Documentation
Applying to a job
How a freelancer or agency submits a proposal, responds to an invitation, edits an application, and confirms a hire.
Where applications start
Freelancer and agency accounts apply to jobs. Search jobs is the public board, and it appears after the profile is complete. Invitations from a client show on Jobs under Pending invites, even when the job is not public.
A public application costs 1 connect, spent when you submit. An invitation does not use a connect. The form says so before you send it. How a client opens a job is described on the Posting a job page.
What you send
Open the job and choose Apply for this job. If you were invited, the page says the application is free.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Terms | Required. An hourly rate when the job is hourly, or a fixed price when the job is fixed. |
| Cover letter | Optional. Introduce yourself and why you are a fit. You can leave it blank. |
| Links | Optional, up to 10. Each address must start with http:// or https://. |
| Attachments | Optional. Images, PDF, Word, Excel, text, or CSV, up to 25 MB each. |
- You cannot apply to your own job, or apply again while an application is still active.
- A job that is not on the public board accepts an application only from an invited account.
- If applications are closed, only an existing invitation can still be used.
- Some jobs are limited to freelancer accounts, and some to agency accounts.
After you submit
The proposal appears on Jobs under Pending. Open My proposal to read it. The client’s admins are notified. You can see whether they have viewed it.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Submitted | You applied from the public board. The client has not moved it into review yet. |
| In review | The client is considering the proposal, or you applied from an invitation. Review chat is available. |
| Offer — confirm to start | The client wants to hire you. Use Review offer to accept or decline. |
| Accepted - job started | You confirmed the hire and the job is in progress. |
| Rejected | The client passed on the proposal. It can no longer be edited. |
Edit application stays available while the job is still published and the proposal is Submitted or In review. Saving an edit notifies the client and clears the viewed mark. You cannot edit it after an offer is sent, after you are hired, or after the job leaves the published state.
From Pending invites you can open the job or decline. Declining notifies the client, and that account cannot be invited to the same job again.
Confirm or decline the hire
When the client chooses you, the proposal moves to Offer — confirm to start. Review offer shows the terms. Confirm hire accepts them and moves the job to in progress. If a contract is on the job, you acknowledge it first. That acknowledgement in Lancer is a record of the hire, not a legal signature. How the client sends the offer is covered in Reviewing applications, and the contract file is covered in Contracts.
Decline offer sends the proposal back to In review so the client can keep talking or choose someone else. A short note is optional.