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muriel9402
Community Member

Not getting invitations to jobs on Upwork/Submitting Proposals with rejections :(

Hello,

I have been on Upwork for almost one year now and have only worked ONE JOB. I don't really understand the issue here. My profile seems fine IMO. My photo looks nice IMO. However, I'm not getting invitations to jobs. I am also submitting several proposals and clients aren't even considering me for interviews. Honestly, can you please give me some advice/feedback. I honestly am starting to think that people might be passing me by due to my ethnicity. I really wish we wouldn't have to include a photo on our profile. It's really sad because, I strongly believe that people are stereotyped or discriminated against, due to a simple photo. I honestly, don't know any reasons why someone wouldn't want to hire me. 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Muriel R wrote:

Hello,

I have been on Upwork for almost one year now and have only worked ONE JOB. I don't really understand the issue here. My profile seems fine IMO. My photo looks nice IMO. However, I'm not getting invitations to jobs. I am also submitting several proposals and clients aren't even considering me for interviews. Honestly, can you please give me some advice/feedback. I honestly am starting to think that people might be passing me by due to my ethnicity. I really wish we wouldn't have to include a photo on our profile. It's really sad because, I strongly believe that people are stereotyped or discriminated against, due to a simple photo. I honestly, don't know any reasons why someone wouldn't want to hire me. 


I'm sorry to hear that you've been having difficulties, but honestly, you have a nice photo and I doubt whether that's the source of your problem. I'm not going to tell you that there are no racists on Upwork, but in order for you to be getting NO work from ANYBODY, all clients would have to be racist - and I don't think that's the case, do you? Upwork is a global platform and there are clients here from all over the world. Most of the discrimination that I've personally seen has been directed at freelancers who are located in certain countries, so being an American and a native English speaker actually gives you a big advantage, including access to the U.S.-only marketplace. 

 

The fact is that Upwork is extremely competitive and the majority of freelancers have difficulties getting work; you have to make sure that your proposals really stand out in order to get noticed. And don't wait to get invitations, because until you've got a great track record here, that's unlikely to happen; you'll need to be proactive and check the open marketplace daily to submit proposals. Or it just may be that this just isn't the right website for you, so I would also advise you to try using different platforms and marketing methods until you find something that works.

 

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6 REPLIES 6
feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Muriel R wrote:

Hello,

I have been on Upwork for almost one year now and have only worked ONE JOB. I don't really understand the issue here. My profile seems fine IMO. My photo looks nice IMO. However, I'm not getting invitations to jobs. I am also submitting several proposals and clients aren't even considering me for interviews. Honestly, can you please give me some advice/feedback. I honestly am starting to think that people might be passing me by due to my ethnicity. I really wish we wouldn't have to include a photo on our profile. It's really sad because, I strongly believe that people are stereotyped or discriminated against, due to a simple photo. I honestly, don't know any reasons why someone wouldn't want to hire me. 


I'm sorry to hear that you've been having difficulties, but honestly, you have a nice photo and I doubt whether that's the source of your problem. I'm not going to tell you that there are no racists on Upwork, but in order for you to be getting NO work from ANYBODY, all clients would have to be racist - and I don't think that's the case, do you? Upwork is a global platform and there are clients here from all over the world. Most of the discrimination that I've personally seen has been directed at freelancers who are located in certain countries, so being an American and a native English speaker actually gives you a big advantage, including access to the U.S.-only marketplace. 

 

The fact is that Upwork is extremely competitive and the majority of freelancers have difficulties getting work; you have to make sure that your proposals really stand out in order to get noticed. And don't wait to get invitations, because until you've got a great track record here, that's unlikely to happen; you'll need to be proactive and check the open marketplace daily to submit proposals. Or it just may be that this just isn't the right website for you, so I would also advise you to try using different platforms and marketing methods until you find something that works.

 

Thank you so much!! I really appreciate your response. Do you know other platforms which might be beneficial for me? I tried Fiverr but no luck on Fiverr either.


Muriel R wrote:
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate your response. Do you know other platforms which might be beneficial for me? I tried Fiverr but no luck on Fiverr either.

_____________________________

Muriel,

 

You really ought to have picked up more work by now, and I have to say I can't understand why you haven't. On your overview, remove the bit about checking your test results, because these have been abandoned by Upwork. 

 

I may be preaching to the converted here - so sorry in advance if I am. But your problem could be the way you draft your proposals. A client will only see the first three lines of a proposal, before he or she has to click to see more, so those lines are really important real estate, don't waste them on unnecessary introductions or reiteration of your qualifications. Hit the client with what you can do for them  and how you can deliver it.  

Thank you, yes most are stating that the problems could possibly be my proposal. I honestly don’t really know how a proposal should be structured. I make mine like a cover-letter. I see that is a problem. I’m not used to creating proposals so this might be the issue. Do you know if Upwork has some sample proposals, that I could look at? That would be helpful. Also I will remove the Upwork test stuff also. I didn’t know Upwork abandoned those. Thanks so much for your assistance!! Very much appreciated !:)
martina_plaschka
Community Member


Muriel R wrote:

Hello,

I have been on Upwork for almost one year now and have only worked ONE JOB. I don't really understand the issue here. My profile seems fine IMO. My photo looks nice IMO. However, I'm not getting invitations to jobs. I am also submitting several proposals and clients aren't even considering me for interviews. Honestly, can you please give me some advice/feedback. I honestly am starting to think that people might be passing me by due to my ethnicity. I really wish we wouldn't have to include a photo on our profile. It's really sad because, I strongly believe that people are stereotyped or discriminated against, due to a simple photo. I honestly, don't know any reasons why someone wouldn't want to hire me. 


Your picture is one a the few chances to make a connection, so use this to your advantage. You are not doing that now. It looks like a selfie, you are not looking into the camera. I believe a great professional (looking) picture can make a huge difference. 

Thank you, definitely will be changing my photo 🙂
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