This isn’t the first time this topic has come up here at Freelance Writing Jobs. Don’t you hate it when you apply for a gig your really want (or just a gig) and don’t even receive an automated response? Does it mean they never received your cover letter or that they have no interest in you at all?
I’m afraid I don’t have the answers, but I can speculate a bit. From working in publishing, I remember receiving hundreds of responses to queries and calls for freelancers. My boss used to give me all the “rejects” (for lack of a better word) to respond to at my convenience. There was never a convenient time. Though I was always very busy, I did take the time to respond to everyone. I can understand however, how someone can become overwhelmed with responses and not have a chance to reply to all. When you consider in those days the responses were only local, I can imagine how it is during the Internet age when webmasters and editors receive responses from all over the world.
That’s not to say it’s OK not to respond. Indeed there’s nothing more frustrating than applying for a dream gig only to receive silence in return. Or even worse, receiving a request for more information, sending in said information, and never hearing back. I do send a follow up in these cases, however.
When I applied for the food blog gig, I really wanted the job. The editor wrote back asking for more information which I happily sent on. Then nothing. After more than a month I assumed I didn’t get the gig. Imagine my surprise when she wrote back to me a couple of months later offering me a job. I’ve also received responses six month to a year after applying for a gig. Sometimes people have the best of intentions, but realize they’re not quite ready to hire a writer yet.
In a perfect world, we would always receive a polite acknowledgement every time we submit our details. It doesn’t take too much trouble to set up an automated letting us know our resumes were received, they’ll be looked over and only the winner will be contacted, but this rarely ever happens. I know what it’s like to be busy and overwhelmed with emails. I have a gmail folder filled with hundreds of emails waiting for responses. But I will answer them all.
Don’t let the lack of response keep you from applying for more gigs though. Even if you’re sure you’re going to land the job, continue to look for other work – it never hurts to have backup.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I was just wondering about something related to this.
I’m guessing that when editors receive e-mailed queries about articles, they read them fairly quickly (within a few days at least). So, if you are going to get the assignment, it seems to me that you would get a reponse quickly. No response in a few days = you didn’t get it. Maybe I’m wrong on this, but it seems that if an editor is interested they’d let you know quickly. Has anyone found this to be true?
Of course, submissions are different and would naturally take longer. I’m just talking about queries here.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I’ve actually formed the same conclusion back when I started. If I don’t get a reply in two weeks, that means I didn’t get the job. I believe that’s usually the case.
However, I have had clients reply to me a few months after I’ve sent in my email. Perhaps they already did get someone for that particular gig and they put me in file if they needed more writers in the future. Perhaps, as Deb said, they’re looking for writers, but not really ready to do the hiring yet.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
This has definitely been on my mind lately, as I feel like I’ve sent out a bunch of emails lately inquiring about gigs and rarely will get a response back. Equally frustrating is that fact that twice I’ve inquired about gigs involving some of my topics of expertise! Argh… what does it take?
I’m not letting it get me down though and am still applying. It’s just frustrating, definitely.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I have a standard letter that I send to gig numbers. I will not give any information or samples if they are not supplying a non-disposable email address. It goes like this:
Hi:
I am interested in this job. Please send me an email address I can respond to.
Thank you,
Mark Knowles
That way, when I get a response, I can apply for the job properly. I have cut down my wasted applications considerably because I only put the effort in after I have already established a relationship and I don’t feel too upset if there is no response.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Kelly>> I feel you. I’ve been going through the same thing. I always seem to get the gigs which topics I’m only slightly knowledgeable on. But I can’t seem to get the ones within my area of expertise.
Mark>> does that work? I’ve tried doing that before but the response rate was zero.
September 6th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Mariella,
I am getting about three in ten replies and have picked up several jobs this way. I just got sooooo frustrated sending samples and applying in detail and then not getting a reply. This is working well for me, but I apply to just about every gig paying more than $10 an article and have learned to broaden my writing subjects considerably.
Mark
September 6th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I’ve run into this in the freelance world as well as the corporate one. It’s generally a safe bet to assume a lack of interest after two weeks…but not always. I once got a job 11 months after I applied for it. I’ve also found that sometimes yours just gets lost in the shuffle; I’ve received gigs where I had to apply a couple of times. I was just as qualified every time, but I guess mine just had to churn to the top.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Response time drives me crazy too. I’ve actually been given an assignment by an editor only to have them not return my email after that. But I find that response time is just another part of the freelance life. And I wouldn’t trade this life for anything.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I find I get a response quickly when they want me too. But with the internet life it leaves the opening for a job to come in any day. I like that aspect.
Not getting a response when I am owed money is an entirely different thing.
I just keep plugging away each day and hoping something new will turn up.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
I’ve had the same luck, Eun Jung. I landed an editing gig a few months back, spent several weeks speaking with the client, and then he just never responded to my last email or the follow up.
