What is a decent to fabulous hire rate when submitting a proposal?

[irieislandgirl]

I have 33 proposals out there in Upwork land. Some clients have not looked at the job post for a period of two weeks to one month. It's VERY irritating when clients who post jobs never hire anyone or do not bother checking in. Or, are they interviewing, and we don't know it. It wastes connects too, which also ticks me off. 

What are your thoughts and experience? What is the best route I should take to avoid this? 

[kirnazdogan]

My strategy is to submit for jobs that have a %60+ hire rate and 4+ stars, also a verified payment method. I submit for a job only if I believe that I can do better than other freelancers. If all the conditions are ok, I send a killer proposal in a way that the client can't stand sending a message to learn more about me. That's my secret recipe. 

[arthurpr]

Search for long term proposals with payment verified and previous hires with good rating, also check for recent Last viewed by client date/hour for the job proposal (preferably viewed in less than 24~72h).