Should i submit a proposal when it shows 10-15 freelancers already applied in 5-10 minutes?

[018e79a6]

I always try to comprehend the client's job description and write a proposal according to the job description. It takes time. But how come others could be so fast submitting the proposal? When I submitted my proposal, it's already 10-15 freelancers applied. Then I figured out, that the client didn't even view my proposal but hired someone. What quality should I improve?

[lama-pema]

Same thoughts i have like how do they submit proposals that quick but then there could be so many people like us applying at the same time.. and there are people from agency who apply without reading completely til the end of the job description or let say they copy paste proposals which are already prepared i think. That's why some clients mention that if you've read til the end write this or that on the top of the proposal.. 

I guess they get a lot of proposals so clients don't get to view our proposal so whichever they see it first and found the right freelancer, they hire them right away and also i have noticed that, there are some clients who post projects and then sent the invite to other freelancer and no matter how much the proposal by other freelancers are sent they don't check and start interviewing the freelancer they have sent invitation.. and they select them. So what i do these days, i don't send proposal if i see clients have already send the invitation and if there are already 50+ proposals. There's only little chance of you getting hired if you also send the proposal.

[grendon]

That's the way to do it. Read the entire job post and create your proposal accordingly. 

Some freelancers have bots waiting for a certain job to come up and then send a generic proposal. Those are the ones that get first to the client but are usually ignored. 

Many freelancers have pre-made proposal templates that may help them to create the proposal quicker, but not just copy paste. You should always read and make sure you understand what they're asking. 

About the amount of proposals I usually ignore those with 20-50 proposals or more. Especially those that have boosted proposals and the amount of connects needed are too high for me. 

[spectralua]

It is not a freelancers. Bots with free connects applied to anywhere within couple of seconds.  

[wlyonsatl]

Supposedly, proposals received are ranked according to a) whether a freelancer boosts his proposal with additional connects, and then b) how well the proposal and freelancer's skills, experience and JSS ranking match with the job posting.

Otherwise, being first to submit a proposal via bot or otherwise has no effect on the ranking of non-boosted proposals as more proposals are submitted.

If you're a great fit for a posted new job, submit a proposal. I don't submit proposals on jobs that already have at least 20 proposals submitted, but that's because a) I don't want to waste connects on the possibility a "client" doesn't close the job posting after (s)he's lready chosen the freelancer they need and b) I see a steady flow of other new jobs to submit proposals on.

[celgins · Accepted solution]

Mykola and Will are correct. There are thousands of bots auto-responding to job posts. This is likely the main reason you see 20+ proposals submitted within a few minutes.

However, proposal ranking is based on several factors (i.e., skills, job match, JSS, and other unknowns). Boosted proposals occupy the first four slots and all other proposals are ranked organically based on best-match. This means, it doesn't really matter if there are 30 proposals already submitted; if you're a great fit for the job, your proposal might appear ahead of 25 of those 30 proposals.

I understand the reluctance to spend Connects on a job that already has 30 proposals. But considering many of those 30 proposals are likely bots from unqualified freelancers, and your proposal rank is based on quality/best-match and not time of receipt, your proposal still has a chance to be reviewed and hopefully, results in an invite.

This only works if you are one of the best matches. Otherwise, it doesn't make much sense to submit a proposal whether the job has 3 or 30 proposals ahead of you.