my availability

[#1]

Hi,

I have a question -about my availability -

If I select "More than 30 hrs/week".. that means I want only jobs, that are over 30 hours per week?

I am available all the time basically (for big and small projects) - so should I select "As Needed - Open to Offers"? Looking forward to hear from you. Thank you.

Maša

[#2]

It means, how many h would you be available to work in a week, to dedicate to a project, in case someone would like to hire you for a job and would take days to finish it.

If you don't have any active jobs and you're looking to get hired, you're available to work 40h a week or more, then you can chose for - open to offers

[#3]

Your availability should be the hours weekly you are willing to work, be it for one client or several.  You can adjust this as you get traction on the platform and jobs start coming in.  In my experience, clients over-estimate the number of hours weekly that a job will require.

[#4]

To be honest, I'm not sure if clients pay much attention to the availability, but I would avoid "As Needed -- Open to Offers" because it's vague and open to interpretation. Keeping it simple, either you can work 30+ hours, or you can't. And that's combined hours on all jobs, not necessarily one job.

[#5]

But do you interpret it as total hours you're available for freelance work, or just hours over and above your existing commitments? Personally, I leave mine at 'under 30 hours', or sometimes 'unavailable'.

[#6]

Actually, I've had mine set to "as needed - open to offers" for several months and the invitations have not slowed down. (And I actually had a little uptick in quality of invite last week.) My availability fluctuates so much from week to week, that it became a nuisance to try and keep up with it. My projects range from 2-3 hour one-offs to 150+ hour engagements that last for months.

[#7]

In my experience, most invitations are a waste of time. But, on the other hand, my single biggest Upwork job so far was from an invitation, so you never know.

[#8]

---

@Masa K wrote:

Hi,

I have a question -about my availability -

If I select "More than 30 hrs/week".. that means I want only jobs, that are over 30 hours per week?

I am available all the time basically (for big and small projects) - so should I select "As Needed - Open to Offers"? Looking forward to hear from you. Thank you.

Maša

---

Clients will interpret this setting in different ways, as there is no set definition. Most freelancers take it to mean the total hours they are available for work in general, though some also use it to indicate the number of hours they have available for new projects on top of the work they're already doing.

The Upwork algorithm will only send you invites if you have something besides "not available" selected, but otherwise it's totally up to you.

[#9]

Regardless of how we FL interpret More or Less than 30 Hours/Week I've always designated myself as Available Less than 30 Hours/Week or Unavailable depending.  However, I continue to receive numerous Invitations; many of which are for More than 30 Hours/Week.  ARGH! 

[#10]

---

@Pat M wrote:

Regardless of how we FL interpret More or Less than 30 Hours/Week I've always designated myself as Available Less than 30 Hours/Week or Unavailable depending.  However, I continue to receive numerous Invitations; many of which are for More than 30 Hours/Week.  ARGH! 

---

Yeah, the algorithm isn't that smart. It's a simple on or off as to whether your profile is shown to clients. It's up to the clients to actually READ the profile, and we know how often that actually happens.

[#11]

Hi.

U get inventations? I really dont get many 😞   why?

[#12]

---

@Masa K wrote:

Hi.

U get inventations? I really dont get many 😞   why?

---

The number of invitations clients send has no real rhyme or reason, and varies by job category. You're still very new, without much job history, and your profile does not truly represent someone who is "fluent" in English. Those may be reasons clients don't choose to send you invitations.

[#13]

---

@Masa K wrote:

Hi.

U get inventations? I really dont get many 😞   why?

___________________________________________________________________________

Masa, I concur with Jess as to potential reasons you are not receiving many Invitations.  Please don't be sad.  Frankly for one reason or another or several reasons I'm not interested in the vast majority of the ones I do receive. 

---