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.

[battershall-ramo]

...thereby allowing one crazy or vindictive client to undermine months of hard work

[jsutherland]

Many of the things we're downgraded for are often out of our control or blatantly unfair. When clients start to realize the full power they have to destroy us it's going to become a bloodbath. 

We're often not given enough information to properly assess if we should take a job and then if the job goes south we get blamed.

I like the Job Success but for goodness sake, change the algorithms.

[chadworth]

I actually have a client right now who is keeping a freelancer hostage.

She wants to leave but can't, because he has clearly stated that he will savage her privately and ensure that it will be reflected in her client happiness score.

He and I don't see eye to eye often, and the other day he sent me this email apropos of nothing:

What is Job Success?

Are you a freelancer? Click here for more info. 

---

The Basics

A freelancer’s Job Success is a measure of their job performance and reputation on Upwork. Top freelancers on Upwork typically have a score of 90% or higher, which reflects an overall track record of delighting clients and meeting or exceeding work expectations.

The Background What metrics does the Job Success score include?

We look at many performance indicators, including:

• public and private feedback
• successful completion of work
• client complaints
• responsiveness levels
• missed deadlines
• disputes
• long term client relationships
• ... and more

Why does Job Success differ from the freelancer’s star rating?

The goal of a freelancer’s Job Success is to capture a breadth of information not already reflected in their star-rating or profile. The information in the list above is not accounted for in a freelancer’s star rating, which is their public feedback from clients.

The subject line read:  How to Judge Work Product.

So, I know what to expect once this contract is over.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Chad,

If you or the other freelancer have received messages from the client threatening with bad feedback, please report it to Customer Support and send screenshots of those messages. It is not allowed to abuse feedback system in this way.

[spicermelissa]

I had the same experience and documented it with (then) Odesk, but nothing was done and this client brought my score down dramatically - on a job that paid $40 and was refunded, despite me making $1000s on Odesk in the past. 

[tillymonster]

"And to Scott E, if you went to bed with your rating sitting pretty at 100%, where its been for years (because of your top notch work ethic) and you awaken the next morning to shhhhhh ....... absolute silence. No responses to submitted proposals. No invitations to Interview. No nothing.  You think "Thats weird." You look at your profile and no longer are you looking at absolute perfection with tremendous pride. WAIT!! WHAT?  "Congratulations, Scott E. we've calculated your new rating under our new system! We call it a Job Satisfaction Score and we think it better reflects the level of satisfaction your clients have with your work.  Congratulations Scott E., your new score is 67%!"

This. It's pretty much exactly what happened to me. It's absolute BS and this thread proves that.

[iftikhar-ishaq]

Get Rid!,

My first Kudo To jean.

Well I am also tired from this JS robot even if i am top rated becuase as I see it has powerfull digestive system when ever it increases my JS after some days it digest and eat my percentage.

I have more than completed 125 jobs half of them are my repeated clients from the last year always get 5star rating becuase I worked hard i satified my clients but still can't reach 100% JS I am sure my clients dont give me bad private feed back as they always said they would have some more work to do even some dont close the contracts beacuase they just dont want to re contract again and gain.

Why there is private feedback if the client are not satisfied just lets us know publicly.Private feedback is just unfair and wiping freelancers from this platform.

Its going to be 3 years I never use community forum these are the changes which brings me and others here to know whats going on.

In short its just ridiculous alogrithem even those who made it dont know how it works.

[jsutherland]

---

@Iftikhar I wrote:

Get Rid!,

My first Kudo To jean.

Well I am also tired from this JS robot even if i am top rated becuase as I see it has powerfull digestive system when ever it increases my JS after some days it digest and eat my percentage.

I have more than completed 125 jobs half of them are my repeated clients from the last year always get 5star rating becuase I worked hard i satified my clients but still can't reach 100% JS I am sure my clients dont give me bad private feed back as they always said they would have some more work to do even some dont close the contracts beacuase they just dont want to re contract again and gain.

Why there is private feedback if the client are not satisfied just lets us know publicly.Private feedback is just unfair and wiping freelancers from this platform.

Its going to be 3 years I never use community forum these are the changes which brings me and others here to know whats going on.

In short its just ridiculous alogrithem even those who made it dont know how it works.

