So many job bids yet no replies?

[sampdoria]

Hello all

I have been around on Upwork and (Elance) for years, so I'm not newbie. Upwork has always been around as a go-to during tough times for extra $$.

My query is, I recently have been applying for jobs, many for which I feel I've made good to excellent bids. Historically there are always responses (at least). I updated my Bio and Portfolios to polish up my work too. I also, almost always customize my bids and attachements.

However, this must be a record, that after 45 proposals, not a single reply!

This includes low intensity jobs which have very few bidders (I never apply for the 50+ bidder jobs), clients with good histories etc

Am I missing something here that needs to worked on? Are my bids even showing up on the client UI? Just queries here, if the pros can give me some advice.

(I would really appreciate *not* getting smug answers though - lets all be respectful)

regards

[feed_my_eyes]

The problem is that Upwork is a "go to during tough times" for many thousands of people who are out of work right now. 

[petra_r]

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Christine A wrote:

The problem is that Upwork is a "go to during tough times" for many thousands of people who are out of work right now. 

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Make that hundreds of thousands of people.

[sampdoria]

Thank you, but sticking to facts, those numbers have not been reflected on a sudden insane amount of bids for each job - at least in my specialities here. So in my fields thats a debunked theory.

[browersr]

Your profile isn't public so hard to give a perspective based on this important piece of marketing. Also don't know what area of freelancing you are in. 

It has always been oddly difficult to get responses back from an actual invitation let alone a blind proposal. To be clear we are talking about people who have a job, have looked at your proposal and rate and have decided to invite you to discuss their job. Of those I find a high percentage never go on to have even a single conversation after your accept their invitation. So if this doesn't yield higher touch then it is of no surprise that sending proposals without an invitation isn't yielding a great result. 

Again there can be reasons in your case ranging from an over-saturated freelance base in your area of expertise to rates to reviews to experience to Upwork not showing clients your proposals. Again cannot see anything about you so hard to be more specific but this is life in freelancing. You need to keep plugging away and have diverse channels of revenue if possible.

[sampdoria]

I'm sorry, I did not know members couldnt see my profile - I work in Architecture/Interiors/3d Modelling so its a diverse field and it has a lot of niche subfields where you can get only 5-10 bidders etc.

The 3D modelling part would be the most saturated as this can be done by visual artists - these are the 50+ bidder jobs Ive never applied for historically.

Cheers

[sampdoria]

Ok, so thats a fair assumption, I appreciate it  - lets study it further as of today to see if thats true in my line of work on Upwork.

So i went back to each of the active bids (only 2 jobs were cancelled and my connects were refunded)

Total Jobs : 43

5-10 : 4%

10-15 : 25%

15-20 : 30%

20-50 : 37%

50 : 4%

From this breakdown, its evident that (20 or less bidder) jobs make up almost 60% of the total stats - and these are more or less speciality jobs. 

So, this doesnt prove your point in this scenario. In this line of work, its always been easy and straightforward to get at least queries if not jobs. And this period is not even close to the 2008 meltdown where I probably did the most jobs online. 

Any further inputs from other members? Mods? Its like Im throwing connects into a void!

Cheers

[feed_my_eyes]

As Scott pointed out, we can't see your profile and don't even know what you do, so it's difficult to give you any specific feedback.

[jdwebsquad]

Hello, I am having same issue. I have applied for 60 jobs but still not get a single reply. Something is going wrong with upwork algorithem that what I guess. I am a prime member and also bought extra connects for these bids. Upwork need to improve algorithem.

[wphuang]

Everyone can improve but I actually also noticed that. I applied and notice actually the first few times I withdrew my proposal I got my connects back so I started doing it when I see the client is interviewing other people already but now I noticed I didn't get any of them back. I am a commission based job right now but I used the last of my funds to purchase connects (3 of the max connect packages) only to find out that none of them were returned so I understand your pain.

[jdwebsquad]

So what steps need to take to overcome from this type of issue? Because without earning how can we servive on this platform. Please let me know if any one have idea about this.

[petra_r]

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Jd W wrote:

Hello, I am having same issue. I have applied for 60 jobs but still not get a single reply. 

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You were hired twice?

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Jd W wrote:

Something is going wrong with upwork algorithem that what I guess. 

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Why do you think it's some algorithm's fault rather than clients simply deciding that they like other freelancers better?

Upwork today is a hyper-competitive space in your category. Your profile isn't particularly strong. Maybe rather than blaming something you can't control, you work on something you can, such as your proposals and your profile.

The fact that you aren't getting any attention from so many proposals just means clients are not finding your proposals attractive enough to take any further.

[jdwebsquad]

I thought before that my profile might not showing interesting but now I dont thinking like that. I had discussion with three client before this 60 proposal sent and I got work from 1 client and got good reviews as well. I am not saying that why should I am not getting job and others are. If I dont get work from client after discussion with client then I can thought that client is not intrerested. But If not a single message from client after 60 bids then what??????

