Solved: Test Jobs: Interview Process

iisraromar · ‎07-08-2021

For hiring process, very often clients want you to do a test job, but they never get back to you. I think Upwork should do something about this. If a job is posted, and a freelancer is submitting the technical test he/she should get response from recruiter for example, If he failed the test what was the reason, If some other person is better than him, what and how should I improve.

Getting hired or not, is totally dependant on the clients and I do agree on this.

I did three test jobs in past week, but never heard from recruiter. Sometime it feels to me that they break down their project in chunks and in the name of test jobs, they asked different freelancer to complete the whole task/job.

I know this approch, because a certain organisation, I used to work for does this. It saves cost, and time. Many times, there are 50+ proposals on one job, but clients don't bother to interactive with even one. That's mean freelancer spent minimum 100 to max 300 connects, plus the time they take for writing proposals.

Just a suggestion from my end. Upwork should do something on client end as well, not just the payment verification.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎07-08-2021

Jeremy B wrote:
I’ve done a lot of hiring through Upwork. I’ve spent since November 2019 I’ve spent between 4 and 5 thousand on Upwork services.
I really do not like to hire agencies. I can tell when I have hired one because I windup explain the same problem more than once and to a new person. And the person who is working on the project is often never the same person who I hired.
But I can honestly say that I will probably not hire someone unless a see a sample of what they can do. Not only do I look at their work history but, depending on the job a may ask for a sample. (I never use the sample unless it is a mutually agreed upon price.)
One job I hired about 6 different people for promoting my free eBook. I offered $10 for a one time 6-day promotion. It was up to them what they wanted to do tweets, do their email, whatever they felt was worth $10 of their time. In my ad I said I would not leave negative feedback. Mayby nio feedback, but not negative, I did not expect much, I just wanted to see their honesty. They were scheduled to do whatever they wanted to do on those specific days. What they felt was worth their time. All I asked was to have 20 total downloads of my free eBook spread over 6 commonly used websites. One woman went above and beyond, and I found myself giving her a 600% bonus. ($70 instead of $10). I plan on hiring her again. But two other guys only got me 2 or 3 downloads. The least they could have done was download the free eBook themselves, at least they would had 6 total. I will give bonuses for good work but, I have had issues. On woman never responded in time so I could schedule her in, I explain the spots were already taken. She responded back accusing me of being a blood client and left foul language.
So, as a client sometimes it is necessary to protect yourself.

Paid tests are fine. Demanding test or sample work and refusing to pay for it is a ToS violation on the client's part. Too many FLs acquiesce to those demands instead of flagging them.

There is nothing wrong with hiring several FLs to see who does the best job at what you need. However, making any kind of promise concerning feedback is a ToS violation and FLs who see that should report it.

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feed_my_eyes · ‎07-08-2021

Israr K wrote:
For hiring process, very often clients want you to do a test job, but they never get back to you. I think Upwork should do something about this.

Upwork does "do something about this". It's against the terms of service for clients to ask for free work, and you're supposed to report them by using the "flag as inappropriate" link at the top-right of the project listing.

The real reason that clients keep taking advantage of freelancers is because freelancers like you are letting them. If you don't want to do free work, then why don't you just stop doing it?

prestonhunter · ‎07-08-2021

Christine is correct.

The reason that clients succeed in asking for and receiving free work is because of freelancers.

It is ONLY freelancers that allow this to happen.

In fact, if freelancers never allowed this to happen, it would be very rare that any clients would even ask.

fb459f8c · ‎07-08-2021

I’ve done a lot of hiring through Upwork. I’ve spent since November 2019 I’ve spent between 4 and 5 thousand on Upwork services.

I really do not like to hire agencies. I can tell when I have hired one because I windup explain the same problem more than once and to a new person. And the person who is working on the project is often never the same person who I hired.

But I can honestly say that I will probably not hire someone unless a see a sample of what they can do. Not only do I look at their work history but, depending on the job a may ask for a sample. (I never use the sample unless it is a mutually agreed upon price.)

One job I hired about 6 different people for promoting my free eBook. I offered $10 for a one time 6-day promotion. It was up to them what they wanted to do tweets, do their email, whatever they felt was worth $10 of their time. In my ad I said I would not leave negative feedback. Mayby nio feedback, but not negative, I did not expect much, I just wanted to see their honesty. They were scheduled to do whatever they wanted to do on those specific days. What they felt was worth their time. All I asked was to have 20 total downloads of my free eBook spread over 6 commonly used websites. One woman went above and beyond, and I found myself giving her a 600% bonus. ($70 instead of $10). I plan on hiring her again. But two other guys only got me 2 or 3 downloads. The least they could have done was download the free eBook themselves, at least they would had 6 total. I will give bonuses for good work but, I have had issues. On woman never responded in time so I could schedule her in, I explain the spots were already taken. She responded back accusing me of being a blood client and left foul language.

So, as a client sometimes it is necessary to protect yourself.

prestonhunter · ‎07-08-2021

Jeremy:

You have described what I consider to be the most effective way to hire effectively on Upwork:

Hire multiple freelancers to do a small amount of work, and then continue working with the freelancers who provide you with the most value. Fire the rest.

