Upwork - Job Success Thread **title edited**

[jademilburn]

I want Community Forum Moderators to add to this thread, and really listen to what is going on.

I, like many others am sure have the same story.

I used to love Odesk, and got many job interviews each week. I had all 5 star feedback, and glowing written references from my clients. Then Odesk made alot of changes and introduced Job Success rate. I was shocked that mine was 67%. That was until I looked at other discussions and heard of other people who had five star feedback, lots of good references and yet had a very low job success rate.

This system is beyond unfair as

!)Upwork introduced new changes and a new feedback system. They should NOT include information that people believed was being entered anonymously, prior to the changes. The Job success rate includes information that clients did not think would be shown publicly. They left star feedback that would be shown publicly. You CANNOt use retroactive data for a new system.

2)Since the Job success rate has been started, I am now not getting invited to interview for ANY jobs, so how could I get my Job success rate, even if I tried?

You have made a very bad error with this.

Can every freelancer on this forum who wants to get rid of the job success rate feature, reply with 'Get rid', and lets see if they listen to us.

[petra_r]

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@Dawood A wrote:

Although I am still learning and will keep learning till I get as good as a native speaker.

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Unless you actually submerge yourself in the language and culture by actually living in an English speaking country for many years, until you have almost forgotten your native language, that is not going to happen.

In the meantime I would suggest you avoid writing for any client whose own English makes sense, or who is located in an English speaking country, as those will catch all your errors, your poor grammar, your bad sentence structure and the lack of flow in your work, and will mark you down for it.

As Margarete has pointed out, your JSS is already below what is deemed acceptable, and if it drops any lower you will lose your account without a shadow of a doubt.

[hodgesh]

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@Petra R wrote:

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As Margarete has pointed out, your JSS is already below what is deemed acceptable, and if it drops any lower you will lose your account without a shadow of a doubt.

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Does Upwork suspend people who have low JSS scores? I didn't know that.

[lysis10]

lol ESLs should not be writing marketing content especially. I just told a customer of mine that two of his marketing emails are terrible and obviously done by an ESL. I told him that he really shouldn't send them out, but he did and wow it was terrible (I'm on his marketing email list). Oh well, he just sounded like an idiot to however thousands of potential customers on his list.

ESLs can't connect with the audience. The content sounds terrible, and anyone who skimps out on marketing content by going cheap is an idiot.

[3b36790e]

It does not. I confirmed it. They do not suspend or delete your account on the basis of low JSS

[Anonymous-User]

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@Dawood A wrote:

It does not. I confirmed it. They do not suspend or delete your account on the basis of low JSS

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Who confirmed that? 

[petra_r]

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@Dawood A wrote:

It does not. I confirmed it. They do not suspend or delete your account on the basis of low JSS

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 People are regularly placed under review (meaning they can not apply for more contracts or get invited until their current ones are successfully completed) based on their record. That record is measured by their JSS.

As a JSS of below 79 is understood to indicate that the freelancer has been struggling to meet their clients’ expectations, it is fair to expect that someone with a JSS in the 50s and a record of dissatisfied clients will not escape scrutiny.

So whilst they may not "just" suspend people with a low JSS, those who have it will 1) find it hard to get hired and 2) will eventually removed from the platform on performance grounds as it is not in Upwork's interest to keep freelancers who create a bad client experience in nearly half their contracts.

[lucidwebmarketng]

First, I must say that the name is misleading. It implies to a client that you have successfully completed jobs. Upwork won't tell us exactly what goes into the JSS – I guess a secret sauce they don't want to divulge which is ridiculous. If you have a system that can affect your success (it's called Job SUCCESS score after all), Upwork should tell us what is calculated.

In order to help the community, here's what I believe affects your JSS:

1. Your score will go down if you have no jobs at all. I've experienced this firsthand. That is illogical. If you are not working at anything, how can your score go down? I believe the answer is that if you don't win any jobs, your score goes down. Again, illogical since you can't win every job you apply to.

1. It seems your score will go down if you have been assigned a job but nothing happens. This again from my experience of a client giving me the work but never heard from. If you face this situation, send an email or two and if you don't get a response within a couple of weeks, cancel the contract, especially if you worry about your score.

1. Your score will go down if there's any kind of dispute, even if you agree to a lesser payment. Even if the contract started and ended on eLance.

