I'VE BEEN FEATURED ON THIS PLATFORM A BUNCH ITS GENERATED ZERO WORK AND ZERO LEADS. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE ?

QUESTION

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  • Well, it takes a little bit of work but I've made plenty of contacts and found four or five jobs in the process. I live in Toronto and I met and worked with Adam Young who has also commented on your post. If you always post in upper case that may be the problem!
  • So, a) yes, I've had people reach out to me having seen my featured profile. I've not taken any of those jobs on account of the clients and the work offered, but it has led to communications. Not many, but it has happened.

    But b) this is, fundamentally, a community of creatives. Yes, clients are knocking around, but I've been here for a long time and it's never been a grifitng platform as far as I've experienced. It's about resources, bringing creatives together, and providing a comprehensive job board for those creatives. For which being featured has been great, it's led to a lot of connections.

    If you're here looking for leads, you're going to be disappointed because that's just not what this platform is really about. But if you want to connect with other creatives, share ideas, and dunk on shitty clients who try and make inexperienced folks work for free, you're in the right place. Being featured does nothing for the former, but plenty for the latter.
  • I've been featured a number of times; however, it doesn't really mean anything and it doesn't generate any leads at all. At the same time, I think The Dots is an amazing platform (from a point of view of a graphic designer, not sure how it is for anyone else) for networking, discovering interesting events, and finding opportunities. Currently, about 80% of my work is for the people and companies that I've connected with through this platform.
  • In all honesty - I've come to see The Dots as an escape from the endless grift out there, I must be on 10 different platforms and Social Media sites with a view to picking up remote freelance projects - I've had a couple of conversations with people here directly about work and have been shortlisted a few times, and on each occasion the communication has been friendly, professional and honest - NOT what I'm getting elsewhere. It's become a bit of an occasional refuge where I'm actually happy to spend time givig advice to graduates or other creatives looking for resources. I think there are ways The Dots can develop and make the process of finding work here easier and less frustrating than other sites. I should write them down.
  • I have never been featured but I used to get some work by simply reaching out people and been active on the site. But lately I just see collabs on my feeding. Perhaps thedots is good to reach out to other creatives but not so much for generting leads/ potential clients.
  • I think you have to put in the work of networking and how you present yourself. I've had quite a few leads from here and have really good connections.
  • I've had conversations around potential work from making connections on the platform. Certainly possible without being featured anyway.
  • Touch on the “not getting work” The Dots doesn’t have a high enough % to get you jobs/works as in my opinion as it’s regarded as a student or new to industry for advice or rare call outs for help on small projects.

    Most jobs are listed on recognised platforms such as If You Could due to their backing from It’s Nice That as studios agencies feel they’ll get a better candidate from applicants from there vs putting a job spec on The Dots.

    The Dots are trying to become leaders in the creative sector for hiring and opportunities maybe be something worked in BETA ;)
  • So the feature works, when your profile gets a feature the The Dots algorithm will randomly select users based on their usage to refeature them to get them more exposure.

    The feature is given to certain profiles based on the merit of their portfolio, engagement by connecting and posting replies more you do it and get “heart” reactions increases your profile to be featured and refeatured.
  • Not really but I'm not expecting it to either, since I'm not paying for anything and it's no real skin off my teeth.

    But, I have made some lovely contacts on here - a few I now frequently work with, so I just see this as another form of 'LinkedIn' in a way, as opposed to something that's meant to generate leads and be head-hunted.
  • I too have been featured several times, the last one just this morning. It didn't bring me any jobs after the featuring, but I got several through the 'Ask' section.

    In an old The Dots webinar, I asked for information on what advantages being featured actually brings and I was told that basically some profiles are included in a sort of communication (a newsletter if I am not wrong) addressed to companies or well-established workers, but maybe these potential employers don't pay much attention to this type of message, so I think it's ultimately a way to gratify users and encourage them to update the portfolio or making the profile more complete.

    @Pip Jamieson or @Brendan McKnight will be more specific than me on this for sure.




  • Same! I’ve been featured lots of times and it’s never resulted in any new work, contacts or leads.

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