---

I completely agree. So many things are wrong with the job success score. Something has got to change. Freelancers are terrified with every contract they take. I'm tired of having to beg clients to close jobs and leave feedback or I will be punished. 

In fact, I'm just tired of worrying all the time about being punished. I now search other sites first for jobs before I consider applying to ones on Upwork. The environment here is just too stressful.

[iftikhar-ishaq]

JS is nothing but stress.

People on 90% are stressed they are worried may they loss top rated badge just for nothing as the robot shaffle your 12 months or 2 year history if it comes to know last year you have made a sin(refund) he will catch you and will drop your JS.

With ongoing jobs if a client give you a bad private feedback which no one knows it will dorp your JS.if you have an accident which know one knows and you can not response to your invites your JS will drop.

Just drop drop and drop and at the end drop from the platform

What a alogrithem!

Would like to add one more thing before a freelancer having 1 star feedback can have chance to get the job it depends on the client if he would like to hire or not and there were no suspension or account close so why they are closing the accounts just let them there and let the client to decide if they would like to hire someone below 70% JS or not.

[battershall-ramo]

Given that you're heavily punished through the whims or lack of knowledge/interest of a client, it's a strong disincentive to even take on any new clients. One client appeared horrified that, what she thought was a bad review, was actually damaging to me, another gloated in her client's response about how much damage was done. Customer support, as always, had no answers.

I haven't used any connects in nearly 2 months. My only concern here now is my ongoing customers.

[iftikhar-ishaq]

Roman

I haven't used any connects in nearly 2 months. My only concern here now is my ongoing customers.

That's what i am doing  last month i have used  less than half connects this month still have 50 connects to use i dont think so if i can use half of them.

Upwork should have to take notice.

[battershall-ramo]

Yes, its a paradox really, the artifcial importance upwork attached to connects means they are no longer worth using!

[entoniel]

Today saw my My Job Success Score - 88%.

At the same time every single task that I took I was doing in time and always get only 5/5

Why is the level of success of tasks less than 100%?

[versailles]

Your Job Success Score on Upwork

[tlbp]

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/IMO-JSS/m-p/266708/highlight/true#M166081

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/Upwork-Job-Success-Thread-title-edited/m-p/81703#U81703

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Alexander and Cannavaro,

Please, note that not only public feedback but also private feedback on contracts with or without money paid as well as other factors contribute to your Job Success score. You can find more information in the articles Rene and Tonya shared.

[candi45]

I one hundred percent agree with you, Jean. I don't apply or accept any invitations to interview anymore because I never know if the new job will be THE one to ruin my JS score. I have been fortunate and have managed to stay at 100 percent, but I know it only takes one.

I have also found that the majority of job postings are coming from new clients or clients that are asking for work at ridiculous rates. Where are all the clients that used to actually pay freelancers a decent wage? They seem to have run off as well.

With all the surprises and essentially threats to your reputation, this is a scary place to be. I fell into complacency and had put all my eggs in the oDesk basket and learned a hard lesson last month, but fortunately, was able to rebound. Won't be doing that again.

[nikkigaskins]

Jean--

I'm like you. I, too, am tired of having to beg clients to close jobs and leave feedback or I will be punished. I'm sounding like a broken record, and I hate it.  I also don't feel like I should have to babysit clients. I already have anough on my plate!

Since JSS was implemented, I now search outside of Upwork for most of my jobs, too. Even though I'm top rated, this place is getting too stressful. 

I get a lot of job offers, but I turn down most of them because I'm too scared to take them.

I'm mainly sticking with the ones I've had before JSS kicked in while searching for work outside of Upwork.

And Upwork, rest assure, lots of other freelancers are doing the same thing. Get it together, Upwork!

[jsutherland]

---

@Nikki G wrote:

I get a lot of job offers, but I turn down most of them because I'm too scared to take them.

And Upwork, rest assure, lots of other freelancers are doing the same thing. 

---

 So sad and so true.

Freelancing should not make us frightened of working. 

Many many of us are doing everything we can to get away from this atmosphere. 

No one, here or in a bricks and mortar building, should have to work like this.

BUT...accept it is not going to change and that it's no longer a viable work option. Set up your own website and actively recruit customers. Advertise using Google Adsense, Facebook and any other medium you can think of and build it into your pricing.