September 6th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
I know it will take a couple monthes for steady income but it’s well worth the stress now. My family thinks I’m nuts but proud of what I’m doing at the same time.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
A.B.>> I’ve also experienced that twice. I’ve worked so hard in forming a plan for the clients only to have them disappear on me completely. One of them, as I found out, found a writer who charges less than I do. The other, I have no idea.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Mark:
Good advice, if it works. I point people to my website, which seems to have about a 1/4 rate of getting them to it AND getting a response of any kind. That doesn’t seem good, but it may be all anyone can expect.
I’ve also had a LOT of clients that meet with me and sound really interested, but don’t get back to me for a long, long time. Often they are people who don’t understand the process and/or what they can get, and need to check back with a boss or a Board before they make the decision. Thus it drags on. The problem with getting gigs on the internet is that you haven’t even had that initial meeting, so it’s all so impersonal.
The more I read about living off of internet gigs the more I realize how much I like making a living face to face. I’ve had good luck with internet-based gigs, but … not enough to live off of. They just fill time.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
This particular fellow had an idea, but he’d never written a book before. He wanted someone who knew how it was done to walk him through it and edit each chapter as he finished. I accepted because he was offering decent money, and I needed some editing credits.
I talked him through the pre-writing process and explained how getting the thing published worked. I believe he may have realized just how much goes into creating a book from scratch and got overwhelmed.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
AB>> That’s too bad. I think sometimes people take writing too lightly. You don’t just sit down and write the masterpiece of your life in one go. People need to realize that. And writing a book! My gosh…I don’t think I’d want to go through that again in a long long long time.
But I guess that’s just how it goes and you have to move on and find new gigs to replace the ones which fell through.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Thanks for the post. I have been feeling pissy all day because I applied for about nine jobs that I am PERFECT for!!! And only one response so far, that didn’t end in getting the job! Eek. Oh well, thanks for the encouragement - as usual.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Great post. One of the most important–and hardest–lessons I’ve learned as a freelance writer is when to let go. Sometimes a follow-up is warrented (as you pointed out), but the trick is to determine when and how.
What cheeses me off is when someone contacts ME for a potential job and agrees to my rates–then seemingly vanishes off the face of the earth.
For example, b5 contacted me a week ago about an interview for a blogging positon … but God only knows when they want that to happen, because I haven’t heard anything since. All I can do is carry on, look for more jobs and hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised down the road. It happens.
September 6th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Nadia — I had a similar experience with b5. I applied too late for one opportunity, but they said they were interested in having me write for them — could I pitch a blog idea? I replied with an idea and *poof*! Nothing — yes, no, maybe… not a peep. A little frustrating when I thought they were opening up a communication line and trying to find a place for me. Sigh. That’s part of the freelance game, I suppose. Doesn’t make it any less frustrating!
September 6th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Usually when they don’t respond, it’s a pretty good indication it’s not a place you want to do work with.
I’ve had clients that I’ve quit working with because they didn’t respond (confirm they received work, acknowledged invoices, or respond to queries about late payments). Life’s too short for that.
I e-mailed a pitch to one offering that I know I’m perfect for — I did similar work for a competitor until it hired an in-house person — just a couple of weeks ago. They didn’t respond. Yet I have so much work right now (after some slow months) I don’t know how I’d squeeze them in if they did respond.
Others don’t respond because they don’t have time to acknowledge hundreds of inquiries. That’s not being rude, it’s that the person in charge of responding is likely busy doing a lot of other thngs that must be done immediately. Heck, I’m surprised when I get a response.
And, I have to admit, I simply don’t have time to respond to every e-mail I get. Yes, a response is proper etiquette. But when you get hundreds of e-mails a day (I get 30-40, about half of that spam), and need to prospect, do billable work and do everything else involved in running a business, one can’t always send a response.
September 7th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic, but I simply assume that I will not receive a response. When I do receive a response, then I am pleasantly surprised.
September 7th, 2007 at 1:46 am
This article is bringing back bad memories. Before I started freelancing in the corporate world, I had to do the applying-for-a-job thing and it always made me feel terrible.
I’d write letters carefully, type up a resume, and send it off into the void. I’d almost never get a reply. That’s not good for the ego.
My work as a direct mail freelancer, though, has taught me a few things. And if I knew then what I know now, I’d never apply for jobs one at a time. I’d get a mailing list, print up a thousand letters and resumes, and mail them all.
It’s a numbers game. There’s just too many applicants for too few jobs. The more you mail, the greater your odds of hitting a business with an opening or opportunity that’s right for you. You could do the same for freelance work too.
September 7th, 2007 at 2:13 am
I am beginning to think that some of these jobs don’t exist. Why? Because I am a trained and experienced professional in three fields and bilingual. I also have a large “portfolio” of published work.
I apply for gigs in one of my specialties that needs to be written in my two languages. How many exactly like me can there be? Not many. Maybe not a single other person exactly or equally qualified. If I don’t even get a return email, then I suspect no one got the job.
