Secrets that Pro freelancers know, that Beginners DON'T
#5. Invites are the secret side of Upwork, and they're awesome. After I started winning on Upwork, I started getting invites. "This client has invited you to interview!" It started as a trickle, but turned into a flood. At one point, I was getting 10-15 Upwork job invites per DAY. Consider Job Invite rankings as Upwork's gift to freelancers that follow the rules, do great work, and help them grow. Job invites: - Mean that you were personally identified by the client** to take a look at this job (**except if it was from Upwork Talent Scout) - Can come from some of the highest-budget clients - Can be Invite-only jobs, meaning other freelancers can't even SEE the job unless they've been INVITED... meaning you're not competing with ANYONE else except the people who were invited! Job invites are dependent on a number of factors, including the projects that you do, project tags, but it all comes down to this: - Are you giving Upwork clients a good experience? - How awesome is your profile at attracting clients? ...And that correlates into how high your profile will rank in search, when a client posts a new job and is shown a number of freelancers who "Could be a good fit for your project" #4. Even though there's no way to ALWAYS rank higher when Upwork clients search... there ARE ways to consistently show up higher. This one is crazy. I had to do a ton of research to learn about this. Over the course of years, I always noticed a few things that were weird... Whenever a client approved a milestone and or I closed a contract with a client, I would see more invites coming my way. Things that can help you rank higher on Upwork include: - Starting a new job - Having a milestone approved - Completing a job with a 5-star rating - Consistent project tags - Repeat hiring by a single client - High average client spend** If you're relatively new to Upwork, you're probably saying: "But these are only things that happen once you GET HIRED! They're not in my control!" Keep reading, because some things ARE in your control.