1. Your score probably goes down on active contracts without any communication between you and the client for some time. Therefore, best to send a message at least once a week on active jobs. Just let the client know what's going on and update them.

1. Your score goes up as you put in hours on the contract. Mine went up by 8% in the space of a week and that on a job needing just a couple hours a week. Note that the score probably goes down if you don't fill all available hours. So if you agree that it's 2 hours per week and only use up one hour, that likely counts against you.

1. I don't get invitations for some reason where I got a few per week on eLance. I suspect that your score goes up when you get invitations on jobs and down if you don't. Probably goes down if you don't respond in any way.

1. Of course, feedback from clients surely goes into the score. Problem is, everybody scores differently. I for one don't give 5/5 on something and usually 4/5 unless it was exceptional. There is also a part of the score that is something like “knowledge of the subject”. The client typically hires me because they don't know the subject. They are the last one to ask about that. Of course they can have an opinion but one needs to take opinions with a grain of salt if they are not subject experts.

[VladimirG]

Hi Pierre,

Please check our replies, if only on this thread, that already addressed the points you made here and the resources we've shared.

[princessjad]

When it comes to stats & calculation a lot of things seems shady about Upwork.

The software seems to have a mathematical disabilty but we just keep beating around the bush!

For our 20% duty payment, we deserve some explanation ELSE  I suggest the "MY STATS" Page be 'Rolled OUT' until at-least there is 'CONSISTENCY' & 'TRANSPARENCY'

The 'ROLLING' IN & OUT OF things on Upwork is becoming unbearable.

For the past 4 weeks my feedback score has been inconsistent.

And For new 5 STAR feedbacks recieved the changes have been 0.01 increment only.

Under 12months, I've had just 12 jobs so i did some calculations (please see below) and it doesn't tally with what i see on the dashboard.

My Questions are:

I. "How else is the UPWORK FeedBack Score For 12 months Calculated?"

II. Is there some special alogarithm for FEEDBACK SCORE like the job sucess score?

III. Is anyone experiencing the same thing?

[petra_r]

The feedback score (stars) is Dollar weighed. So essentially each feedback is weighed by the number of Dollars earned on it.

A $ 100 feedback counts 10 times what a $ 10 feedback counts. Or, your 2.25 stars for over $ 739 counts 246 times as heavily as your 5 stars for $ 3.00

Looking at your stats I am confident that you won't need to worry about how it's calculated much longer.

With a JSS in the low 40s and a "clients who would recommend" score of barely over a third, chances are you won't have to worry about anything Upwork related very soon.

[princessjad]

So in other words, you are saying that 'FeedBack Score' is dollar weighed and not per project based.

Isn't the JS secret alogarithm enough?

[petra_r]

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@Joy D wrote:

So in other words, you are saying that 'FeedBack Score' is dollar weighed and not per project based.

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 Yes, I believe I explained it, in detail, and with examples, in my reply.

[princessjad]

This is unreasonable especially if you had to deal with an over erratic client who wants free work.

Anyways thanks for the explanation.

I posted about 'feedback score' and someone moved it to the 'JS THREAD'

Enough of the monopoly, i shall concentrate on my web apps and other client outside Upwork.

We shall see how the 20% commission payment would be earned when the marketplace becomes short of talents.

Clients will have to look else were too!

Thankfully global technology continues to advance.

Regards.

[mariawicz5]

1 "over erratic client" is not going to bring your recommendation score to that low. If you want to continue on this platform or any, I strongly suggest you analyze client's comments and see where you can improve.

[a_miroshnichenko]

Looks like I found the right topic)))

I would like to know does it effects on JSS or not, if I started to work for fixed price contract with funded money, but than I closed contract with reason that job was not done.

[redtechnologies]

i am not satisfied with job success calculattion, this is totally unfair for top freelancers.

I have been using elance / odesk since 2006 there are lots of clients who just disappear with out providing me feedback or some how there account suspended / inactive they were unable to provide me feedback.

my question is why no feedback provided by client is effecting our job success rate?

if for some reason there account suspended or inactive how do they provide us feedback??

then why upwork success rate system calcuatting no feedback as nagetive feedback if for some reasons client account inactive / suspended? how do they provide feedback Please help? and improve your job success calculattion machenism.

thanks

[phuongdo]

The JSC from my opinion will not go back to year 2006 or so to do the calculation, it only take into account of your recent activities (ie. last few months) so even if you did extraodinaire works in the past, it doesn't mean you are doing the same thing now. So .. forget the past and look ahead to the future 🙂 then you will see how fair it is.