September 7th, 2007 at 7:46 am
I feel your pain, people. I’ve most recently had the trouble of getting a response - including asking if a certain rate is acceptable to me - and accepted, and then not hearing anything after that. Ugh! One was even for a website where I *thought* I had gotten the job, but when I went to the site, I saw that someone else is doing the job. I don’t know if they hired multiple people or if the other person might have offered to work for less, but it’s frustrating to say the least, and leaves me at a complete loss as for what is proper protocol in this situation. Do I follow up again and ask if I still have the job?
September 7th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Hi Deb,
perhaps you could let me know how to unsubscribe from receiving emails when a new comment is posted on thos subject. I get a little message at the bottom, but no box to uncheck. Is it me?
Mark
September 7th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Dean> I do the very same thing. I send out query letters by bulk. It works, it definitely does, because there are times when more then a dozen clients reply at one time and I have no choice but to tell some of them that I’m not available anymore. There are some who’re willing to stand in my waiting line, but most just move on. And then there are times when the response rate is zero and I’m reduced to watching late night TV eating popcorn, moping.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:43 am
It’s just a part of doing business that there are plenty of time-wasters, tire-kickers, and generally unmotivated “buyers”.
Personally, I have never thought it was rude or unprofessional to follow up on a job application, provided you’re not stalking your prospective client.
But I do agree with what Julia in Umbria wrote when she hypothesized that, maybe, a lot of these jobs just don’t exist. It ends up being very demoralizing to continue to send cover letters and samples for project after project without any feedback OF ANY KIND! So you wonder, “Was it my introduction? Did they not like my work? Did my email get filtered into their junk folder? Should I change my approach?”
Freelancing is a treadmill of pain. As writers we just hope that someone will come along and give us work so all the running can amount to something.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:48 am
Do you follow up on your initial email? Or do you just hit send and wait for the editor to do the rest?
If it is a job you really want, send a follow up email (giving a decent waiting period, of course — I usually give a couple of weeks). State that you are following up on the initial email and include the initial email in the follow up.
I found the response rate increases dramatically on follow ups. I think most editors appreciate the initiative of a writer who will take an extra step. But I also know I’ve gotten responses from editors who have said they never received the first email (spam filters are weird — I learned to constantly check my bulk folder). Or editors may have planned to write you back but got busy. Or they were reviewing the emails from everyone before responding.
I also learned to never give up. It’s not unusual to get an email out of the blue from an editor you contacted months ago.
But I do have to admit, it is frustrating when the editor contacts you and engages you in a dialogue and then never answersot even the follow ups. That’s the one I don’t understand.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:27 am
I have found that some of the best and most reliable internet jobs are the blogging sites. I have one client that pays me every Monday like clockwork through my PayPal account, and I just signed up with another blogging site that will do the same.
They don’t tend to pay as well as a print publication or an ezine, but if I can get about four more clients such as the ones I already have, I won’t be stressed out every time I receive no response at all to the writing gigs I apply for every single day.
Sometimes it’s more beneficial to a writer to get steady small income over a large one-time payout. It helps mentally as well. The pay scale for most blog sites is $50 per post, and most posts are only about 400-500 words, so you don’t have to kill yourself trying to come up with wordy and witty articles on a daily basis.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:56 am
I am so glad to see that I am not alone
I have applied for so many gigs over the last few months that I know I am a great fit for only to get nothing, zip, zilch in return. I have just recently revamped my writing resume so I am hoping that will help. I also tried to jazz up my responses to make them a bit more unique, so I stand out from the crowd.
I am still looking for a steady gig (fingers crossed) and not giving up is the best answer
September 7th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Rob — where are you finding blog sites that pay $50 per post? I haven’t seen any that are that generous
September 7th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Wendy> me too. I hope Rob shares his secret with us
September 7th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Me too! I’m getting ready to send out some query letters to magazines by mail. It’s foreign to me actually! Anyone have any hints of what they have done? Appreciated.
September 7th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Mark Knowles: There’s a checkbox beneath Submit Comment that says “Check this box…etc.” Uncheck it when you submit a comment, and you won’t get those emails anymore.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
To Micah,
I wouldn’t use mail, I’d use e-mail then follow up with a phone call. E-mail might get lost in the shuffle, but snail mail certainly will.
Also make sure you know the pub’s policy. Some use no outside help (even if they did at one time).
September 7th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Hey Phil,
No one particular query has to be snail mailed that I am interested in.
I’ll take your advice and e-mail most of them. Honestly I’m shocked when job searching when I can’t fax or e-mail for regular jobs so to speak. Thanks.
September 7th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
Bryan M said:
“Freelancing is a treadmill of pain. As writers we just hope that someone will come along and give us work so all the running can amount to something.”
Yikes! A treadmill of pain? I think that’s a little harsh, otherwise no one would ever want the job.
Honestly, I don’t take it too personally when I don’t get a response. A few others have mentioned these things, but I tend to send out queries in bulk and NOT expected a reply. I also follow up if it’s something I really wanted, but I don’t worry about it if it wasn’t. I always have plenty of work, so I don’t worry about it overly much.