Struggling to get hired recently

[d_hargy-louden]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to reach out to the community because I've been on Upwork for about 2 years now, but I've found in the last 6 months it has been exceptionally difficult to get hired. My ratings have been good, I have read the articles on how to craft great proposals, I'm writing individual applications, attaching successful examples of work, keeping it short etc. I'm in the grant writing area, and I have brought my clients in a considerable sum. I always try to illustrate my background, experience and what I feel I could bring to their projects.

An issue I've had is clients have messaged me and then disappear, I have all these clients who are in my 'active candidacies' section, it's currently 3 pages long. I have followed up with many to no reply. I also have a few clients who haven't ended their contracts, regardless of how many times I've asked, it actually brought my score down because I had to end contracts myself. In the last week I've used 40 of my connects on grant writing and marketing jobs and haven't had 1 response. I'm going in professionally, I'm working on their budgets, I've been doing my job for 12 years, but now I just cant seem to get hired!

Does anyone have any ideas? 

[grilady]

Experiencing the exact same thing. I had plenty of work just responding to invites last year until about September. My stats showed that I was hired more often than average. Now I respond to all the invites, apply for several jobs daily and have got only one job so far. Portfolio, job success score, cover letters are all flawless. Even sending job-specific work samples with my applications now. If I'm lucky, they ask me for a time estimate, but I never get hired. Stats show I get hired way less than average. Considering all that time wasted and the 20% commission they charge on the jobs I DO get, I've been wondering if this is even worth it.

[d_hargy-louden]

I'm a little frustrated myself so I get you.

[tlsanders]

If you're very good at what you do, you may want to consider not "working on their budgets." Most of the people I know whose hire rates are consistently high routinely bid much more than the client's posted budget.

[d_hargy-louden]

I have a proven track record I even send my clients through examples of winning applications I've submitted., I completely know what you're saying, when I bid hourly I bid on my normal hourly rate, for project rates I go with their budget. I assume if I go higher I'll never get hired. I had thought about going to Upwork Pro to see the bids to see if that would help.

[tlsanders]

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undefined:
I have a proven track record I even send my clients through examples of winning applications I've submitted., I completely know what you're saying, when I bid hourly I bid on my normal hourly rate, for project rates I go with their budget. I assume if I go higher I'll never get hired. I had thought about going to Upwork Pro to see the bids to see if that would help.

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 Dawn, that's a faulty assumption, if you're highly qualified. Many of us routinely bid much higher than the posted budget and are awarded those jobs on a regular basis. I have been awarded jobs at more than double the posted budget, and I know there are others here who have successfully gone even further beyond.

If you can back up your rates--which it sounds like you can--tell the client what you cost and let them decide whether the higher quality service you offer is worth it. You may be surprised.

[melaniekhenson]

Me too - can't seem to get a bite just recently, as compared to a month ago or earlier. Yet weirdly, my bar shows I have been hired significantly more than average. Which would seem to indicate that average hire rate right now IS kind of low.

Tiffany: personally, I don't lower my rates for my bids. I bid my regular rate.

[d_hargy-louden]

Hmm that's the thing, since end of last year I've really struggled. I get invites I craft a response, sometimes even answering the most crazy questions, one guy had it as a question that we had to give an account of the role of communications in this WW2 battle! What that had to do with software grant writing I don't know. But I went and researched it and answered the question, and nothing. It's super frustrating.

[sbilu131521]

Dear Dawn,

You have pointed out clearly what is going with you. I appreciate that.

NHonestly saying, this is life. It cannot be going smoothly all time.  This is you who can do the necessary changes. Now I am sharing my story with you.

Last year I was getting frustrated by not getting a single job for a long time. Then I did some research on my end. I took a paper and note down how many jobs I applied, how many responses I got and how many times I hired (though it was almost none).

I found I applied for 56 jobs and got only 12 responses! And manage to win 2 tiny jobs. It was, you know frustrating. So I gathered all of my job winning proposals and the 56 proposals I have written in last two months in a word file. Then I start reading all of them one by one and tried to find what I missed in those 56 proposals.

And what did I find?

I was too much methodical about good proposal crafting. It made my proposals more robotic than empathic.

Now I knew what to do next. So, I start to write proposals which sound more human than business. It works for me. This month I applied for 11 Jobs,  got  3 response and won 3 jobs. And it feels like I am back on the track!

So, I suggest you to find out what wrong with your proposals. Maybe it will take some time (In my case, it take months, I am a lazy guy !). But don't give up, once you find your problem, you will find a solution too!

Thanks
Sagar

[d_hargy-louden]

Thank you Sagar, I appreciate that. At the minute I feel like I'm wasting my time! Especially when I have the results to prove my worth and I'm sending examples of those results through. Iwill take another look at my proposals.

[holymell]

Sagar, I'm so impressed that you did all of that and that it worked. You deserve those jobs because it's clear that you work very hard. Good for you. I hope these posters do exactly what you did.

Every client is different, but you found a pattern that could apply to any client for the most part. That's very intelligent. Thank you for sharing this.