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I dont know. I use upwork and strictly apply to things that look like long term gigs. I have 2 great client relationships and getting them really wasnt that difficult (acquired both around 4-6 months ago).
I'm Trying right now to get another gig because I think I have some bandwidth and it feels much worse to me. So many scam postings and absurd proposal counts / connect boosting on everything. I'm TR+ and 100% JSS and have had 2 proposal views in the last 9 and no interviews apart from 1 scammer. I'm using the Profile boost thing and availability badge and they have done nothing.
I have a theory that legit posters are scared of by the dozens of AI proposals and just don't make hires at all. I know if it were me and I got 50 proposals in an hour and they all reeked of ChatGPT I'd probably look elsewhere for freelancers.
Good point about AI proposals. I was on a Zoom interview with a client who hired me today, and he told me that he chose me because I sounded the least like AI. He received more than 50 proposals, and only five of them sounded like they were from actual humans. Among those, I was the most qualified.
I see posts suggesting to make your proposals short and to the point. I believe you should craft your proposal based on the job description. If someone takes the time to write a long job description without using AI, which is usually easy to tell, take your time and respond with a detailed proposal. If someone has written a very short description, try to make your proposal short as well, as that might indicate the client has a shorter attention span or is looking to hire quickly.
In conclusion, you have a good profile; however, I don't think clients nowadays pay much attention to badges. They care more about what you do. Focus on building up your portfolio section and only apply to jobs for which you are most qualified. I'm sure you know better than I do—I am not Top Rated Plus yet, just Top Rated—so I don't know if it's my place to advise you, but that's my take.
I see posts suggesting to make your proposals short and to the point. I believe you should craft your proposal based on the job description. If someone takes the time to write a long job description without using AI, which is usually easy to tell, take your time and respond with a detailed proposal. If someone has written a very short description, try to make your proposal short as well, as that might indicate the client has a shorter attention span or is looking to hire quickly.
I think you see that advice because most of the time we don't know the actual job post, and short and to the point is a good template to follow. But I, and I think most of us who are well practiced in writing proposals, would tell you that the best proposal is the one that responds best to the RFP/job post. A lot of job posts are very short and to the point. The ones that are long and written by AI, I don't even bother with. But if it's clear the client is providing an explanation, I will typically address their concerns/details in the proposal, because they are stating those concerns or details because they are important to them. And I don't mean them listing "5 years experience, knows java script, good communicator, etc". I mean when they discuss actual project details or questions.
For me when they write a short job post, it indicates not necessarily that they have a short attention span, but that they may not know all the details, or that the post and proposal are just jumping off points so that a discussion can be had in more detail.
True. So the same client I mentioned was very clear about the project he knew what the issues were so I went ahead and wrote a detailed proposals and it worked. So yeah just like you said the best proposal is the one that perfectly answers the job post.
Yes, some of my proposals are very short and some are pretty long. I just write in response to the project description with special attention to the first couple of lines. The AI job descriptions complicate this, but when clients write their own project descriptions I take it as a clue about their preferred communication style.
From the screenshots of the client's view I've seen, it doesn't look like prospects know how long the proposal is before they open it. But proposal length may be a factor at the interview stage depending on that prospect's personal preferences.
I think my point was, I'm not doing anything different than I ever have and things are much more difficult and saturated. I'm sure I could make some improvements. My proposals are now and always have been short with a focus on chatting more during the interview so I don't think I'm blending in with the AI here.
The job I was most excited about I'm sure I got buried on. 50+ proposals and the 1st-5th place boost were all over 150 connects which is laughable.