copywriter and Brand Designer, it works out nicely.

The market on Upwork is WAAAAY better than it was for me 6 months ago, and I'm so grateful for that.

[d2db16ed]

I’ve started to get a few more invites after sharing my post with the
community, but it’s nothing compared to the amount of invites I used to get
before. I haven’t tried contacting an Upwork representative yet, even
though this drought has been going on for way too long, that I had to start
another side business… If anyones has luck with Upwork Admins regarding
this issue, do let me know. Personally I haven’t lost my top rated or
gotten a bad review or anything like that, the drop just came out of
nowhere, and when I did get job invites, a lot of them were not so
relevant, not as relevant as they used to be.

[lauriede07]

I too am having issues getting interviews since the new bidding process started. Why should we have to bid our connects on jobs, everyone should be considered equal. I have been working on Upwork since before Covid, am top rated and have great reviews. Never have I had a problem landing an interview and 8 times out of 10 if I get a chance to interview, I land the job. Since this new bidding thing started I have gotten no interviews except for one-off jobs, and a couple of scam interviews. I cannot afford to bid 10-20 connects to get a good project and feel like the only ones who are being promoted are the ones who can. Its not fair and disheartening.  There are more people working on the platform so competition is already tough but they have made it impossible to earn anything, maybe this is their way of weeding out some of us?

[d2db16ed]

Let me tell you that even using your connects wont help you that much, at
least ive tried it and it didn't do much for me. It seems to just be a way
to extract more revenues from freelancers, but I haven't actually seen it
work.

[tomzilla1]

JSS needs to be revamped, especially for freelancers who's been on the platform longer than 24 months... And display all the JSS calculations so the freelancer can view and verify, the moving JSS, 6 month, 12, 24, etc.

[ejrob948]

Hi Dustin, 

You're not alone! I'm a fiction writer/editor but I've noticed the exact same thing. I've also noticed that in the writing arena, specifically, jobs for romance novels have completely swamped the job postings. Every single job is for a romance novel and it wasn't like that earlier this year. Finding a decent job is like searching for a needle in a haystack right now...

But back to the point, I totally agree with you. I was getting tons of invitations and now the only invitations I get are scarce and not relevant. I'm having to turn elsewhere for freelancing work for the first time in 3 years. It's so frustrating, just as you said! 

It was actually a relief to read this and know that it wasn't just me. So thanks for making this post, and here's to hoping that things will get better soon!

[dcapdevielle]

Dustin, 
I agree. 13 years working with Upwork. Top rated plus. 
In addition to all your notes, I applied to 45 jobs. None of them have moved forward. Few of them with interviews but no hiring. Jobs remain open forever. 

[nick_scumaci]

With the amount of freelancers who have stated the exact same issues they are having there has to be something that changed with the algorithm or that and the recent changes as a combo. Far too many people have gone from steady to absolute zero work. Yes, competition has increased here because most of the areas (like Graphic Design) are flooded with freelancers. But there was competition prior and there were good freelancers still getting steady work at that point. From my perspective, I've applied to 112 jobs this year... I've been hired on 3 of them. That is an absolutely drastic change from the 2 years prior that I've been on here. For most proposals I'd say about 90% of those I don't even get a response, which again, is a drastic change from the 2 years prior. Again, I understand competition, clients being flaky, etc. But, I'm of the mind that something else is going on here as well. Just my 2 cents.

[miriam-ocampo]

We are not getting any jobs because:

- There is no Readiness Test anymore (or any kind of exam as far as I know)

- Anybody can join the platform

- Customers are flooded with proposals

- Freelancers can boost to be at the top of the proposals (they don't have to be the best freelances just the ones willing to spend more money on connects)

So I think we are seeing fewer jobs and most of the proposals that we send get lost with the rest. 

[indija99]

Hey guys! After I reset my profile visibility, I started getting views and invites. My assumption is, Upwork marks your profile as "private" quietly, but I still don't know why. 

So basically, click on "Help & Support", then when the page loads, scroll down to "Access your account", then click on "Reset Profile Visibility", this will open a request and it will take up to 4 hours to reset. Then go back to sending proposals! This worked for me, hope it works for you! 😊

[dakyanddena]

Thank you India. I have just tried that. I didn't even know that option existed through "Help & Support". So you are basically saying that before clicking this client's couldn't read our proposals?

[a_lipsey]

---

Denis B wrote:

Thank you India. I have just tried that. I didn't even know that option existed through "Help & Support". So you are basically saying that before clicking this client's couldn't read our proposals?

---

No, your profile visibility does not stop clients from seeing your proposals. It impacts clients' ability to see your profile when they search for freelancers to invite, though. 

[dakyanddena]

Awesome, thank you for your explanation!