This is a general note to all freelancer and contract workers. I was recently using Upwork to try and find some new clients - mainly because I have money in there and you have to bring in over $100 in order to withdraw it to your bank.
A client, who had posted a proposal, was messaging with me yesterday and a bunch of things seemed odd.
A client, who had posted a proposal, was messaging with me yesterday and a bunch of things seemed odd.
- The proposal description was short and vague.
- The chat with the poster was without further detail but asked interviewing type questions without actually converting the proposal to interview.
- They asked me to provide my Skype account and that all communications further would be through Skype (against Upwork's TOS)
Today, I got a message from them, which finally included the name of the business. This business has a website that feels like its from 2003. The contract they sent was a PDF for less than my pitched rate. Then I got an email from Upwork saying that they deleted the job posting on their end because it violated their TOS.
I tried to let the person on Skype know this morning that I felt something was off about all of this, and they stopped talking to me.
I asked them to email me directly rather than use Skype and that I wanted to negotiate on the rate.
Since then - zilch. Not a word.
I can't stand that people are out there trying to take advantage of freelancers like myself. I know a lot of freelancers take any job they can get, so I hope this brief post alerts potential seekers like myself to watch for those red flags.
I know we can't all afford to be so discerning with clients we choose to work with, but I hope we can all get there.