This seems to be the best option out there. A simple website will cost you $50-$100 

Allow $100 for your first foray into advertising.

Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. So true. Hiring low cost experts here to help you do your advertising correctly. 

[lynne583]

I've been an oDesk freelancer since February of 2013. I was so excited with my success in that first year, and my earnings more than doubled my second year. Halfway through the third year, I've earned a fraction of what I earned in the first year. Since all of these arbitrary and pointless changes, my work through oDesk/UpWork/etc. has completely dried up. I have received exactly zero invitations to interview in probably the last month or so. The only work I've had through this platform is from long-term clients with ongoing contracts. I've started exploring alternative options. I certainly understand how my fellow freelancers are stressing out!! I think PANIC is a more appropriate term. There is something very wrong here, guys!!!!

[jsutherland]

Moderators cannot address our issues. It's for management to do something that actually helps us.

AND I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR the standard reply of thanks for your feedback and we'll forward it to the magical mystical so called TEAM. What team?? Who are these people? Why do they never say anthing about all many many concerns here.

[cristianadrianf]

This post makes me feel like moving to my last outsourcing website. Why those stats, maybe inaccurate, give so many headaches and affecting all the comunity? A little bit dissapointed to see so many having concerns related to this aspect here.

[1105hec]

They don't CARE.  They're getting paid, and our dissatifaction isn't lowering THEIR "job success score" one iota.  They're making money off the backs of folks that will work their fingers to the bone for $2.00 per hour.  As long as they've got an abundance of them, the "team" is happy.  That's crystal clear. 

[tgstudio]

I find the whole thing rather frustrating. 

This past week I closed a dormant contract that has been open almost a year. I had emailed this client repeatedly and never received any sort of response. Since I had a few contracts closed with positive feedback I decided to close this one contract. I thought I would be "safe".

But then I had a client hire me before we even agreed to terms or what I was going to do. Then she hired two more freelancers with lower rates than I for the same job. Yep, you guess it she went with the cheapest alternative and forgot all about me. When I messaged her about the job she closed my contract. No money was exchanged but the damage was done.

My JS dropped from 100% to 96%. And how is this fair?

Don't give me the "client wasn't happy with the work and that is why they didn't leave a feedback" excuse. There are many clients who come here to get one job completed and they vanish from the site completely. They have no more use for Upwork. Those clients see us freelancers like someone they would hire from a temporary job service. 

And then the client who closed the contract before the work was even started. How is that my fault that she decided to go cheap on the job? Why am I punished?

[cjemery]

---

@Amy T wrote:

I find the whole thing rather frustrating. 

This past week I closed a dormant contract that has been open almost a year. I had emailed this client repeatedly and never received any sort of response. Since I had a few contracts closed with positive feedback I decided to close this one contract. I thought I would be "safe".

But then I had a client hire me before we even agreed to terms or what I was going to do. Then she hired two more freelancers with lower rates than I for the same job. Yep, you guess it she went with the cheapest alternative and forgot all about me. When I messaged her about the job she closed my contract. No money was exchanged but the damage was done.

My JS dropped from 100% to 96%. And how is this fair?

Don't give me the "client wasn't happy with the work and that is why they didn't leave a feedback" excuse. There are many clients who come here to get one job completed and they vanish from the site completely. They have no more use for Upwork. Those clients see us freelancers like someone they would hire from a temporary job service. 

And then the client who closed the contract before the work was even started. How is that my fault that she decided to go cheap on the job? Why am I punished?

---

 I had a very similar experience - and the client was even from a special "Talent Cloud."

GET RID

[lanwanman]

WOW! Maybe this thread is destined for the little "hot topic" icon!

[sumon_sm]

I am very confused about the Job Success score and I want it to be removed or made more trasperant. Let me paint a picture, why.

I have 1800+ hours in Odesk with 4.88 rating. I do understand that the rating does not say the whole story. But lets just examine how it works now.

I had 2 ongoing part time jobs last week, and had a 88% job success rate. Then I talked to one of those 2 clients and we agreed to end the contract, and he will rehire me for more work in the future. He is a first timer in Upwork. So he told me he would end the contract, but when he did not in 48 hours, I ended it, and asked him to mark the job as successful and provide feedback score, as I did.

