Regarding Wasting Connects

[#1]

Dear Everybody

In this Virtual Platform it has been seen that Clients frequently posting Jobs with 8/10/12/16 Connects. But whenever most of the Freelancers Submit their Proposal, they do Interview very few out of many Freelancers & then suddenly dis-appears from the Platform, without Hiring any Freelancers.

The Freelancers expensive Connects gets wasted in these kind of similar Jobs posted with higher values of Connects.

Has anybody experienced these kind of similar problems of "Wasting Connects"?

Kindly respond.

Regards

[#2]

Upwork decides how many connects a job is worth, not the "client". (which doesn't make this mess any better).

[#3]

Dear Mary

I understand that but Client should value those Connects which he is having with him in Free, if he is quite sure & serious about his Work to be done as a Team with us, the Freelancers.

Thank you for your's responses.

Regards

Romel R

[#4]

Why should the client value your connects? Why should they even care about you at all unless they hired you?

[#5]

Dear Garrett

This is indeed practical that Clients will value Freelancers if they Hire them & it's True. Hopefully, after Hiring they should also value Freelancers hardwork & knowledge.

So that Freelancers earn their Reputation & Money.

Thank you

 Romel R

[#6]

That's what I said. You implied clients that don't hire you, or don't view your proposal should care about you and your connects. They don't and they shouldn't have to.

[#7]

Dear Garrett

That is true the above statement was for Before Hiring. I tried After Hiring too.

Thank you

[#8]

Clients don't care about freelancers. Upwork doesn't care abut freelancers. This is business. Upwork wants and needs money, so you spend connects. Clients don't care what you spend; the client wants the job done.

You are going to be disappointed in the clients. They do not care abut you or anyone, they care about getting work done. They don't value freelancers, or respect them. There are excellent clients, and I have been fortunate, but clients are random people off the Internet. Why would you expect them to care if you are poor or wealthy, how much you spend, how much you need, if you're not well, or busy... or...

The courtesy and trust you speak of will not be returned by clients.

[#9]

Dear Jeanne

This is really the Truth. There are many Fantastic Clients too in Upwork. 

I really enjoyed & liked, working with them.

They have been Gentle & True by Nature.

Thank you

Romel R

[#10]

I agree with you. Baasically clients do not spend a cent for posting a job and freelancers spend a lot of money for connects with low probability of being hired due to high competitivity. 

[#11]

That sounds like very poor decision making on the part of the freelancer.

[#12]

It's a popular notion that Upwork should at least partially refund connects if the client doesn't hire anyone, but Upwork has made it clear they're not interested in doing that, because the more connects we buy, the more money they make. 

[#13]

It's only a popular notion among unsuccessful freelancers who are hoping to be able to send more proposals without spending money. But, everyone with the slightest shred of business sense understands that it would make the platform worse for everyone, including the freelancer who are asking for it. Don't forget that it wouldn't be just you, but millions of freelancers getting a steady stream of free proposals, flooding every job even more dramatically than they are now. So, maybe you get your connects back and can bid on 15 jobs with the same connects, but now it takes you 100 bids to land a job instead of 10.

[#14]

I think if people say they are struggling on Upwork but weren't previously, simply saying "it's because you're not successful", and shouting people down for voicing their concerns, is not a very kind way of dealing with this.  I am happy for you that you still find Upwork a viable platform for freelancing. But your comments appear to be those of a bad winner (Upwork is working for you, couldn't you just quietly enjoy your success?)

[#15]

Actually, I don't use Upwork very much anymore. Like any sensible business person, I shifted my focus to more profitable channels as the site deteriorated. 

The point, which you seem to have abandoned entirely in your fervor to criticize me, is that you would be struggling much, much, much more if the flood of connects you are proposing doubled or tripled the number of proposals on every job. 

[#16]

What the ones wanting free connects do not understand is that it lowers YOUR odds of getting a job, too.