[rnaldo]

I think past achievements should also be taken into consideration when calculating Job Success Score (JSS). They are also fruits of our efforts (success). I have been using Upwork (aka oDesk) since 2010. Although I don't work here often, I got more than 2,000 hours and above 4.8 rating. Unfortunately, they actually mean nothing in JSS calculation. My JSS is not available (0%?) although I got 5-star feedback score in the last 12 months.

If you read the other threads about JSS, you will be able to see how this mechanism has hurt long-time freelancers like us since last year. I recommend you to concentrate your efforts on the other freelancing platforms. Let this be a lesson for us. 

[golub84]

Please someone to give me a reason why is my Client Satisfaction down to 45%.

I was on 100% No one didnt rate me or something like that it just felt to 45!!!

[versailles]

Insight on how Job Success Score is calculated

[keylazs]

On what basis this Job Success is calculated.

Previously my profile was showing 100% Job Success and now its down to 82% JobSuccess.

I want my job success up again, What can i do? 

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Keyla,

Please, check this help article. It has a lot of information about how the Job Success score is calculated and how to improve it.

[m_terrazas]

It is the great mystery !! 🙂
If you discover it, tell us about it, please.

[abidhasan39]

So till now I have completed 3 jobs on Upwork. 3 more are still in progress. I was given a horrible job success score of 63% today. I couldn't quite believe it because I have received 5 star and 4.6 star feedbacks. 63% is completely unjustified. I don't know how they've calculated it. 

My first client on Upwork ended the contract by mistake and gave me a 3 star feedback for the first time (that too by mistake). He asked me for a refund and I agreed. He then offered me a new contract and I am still happily working with him. He changed my public feedback from 3 to 5 stars too by the way. Do you think this is why I've been given such a low job success score? I really cannot think of anything else. 

Plus, 3 of my jobs are still in progress. How did I get a JSS with only 3 completed jobs? Please help me anyone. 

[petra_r]

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@Syed Hasan A wrote:

My first client on Upwork ended the contract by mistake and gave me a 3 star feedback for the first time (that too by mistake). He asked me for a refund and I agreed.

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 A client ended a contract by mistake, gave 3 star feelback by mistake, and asked for a refund by mistake?

It is easy to imagine that that client also left bad private feedback (by "mistake" of course)

That contract counts fully towards your JSS and as a negative factor.

[abidhasan39]

Hmm so that pretty much explains why I have a JSS of 63% despite great public feedback. Isn't there anything that I can do now? I have taken screenshots of my conversation with that client. I'll email the support team. Let's see if they can do anything about it. Thanks for replying.

[mariawicz5]

There's also private feedback that doesn't change even after a refund. There's not much you can do except work on improving it.

[abidhasan39]

Yea I know! But I can prove that the client gave me poor private feedback by mistake. So theoretically they should recalculate my score. I have contacted customer support. 

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Syed Hasan,

Private feedback can't be changed neither by the client nor by Upwork Team. This policy is in place in order to minimize the possibility of manipulating the score. As Petra has suggested, you can improve your JSS by focusing on your ongoing jobs and making sure you deliver great results.

[tlbp]

Not gonna happen. Just learn from the experience and move on. 

[lascap_01]

4% Jss score lost because i cancel a contrat with an arrogant client WTH!!!

can we keep our dignity?? really?

NO RESPECT FOR FREELANCERS! 

great job Upwork

P.

[smartbpo]

Freelancers are the target for all such mess.

[tomzilla1]

Like everyone else, I am deeply disappointed in the way JSS is currently calculated. The most obvious flaw is, my happy/long term clients are still on-going... They cannot provide a feedback until the job is finished. And the ones that do provide feedback are the "negative ones." So basically, the JSS is a measurement of ONLY the bad, and does not account the good... This will eventually force contractors to move to another platform. I love Upwork, but if forced, I have no other option.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Tom,

Having long-term clients is a sign of success. That's why ongoing long-term relationships are counted positively in your Job Success score.