Now, my Job Success rate dived from 88% to 59% after I ended the contract. He waited a week to provide me feedback, because he was busy. But he did provide me 5 stars and glowing review. And my Job Success rate is still at 59%.

But why? 🙂

I am so confused now. Was my Job Success rate supossed to go down? I thought It would go up. Will it be recalculated in a few days? What did I do wrong? This makes no sense at all. Please either fix it and explain it well, or remove this feature.

[michal--k]

Here's a very helpful description

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Freelancers/How-to-improve-your-Job-success/m-p/73079#M29679

[iftikhar-ishaq]

Sumon,

Sorry to hear from you about the drastic drop in your JS but why you are hurreid to close the contract by yourself why you did not wait for some days for your client to close the contract?

I wish your calculation be recalculated  according to your feedback rating.Wait for some days if some miracle happen.

No one can explain it and no one can fix it.

[sumon_sm]

Iftikhar, I was talking to a prospective client for a full time project. And he complained that I have two jobs in progress. So he is hesitant to hire me full time. I told him, those are not very high volume projects. Then I talked to my existing client and agreed to close the project for now, as no immediate work load is in the plans. I thought thats the best thing to do in my situation 🙂 .

I am hoping my job success rating will be recalculated to something better. This is extremely frustrating.

[sumon_sm]

Update: After 2 weeks my Job Success rate is back to 88%. Even though I ended a medium sized project with 5star review in this month, my Job Sucess rate did not improve. I wonder why. This is important, because I am 2% short of becoming Top Rated.

My stats shows my rating is 4.88, but my public profile says 4.82. Is this a bug?

[sumon_sm]

Also, several clients are rehiring me, but my stat page tells me zero client recommends me. This is for sure Upwork's fault. Think about what are you calculating there? If a client rehires me, he surely recommends me. How come I have at least three clients who rehired me over past 3 months and upwork says no one recommends me. 🙂 This does not make sense, does it?

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Sumon,

Note that your overall star rating is shown on your public profile while My Stats shows star rating for the last 12 months, that's why it can be different.

Also, it seems like unfortunately there is not enough data to calculate your Recommended Score. It looks like you had a lot of jobs that clients did not provide their feedback for.

[colettelewis]

The job success rate should not be there at all. Freelancers should be allowed to succeed or fail on their own terms. Most clients and most freelancers are not stupid - it is quite literally the law of attraction. They will find each other. Divorce is far more likely if there is some Big Marriage Counsellor in the Cloud monitoring every move of a relationship. Bitter quarrels ensue and money is wasted.

[sumon_sm]

Valeria, Thanks for responding. But I got two 5 star ratings in last 2 months. And one of them rehired me. The other one was also a returning customer. I have got a few no-feedbacks and a few good feedbacks over past 12 months. So it is sad to see number of clients who recommends me is null (its not zero). This system is unnecessarily complicated and counter-intuitive.

[fitzberg]

If job success feature is removed it doesnt fair for many freelancers who have worked their a*s up to increase their job success ! 

[nicola-usai]

Get rid

[wiredcoyote]

I posted this in another thread a few weeks ago, but I make no apologies for repeating it.

My stats show 5 stars for every job I've completed. Some jobs remain open due to clients disappearing, but I can't help that. Clients who would recommend me? 100%. My response rate? 100%

My JS - 71%, updated yesterday and no jobs closed or feedback left since then. This is the same JS score I had a month ago.

When I questioned it, I got the usual stock answers but, when I pushed the issue of private feedback I was told that all my clients had spoken very highly of me with not a single word of negative feedback received.

Does having no long-term clients (I've been here for 6 months, so "long-term" is, I suppose, relative) mean I lose 29% of my JS? Well, it would appear so.

I don't expect 100% based on 9 jobs, but I do expect more than 71%. The recent post by the Upwork CEO clearly states, and I quote

"Freelancers with scores below 75% may find it difficult to win new clients in the marketplace."

Yet here I am with 100% positive feedback and a JS of 71%. Upwork will not dicsuss clients performance due to "privacy concerns" and yet are happy to show me in a bad light for no reason, and with no consideration to my privacy or my reputation.

Whoever does the algorithms for JS needs to go back to school.