Yet another post related to Job Success

[parraninja]

Hi all,

I've been wondering what is the reason why my job success dropped to 97%. I might have an idea why: being a job with a "No feedback given" the highest probable cause. Still, this is not even explicit to the freelancers.

Don't you think that is fair enough to explain to all freelancers the Job Score formula? I know that someone will link:

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211068358-My-Job-Success-Score#how

However, you only say that at an "high level":

(successful contract outcomes - negative contract outcomes) / total outcomes

and you could be alot clear about it at a "low level"... None of the freelancers here are dumb enough that they can't figure it out by themselves and confirm the real JSS. Isn't it time for you to disclose it?!

In one of the several contracts I closed, the client probably didn't gave feedback (don't know why) despite everything was delivered and the client confirm the deliverables by releasing the funds and paying the fixed contract (there's to say that communication wise it wasn't the best client). After closing it, I sent 2 very polite messages to the client stating that I needed the feedback review because I was starting my career in Upwork and that would help alot and thanking for it.

I've done this several times because clients don't close right way the contract and as a beginner freelancer we thrive for feedback reviews.

So can someone explain why "No feedback given" may affect my JSS? And if you want to keep it that way, why isn't a way to force the client to leave feedback?

I know that for now it wouldn't affect my hire rate; which is to say that is the result of jobs applied divided by the number of hires but it might hurt in future...

[joanbonjoc]

Hi Tiago,

Thanks for your message. There are many factors that go into your JSS calculation including public and private feedback given when the contract is closed, pattern of contracts without feedback, inactive contracts, etc. Please check this helpful article on why your JSS has changed.

[keltonpeter]

Upwork needs to fix this.

For 5 years I’ve carried a 100% rating. It recently dropped to 98% when a client failed to give feedback. The client has since added feedback. Please restore my 100% rating. For the record, during 90 jobs the ratings have been 100% except when no rating was received because the client missed the form. I’m not sure that your algorithm should count failure on the client’s part as a negative in the free-lancer’s record. Some one-time clients are not familiar with Upwork procedures and while pleased with performance do not necessarily know to rate and give feedback. The way you calculate should be reviewed. Or perhaps the way you inform clients about the importance of ratings/feedback needs to be improved.-- Peter Kelton

[holymell]

Peter- I don't think that one client falling to leave feedback will drop your score. I've had one myself and nothing happened or changed. You might have gotten a private feedback that wasn't great and that's why your score dipped, or any contracts that ended with no money exchanged, or if you've given a full refund to a client.

But one instance of no feedback shouldn't harm your score. Only a pattern of them (whatever that means) will.

[parraninja]

Hello Melissa, you, even as a "Community Leader" (despite not knowing what it precisely means) state that: "I don't think that one client falling to leave feedback will drop your score".

Don't you want to be sure how score work? Aren't you curious as a freelancer? Are you not worried about that your main source of income depends on something that you can't rely on or be 100% sure how it works? Don't you want to answer to all the freelancers community: "I'm sure it works like that"?

Shouldn't it be more clear for you as a freelancer?

This should be taken serious and I think Upwork must address this subject close to the freelancers that WORK and GROW the platform. Clients come and go but freelancers tend to stay...

[holymell]

Hi. I'm only a "Community Leader" because I've made certain number of posts here. That title means literally nothing. It should just say "freelancer". Someday, I'll have enough posts to be bumped up to "Community Guru" which also simply means that I spend my free time here trying to help people. So yeah, it means nothing. You're correct about that!

And yes, I would love to know how the score works! Oh boy, wouldn't we all!

I've made sure to have other sources of clients. I do make about half my money here, so while it would suck to lose my account, I've made preparations for that exact scenario by not making all my money here and I advise every single one of you to do the same.

And no, unfortunately it should not be more clear for me as a freelancer. I signed up after reading all about that score. I knew what I was getting into.

Upwork doesn't want its freelancers to know how the score works. They know It's not transparent and they want it that way so that clients and freelancers alike can't take advantage of the situation.

So I simply try to do my best work on the platform, take the little knowledge I do have about the score and apply that knowledge while I work.

I do think that the calculations can be unfair. But again, I read about the platform prior to joining it, so I knew it could be unfair.

The best advice I can give is to do your best work, read all the forum posts to learn as much as you can, and then pretend that score isn't there. And find clients elsewhere. Don't put all your eggs in this basket. I use a lot of the money I earn here to promote my business elsewhere. It's not a terrible idea.

[melaniekhenson]

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@Tiago P wrote:

Hello Melissa, you, even as a "Community Leader" (despite not knowing what it precisely means) state that: "I don't think that one client falling to leave feedback will drop your score".

Don't you want to be sure how score work? Aren't you curious as a freelancer? Are you not worried about that your main source of income depends on something that you can't rely on or be 100% sure how it works? Don't you want to answer to all the freelancers community: "I'm sure it works like that"?

Shouldn't it be more clear for you as a freelancer?

This should be taken serious and I think Upwork must address this subject close to the freelancers that WORK and GROW the platform. Clients come and go but freelancers tend to stay...

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I believe UW's stance is that if we knew the technicalities of the scoring algorithms, freelancers might manipulate the JSS.

And yes, it could be private feedback. UW believes when feedback is private, it can be more honest, and I'm sure that's true. Clients don't necessarily want friction or push-back or follow-up messages asking "why?" on a lower score so they might leave higher feedback simply to avoid that. With private feedback, they don't have to worry about such things and they can be more honest.

I don't love this factor either, as knowing the real feedback could help us freelancers improve in various areas, but OTOH, we're supposed to be professionals and aren't supposed to be using UW as our own tutor on how to improve our businesses, so I get that too. Also, I think sometimes, if you really think about it, you'll know which jobs had little stumbling blocks that were an annoyance to the client; there are little hints. If you think back, you'll probably be able to guess who wasn't singing and dancing over your work at the time of the project.

I admit I'm not totally wild about this method - the whole "it's a secret" dealio - and it stings to do one's utmost and then realize somebody somewhere either didn't think as much of our work as we did, or was just having a bad day, or was getting comeuppance for a freelancer refusing to do work well outside the scope of the project or whatever the reason might be...but so far it seems like UW is indeed getting what they feel is the most accurate gauge this way so it's not going to change. We provide a service, and in any industry that provides a service, SOMEBODY'S not going to think we're God's gift to writing, formatting, Google Adwords or whatever. 😉

I do feel you but this is what it is and honestly, any time you provide a service you run the risk of someone, somewhere not thinking you're 100% the cream of the crop.