[reichstephen]

Valeria,

In the last four JSS updates my JSS score has gone from

90% > 89% > 92% and now back to 89%

Is there and magic wand or sacrific to the gods to help this?

Best Regards

[VladimirG]

Hi Stephen,

I see you have a number of open contracts and a few that have been closed in the time frame that you mentioned. Your Job Success Score calculation is correct and you might want to consider closing those contracts that you don't expect to get more work in the near future, as some of them might be affecting your score negatively.

[kshitijshah30]

I am finance expert on upwork and active freelancer. Everything was going fine when I had 'Rising Talent' tag, but as soon as it is replaced by job score my bad time started. I am not even getting the interview for jobs which exactly matches my skill.

Why I am disappointed because, the low job score is due to unawareness of few clients. Some of them don't know how to close job properly. Few will rate high to get the work done again in same or lower price, but in private feedback they will bring you down.

JSS is really disappointing. Strongly agree with other freelancers. Upwork should take it under consideration when so many freelancers are on same plane.

[karlo-vugrek]

Hello fellow freelancers, 

I know that there were lots of threads like this one but I am so pissed off right now that I just have to write this. I asked this questions on UpWorks support chat, but hey guess what, the support there is just copy pasting things into chat and it not helping at all. They do not want to listen and they just copy paste how our Job Success Score is calculated like it should be. The calculation is completely wrong, or I understood completely wrong why JSS (Job Success Score) is here. Correct me if I am wrong about this but here are some facts that support keeps telling me and they are complete nonsense. 

If I understood correctly JSS is "invented" to show how freelancer is doing its work. To get better overview and separation from bad freelancer to great freelancer. Yeah this is great in theory, however it is not working like it should at all.

First of all let me tell you my story in short. Few months ago I was top rated freelancer, everything was going fine. Then I messed up one job, there were some missunderstandings with client, long story short, lets say I messed up this one. I had like 7 contracts at a time, with job finished and happy client. 1 was messed.  That means 1 out of 8. My score dropped to like 80%. I said okay. I continued my work and everything was fine until next 2 weeks. I didn't closed any contracts, I didn't get new jobs, and my JSS dropped again to 67%. How can this be? Why another drop? I was pissed off, but I said okay I will work like UpWork said to me and my score will raise. And it did. To 70 and something %. I was working everything was fine until this weekend. I went for a 2 week vacation and when I got back I checked my score and it dropped to 66% 😮 . UpWork what the hell? No one closed any of my contracts, no new feedbacks anything at all. How can I get this drop? 

Then I decide to contact support. There is again same story. They keep telling me how my JSS is calculated correctly that they checked it. And the guy there keeps copy pasting that same message that lots of you guys got too: How JSS is calculated on 6, 12 , 24 month basis and best JSS is written to your profile. Okay before 1 year I was Top Rated. Why don't you show 100% then? It is best score, and you said that you show best score. 2 years ago my JSS was lik 84% or something like this. Why don't you show this score. You are showing the worst one. And I don't even know why did I get it. 

The other thing that is pissing me off is that they said if Client doesn't leave feedback that could have negative impact on my score. Is it my fault if client didn't leave feedback UpWork? I was asking those guys, begging them to leave feedback. They said that they will but they didn't. People do not care. Is this my fault? The solution is to punish the freelancer who did they part correctly?

The other thing that support keeps telling me is keep doing good work and your JSS will raise. UpWork do you really think that I can find a job with 66% JSS? 

It is obvious that UpWork is leaded by greed. The new earning system is proof for this. Guys at UpWork do not care about freelancers. They care just about the clients. They are paying. There will always be freelancers. This was great place to work before. It doesn't work anymore. I think I am just going to close my account here and make a fresh new start on some of the other services. There are lots of those out there. It will be harder at beginning but who cares. 

Sorry for longer post fellow freelancers, I am just so pissed off right now. And you guys at UpWork **Edited for Community Guidelines**

Thank you, 

Karlo

[petra_r]

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@Karlo V wrote:

I had like 7 contracts at a time...

 2 years ago my JSS was lik 84% or something like this.

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 your entire profile "seems" to be less than a year old, with just 5 contracts completed to date. Of those 5 2 are 5 stars, 1 "lukewarm," one "bad" and one "no" feedback score

[karlo-vugrek]

What are you talking about, I am member since 2014.