Seasonality

[Kim W]

Hello fellow Upworkites.   Just a quick question for the veterans.  I have only been active on Upwork since the beginning of January.  While I know it is dependent on the line of work, I would expect that the summer season sees a noticable drop in client job postings.  

Care to share your experience?

Thanks.

[Jennifer M]

For me, yes. May-July and then Aug kinda picks up. Also January and some of Feb are usually slow for me.

It's counterintutive, but December is usually one of my best months. I will rock it for the last 2 quarters. I'm hoping to pull a couple 5 figure months this year at the end of the year. And then I will go completely dead in January.

I'm sure each industry is different though.

[Melissa T]

Echoing what Jennifer said, it depends on the industry. Further, it depends a lot on the client. For example - larger clients who are part of a corporation often have budgets that have to be spent before fiscal year-end or else they lose that money for future projects. Sort of a use it or lose it thing. Those clients always have work near the end of the year. Smaller, more independent clients may have slow downs at year-end or over the summer. That's a lot of "it depends", but it does. 

[Amy T]

In my field, projects seem to slow down in the summer months of June and July then pick up quickly towards the end of August. And then I usually experience another slow down in January and February. Normally I would lump December in there too but like Jennifer, December has been quite busy for me the last two years to the point that I have had to turn down a few jobs.