One thing that might be going on is that you need to be more selective in which jobs you send proposals to. Here are a few things to look at:
► Is the job post well written, clear, thought out? If not, the client may be problematic to work with.
► Does their job history (on the right if they have one) show a low average rate paid or a rate in line with yours?
► If they have a history (at the bottom of the job post), check it out to see things like this: Do they give reviews to the freelancers? Do they give good reviews or bad reviews? Do they have a bunch of jobs with no review or feedback given? Yuck!
► At the bottom, how many jobs have they posted and how many actually were completed contracts. There does seem to be a high number of job posts where there is never a hire. Not sure why this is...but it does appear to be true. I say that because I can go in and look at the history of some of the proposals I've submitted in the past. There's a high proportion where there was no client activity on the post.
I suspect that if you raise your standards for whom you send proposals to, you might start getting better results.
It can take a lot of time and a lot of proposals to get that first job. It can feel really disheartening. It's most important to get that first job with a good client who will love your work and give you a great review. It's a long climb to get a start, but worth it when you do.
Once you have that first great review, things get easier.
Put your focus on having a great profile and building out your portfolio. Be selective with the jobs you submit proposals to. In the beginning, it seems to be a numbers game. Just keep at it...submitting proposals for jobs that are a good fit for your skills.
Suzi
