Upwork is a great concept, but it certainly has its frustrations.

[#1]

Generally, I think Upwork is a great platform where clients who are ready to buy can connect with service providers who are ready to fulfill their needs. There's less search time for clients and less marketing required for service providers.

However, some things frustrate me about this platform - particularly the restricted communication permitted between service providers and prospective clients, even after a proposal has been submitted.  

Firstly, it's frustrating not being able to contact a client to get a status update after a proposal has been submitted. If after, say, two weeks, are they still considering my proposal or they going to hire someone else? Waiting for weeks and still they haven't hired anyone just leaves applicants hanging. Applicants should at least be able to get answer from the client to know where they stand.

Secondly, if a client's required number of hires has been made, the job should then be removed from the board so that applicants don't waste their time submitting a proposal. I've seen jobs showing they've made a hire but the client is still actively viewing the job posting. Does that mean they want to make more hires? Are they waiting for more proposals? Why can they hire someone but keep the job open and yet applicants can't communicate to get more information?

I get that the current format is to prevent jobs from moving off-platform but there must be a better way that allows for more communication. 

Regards

Mike

[#2]

Hi Michael,

From my perspective, there's not much other choice. Imagine the client perspective. You might not have the time to respond to every potential freelancer's request for update. Ultimately, and you will see many other freelancers saying the same thing, just post your proposal and move on.

It is frustrating because you only get 1 chance to submit your tailored proposal but you also are racing against time before the client finds another freelancer. No one said it would be easy. You will have to adjust to the propose-it-and-forget-it model to avoid more frustrations.

As for removing jobs that have been filled, that could be a bad thing. I have been contacted by clients long after my proposal because the original applicants and didn't work out. I was ok with being the clients 3rd or 4th choice down the line. If the job had been forcibly closed then I might not have had that opportunity (maybe I'm misunderstanding how this works).

[#3]

Hi Michael,

Your feedback really means a lot to us and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Please note that we are not privy to clients’ hiring activities and each client has their own reasons. Clients are prompted to close the job when they’ve been hired. If they’re keeping it open, we could say that they’re probably looking to hire more than one freelancer or review more candidates for the role.

If someone uses information on our marketplace to get in touch with you, we can't protect either of you. That's especially true if it leads to circumvention—an offer to work together away from our platform, which leaves you open to scams and fraud. Circumvention is bad for us too, of course. If lots of people use us to meet but then work together elsewhere, we won't be able to keep doing what we do.

[#4]

I agree it would be better if there was a follow up button that was available even if it just messaged the client to say I'm still interested will the project be going ahead, that you parsed through to their email, as if we put a message in Upwork if they never come back and check Upwork they won't see our follow up message. We can't message at all unless they get to interview stage but many projects don't even seem to get that far. When you do speak to a client a lot of times they say they will make a decision by x day and stuff happens for them and then you see the project never gets a hire. With more prompting they might take a second look and it would give us an opportunity to answer any objections that are preventing them from making a hire.