This is an excellent example based on firsthand experience.

Hiring multiple freelancers like this and evaluating them and choosing who to move forward with is how effective clients save time and money, and ensure quality.

gilbert-phyllis · ‎07-08-2021

Jeremy B wrote:
I’ve done a lot of hiring through Upwork. I’ve spent since November 2019 I’ve spent between 4 and 5 thousand on Upwork services.
I really do not like to hire agencies. I can tell when I have hired one because I windup explain the same problem more than once and to a new person. And the person who is working on the project is often never the same person who I hired.
But I can honestly say that I will probably not hire someone unless a see a sample of what they can do. Not only do I look at their work history but, depending on the job a may ask for a sample. (I never use the sample unless it is a mutually agreed upon price.)
One job I hired about 6 different people for promoting my free eBook. I offered $10 for a one time 6-day promotion. It was up to them what they wanted to do tweets, do their email, whatever they felt was worth $10 of their time. In my ad I said I would not leave negative feedback. Mayby nio feedback, but not negative, I did not expect much, I just wanted to see their honesty. They were scheduled to do whatever they wanted to do on those specific days. What they felt was worth their time. All I asked was to have 20 total downloads of my free eBook spread over 6 commonly used websites. One woman went above and beyond, and I found myself giving her a 600% bonus. ($70 instead of $10). I plan on hiring her again. But two other guys only got me 2 or 3 downloads. The least they could have done was download the free eBook themselves, at least they would had 6 total. I will give bonuses for good work but, I have had issues. On woman never responded in time so I could schedule her in, I explain the spots were already taken. She responded back accusing me of being a blood client and left foul language.
So, as a client sometimes it is necessary to protect yourself.

Paid tests are fine. Demanding test or sample work and refusing to pay for it is a ToS violation on the client's part. Too many FLs acquiesce to those demands instead of flagging them.

There is nothing wrong with hiring several FLs to see who does the best job at what you need. However, making any kind of promise concerning feedback is a ToS violation and FLs who see that should report it.

iisraromar · ‎07-11-2021

Thank you Phyllis, I think that's the way to proceed but if I ask clients to pay for test jobs, won't that leave a bad impression? If we go for an onsite job interview, probably they will ask you to go through test as well.

I apologise, if I am causing any inconveniece.

iisraromar · ‎07-11-2021

Thank you Miss. Christine for taking time to respond,

I have read this that its againt TOS to ask for free work, but what happen if someone says its a part of the hiring process, or its a test to evaluate your skills.

Also, The clients profiles were not fresh, they had thousands of dollars spending so I assume perhaps, That's ok to do the test job.

Thanks and regards

Israr

PradeepH · ‎07-11-2021

Hello Israr,

Feel free to report the jobs that require free or sample work before hiring. Please read these tips for avoiding questionable jobs and working safely through Upwork. You can also read about Scam Preventions and how to report suspicious user activity. By doing so, it will send a notification to the relevant team to monitor the account and take the appropriate measures they deem necessary.

Thank you.

Pradeep.

iisraromar · ‎01-03-2022

I read conversation again and I felt sorry for myself for writing "Upwork should do something about it" as this statement looks like an order or anger for the platform. English isn't my first language so I will try to be very careful next time.

tlbp · ‎07-08-2021

Israr K wrote:
For hiring process, very often clients want you to do a test job, but they never get back to you. I think Upwork should do something about this. If a job is posted, and a freelancer is submitting the technical test he/she should get response from recruiter for example, If he failed the test what was the reason, If some other person is better than him, what and how should I improve.

Getting hired or not, is totally dependant on the clients and I do agree on this.

I did three test jobs in past week, but never heard from recruiter. Sometime it feels to me that they break down their project in chunks and in the name of test jobs, they asked different freelancer to complete the whole task/job.

I know this approch, because a certain organisation, I used to work for does this. It saves cost, and time. Many times, there are 50+ proposals on one job, but clients don't bother to interactive with even one. That's mean freelancer spent minimum 100 to max 300 connects, plus the time they take for writing proposals.

Just a suggestion from my end. Upwork should do something on client end as well, not just the payment verification.

What have you learned in the past week? Use what you have learned to become a better, more effective freelancer. Choose how you wish to invest your time.

roberty1y · ‎07-08-2021

If the freelancer has no previous work to show, the client should pay for a sample. If they're too stingy to do that, they can just hire blind and take their chances on the quality of the work. Try going into a supermarket and asking them to give you free merchandise before you make up your mind about becoming a customer.

prestonhunter · ‎07-08-2021

As a client, I may indeed be informed by a freelancer's portfolio or profile page. But I never assume that I can guess the best freelancer for my project based on that.

A simple project may not need a "best value" freelancer.

As the size of a project grows, it makes more sense to hire multiple people to select from.

1dff8b08 · ‎09-12-2022

Hello everybody. Thank you for the topic. Recently I also faced the same situation. I did a trial test for the client who received it and after that disappeared without any information (whether I did the test well or not).

Now I understand I should never start any work before the official contract start date and the first milestone is funded.

Thank you very much for the information provided.