[#17]

Respectfully disagree and don't appreciate you saying only "unsuccessful freelancers" want this. It doesn't open the floodgates for tons of pointless proposals (which is a problem regardless) if it is limited to clients that do not hire anyone. Upwork used to give connects back for interviews (they still do sometimes), and that would have the same effect by your logic. So do you think Upwork is significantly better today than it was a year ago before that change was made?

[#18]

Numerous people have reported here that they are tracking and 50% of more of the jobs they sent proposals on. If you can't see the impact of having 50% of connects spent endlessly recycled, you're making a conscious effort to ignore it.

Giving connects for interviews was, of course, nothing like blindly giving connects back to every freelancer on a job. The connects for interviews system rewards freelancers who a client was interested enough in to interview--not every random freelancer spamming cut-and-paste proposals. They altered the program to apply only in certain cases due to freelancer fraud, so this isn't a great argument for lavishing connects on freelancers. 

[#19]

If you read the forum, and could see my private message, it is often the unskilled who want free connects. Many come here with no skills, and worse, no interest in learning or doing anything but cheating and scamming, and of course, they believe throwing lots of connects is going to get them the job. They know they will never get a job with skills.

I have no sympathy for the ignorant, uneducated, unskilled that come here and insist Upwork give them jobs. They drag down other freelancers, chase away clients, and ruin the platform, but they spend those connects! Why do I have no sympathy? Because there are many ways to learn, and plenty of people have done it. There are libraries, and the thing in everyone's hand is connected to the 'net. There are numerous ways to learn, and no excuse for not.

People come here and act like employees. If you don't want to be responsible for your business, find an employer.

Yes, unskilled, lazy people who come here and throw connects are running the quality right into the ground, with Upwork's blessings. What ideas do you have to IMPROVE the platform for everyone, not just the ones who substitute connects for skills?

[#20]

Dear Tiffany

The Issue is not about Successful & Un-successful Freelancers. Because everybody, including Us are struggling to have "The Job".

The thing is it Hurts, while buying Expensive Connects, it goes Un-noticed & Un-valued, when we Invest.

Thanks for your's responses.

Regards

Romel R

[#21]

What you haven't talked about in your postings is the quality of the proposals, assuming that they are all the same, and that they all impress clients equally, so there is no need to improve them.

Clients quickly scan the first two sentences of proposals, to get an idea of  what they can expect from the rest. Are only marginally qualified people with their typo-ridden, mega-boosted, very weak proposals, thinking that they are impressing clients because they spent more of their money on connects than anyone else? Uh, no.

What separates the good proposals from the weak ones? Client engagement. What are you going to do for the client that nobody else is doing? Upwork isn't about you, or your need to make money. Really it isn't.

Upwork is making a lot of money on connects from people who think that more connects are always better, and freelancers continue to fuel the fire of the connects machine, though many stand little chance of getting hired.

Business is about turning a profit. All businesses need money to make them work, and that of a freelancer is no different. It costs money to market your business. You wouldn't want lower, or even free connects, because so many people would be bidding on jobs right now, that you would unlikely ever get hired among the hundreds of other proposals that would inundate every job.

If you can't sell clients on why they should hire you in the first two sentences of your proposal in the preview window, why on earth would they want to read any more of it?

[#22]

Dear Martin

I read & understood what you have mentioned. The two sentences of your's Proposal might work for you in your's Domain but, not for every other Freelancers.

It meant "The two sentences of "Proposal are not adaptive & applicable to every Domain & Subject Freelancers are Specialised & Working for".

Sometimes Proposals demand Descriptions.

Thank you

[#23]

Can you elaborate on what field might make it impossible to catch the client's attention in the first two lines and get them interested in reading your proposal?

[#24]

Romel, You have been given excellent advice you choose to ignore. So, I don't expect you will be complaining because you must have found a better way on your own.

The client only sees those first two lines in ANY proposal from ANY freelancer. It doesn't matter who writes it, what job, or anything else. Then you follow it with a perfect description of what you can do better than anyone else. Of course, you must have those skills.

[#25]

Dear Jeanne

Those Clients who are in the same Domain or, Field with Freelancers sometimes demands explanations to be more specific, in Proposals.

To Attract & then

Have them.

Thank you