[c4cb591d]

There's a lot of fake job postings.

[jdwebsquad]

Can you explain me how they posting fake job?

[feed_my_eyes]

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Jd W wrote:

Can you explain me how they posting fake job?

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People**Edited for Community Guidelines** will often claim - without evidence - that job posts are "fake" whenever clients don't hire anyone. The more likely explanation is that they found a better or cheaper freelancer by some other means.

Many struggle to find work here; there are simply too many freelancers and not enough jobs for everyone.

[sampdoria]

I see this post is again reignited. I appreciate your solutions and answers, they make sense and offer some closure.

Another expert here though is pretty brash and judgemental, either this person doesn't understand the nuances of diplomacy or social cues on this platform or is an android (reference Bladerunner)!

I've been here forever and a for a lot of these jobs, they have actually been cancelled, that would be around 75% of them from summer - that's a huge number.

When the jobs are offered to other contractors, that's a good thing in terms of actual authentic transaction occurring. One also gets a notification when not successful in the bid.

So back to the 70% jobs, what's really happening here?

Did potential employers just sign on to ghost the contractors?
Do our bids even reach these job posters?
Compared to a couple of years back, way too many dead jobs.

My policy now is not give a second glance to generic jobs with no history on the poster.

Regards

[jdwebsquad]

I understand that lots of competition on getting a job. But if you got the job and the clients are replying and reach out on your profile 15 days ago. And from 15 days you have applied for 50 bids and not even a single client is reaching out on your profile then obviously question arises in mind.

Why I have a question in mind regarding algorithm????
- I have a premium profile
- I have a strong portfolio.
- I have applied where lots of time <  5 people applied.
- I have applied for a $5 fixed-job lots of time.
- I have a 4+ years of experience and have good reviews of the previous 2 jobs.
- My profile is well managed.

Then what I missing here. I am not a fresher who doesn't know how to deal with the client. I just need a right guidance by which I can utilise my skills here and earn money. Please help me if you have any solution.

[petra_r]

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Jd W wrote:

Why I have a question in mind regarding algorithm????
1) - I have a premium profile
2) - I have a strong portfolio.
3) - I have applied where lots of time <  5 people applied.
4) - I have applied for a $5 fixed-job lots of time.
5) - I have a 4+ years of experience and have good reviews of the previous 2 jobs.
6) - My profile is well managed.

Then what I missing here. 

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1) What do you mean by "premium profile?" There is no such thing. Do you mean you are on the plus plan? That has no effect on how you are presented to clients

2) That is a matter of opinion. Compared with your competitors, it may not be as strong as you think.

3) How does that help?

4) That is generally and most of the time a really bad idea.

5) OK, so why don't we try and figure out what it is that holds clients back from responding to your proposals? 

6) Again, you are in a literally flooded category. Your profile is average at best (compared to those you compete with), there is nothing that sets you apart from everyone else who applies. It's generic. You need a unique selling point, you need clients to be cativated and curious, you need to write proposals which make clients understand that hiring you will benefit them.

Clients have a huge choice these days. Unless you can stand out, you won't get anywhere much. 

**Edited for community guidelines**

[jdwebsquad]

@petra R I am not blaming. I am worried. I have invested and not get a proper response. Now  I understand that I have to work on each and every criterion of my profile, my proposal, my portfolio, my presentation, and all.
Thanks for the support. I have to understand my mistakes and learn from my mistakes and presented myself properly.

Thanks gyus

[jdwebsquad]

Hello @Petra R,
I have changed the way of proposal and I got 2 client proposal. Now I understand that we can maximum learn from our mistakes only. Thanks for the support.

[petra_r]

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Jd W wrote:

Hello @Petra R,
I have changed the way of proposal and I got 2 client proposal. Now I understand that we can maximum learn from our mistakes only. Thanks for the support.

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I'm glad to hear it and good for you! It's so nice to see people taking advice and succeeding after doing so! Good luck going forward!

[the-right-writer]

*

[tlsanders]

That seems overly simplistic, since the number of bids isn't a reflection of the true competition.

The Great Recession was also boom time for me as a freelancer, but we're nowhere near where we were then, with in-house teams being cut so dramatically that companies had to rely on freelancers. And, there were far, far fewer freelancers then. 

New statistics that have become available to some (in beta) show that most proposals are not opened. So, make sure you're making very good use of those first two lines of your proposal.

[arshia-shaukat]

Hello,
How can we improve our proposal to get the job?

[motoyen]

Perhaps it's your low 84% JSS. 

[the-right-writer]

I doubt that. The more I research, the less I am convinced 100% JSS has anything to do with getting jobs.