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New talent badges are now available!

ilianamontauk
Community Member

Earlier this year, we shared some of our upcoming plans to highlight top talent on Upwork. We understood that you are looking for more ways to stand out and want better access to high-value opportunities with quality clients. As we continue to attract more businesses seeking flexible talent solutions, we have also heard their need to more quickly find talent they can trust for complex, strategic, and long-term work. To further our continued efforts towards this vision, we're excited to announce two new talent badges: Top Rated Plus and Expert-Vetted.



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TOP RATED PLUS

 

What is Top Rated Plus?

 

Top Rated Plus is a new status for talent that has a proven track record of excelling on large or long-term contracts on Upwork. On average their contracts last 7 months. These professionals and agencies are highlighted because they have delighted clients on large contracts. Businesses frequently seek talent for large projects or longer-term relationships, and trust talent with this proven experience on Upwork. Right now Top Rated Plus talent has earned more than $100K on average through Upwork, four times as much as Top Rated talent.  



What are the benefits?

  • Priority access to work with Upwork Enterprise and Business clients: they will be able to find you more easily in search, and our Talent Services teams will prioritize inviting you to their invite-only jobs. 
  • A Top Rated Plus badge displayed on your profile visible to clients on Upwork’s Enterprise, Business, and Plus plans (to all other clients you will continue to appear as Top Rated)

 

What are the requirements to become a Top Rated Plus freelancer?

  • Earned $10,000+ in total earnings (all contracts included) the past 12 months
  • Worked on one of more large projects in the past 12 months without negative feedback. What is considered a large project can vary depending on the skill category:
    • $5,000: Design & Creative, Engineering & Architecture, Legal, Translation, Writing
    • $10,000: Accounting & Consulting, Admin, Data Science & Analytics, IT & Networking, Sales & Marketing
    • $15,000: Web, Mobile & Software Dev
    • $20,000: Customer Support
  • Are not an exclusive agency contractor
  • Maintained Top Rated status

 

What are the requirements to be Top Rated Plus as an agency?

  • Earned $20,000+ in total earnings (all contracts included)
  • Worked on one or more large projects in the past 12 months and no more than 10 percent of the contracts had negative outcomes. What is considered a large project can vary depending on the skill category:
    • $10,000: Design & Creative, Engineering & Architecture, Legal, Translation, Writing
    • $20,000: Accounting & Consulting, Admin, Customer Service, Data Science & Analytics, IT & Networking, Sales & Marketing
    • $30,000: Web, Mobile & Software Dev
  • Maintained Top Rated status

Timing

  • The Top Rated Plus badge was released today to some clients. If you qualify for this badge, clients on Upwork’s Enterprise and Business plans will now see it on your profile, as will some clients on Upwork’s Plus plan. You will start seeing the badge on your own profile and MyStats later this summer - we’ll notify you by email once you can see it there.

 

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EXPERT-VETTED 

 

What is Expert-Vetted Talent?

 

Expert-Vetted Talent is a new status for talent that has deep experience in their field, on or off Upwork. Upwork invites this talent to participate in a rigorous pre-screening process. We chose to highlight these professionals because businesses frequently seek talent with a strong combination of expertise and soft skills, and they trust talent that has been pre-screened by professionals in the relevant field. This talent will get prioritized for clients on Upwork’s Enterprise and Business plans, whose average project value is over $8,000. 

 

What are the benefits?

 

  • An Expert-Vetted badge on your profile to help you more easily stand out and find quality work with top clients on Upwork’s Enterprise and Business plans. All other clients will see your Rising Talent, Top Rated, or Top Rated Plus badge if you have one.
  • Priority access to work with clients on Upwork’s Enterprise and Business plans
  • A personal relationship with an Upwork Talent Manager who helps match you to opportunities aligned with your goals

 

Our team is hard at work to further enhance the Expert-Vetted experience, so expect more exciting updates on the horizon including opportunities to engage with this exclusive community of professionals like you and other ways to more easily access high-value work.

 

What are the requirements to become an Expert-Vetted freelancer or agency?

This opportunity is available by invitation only. Keep your eyes peeled for an invitation in your email inbox or when you log into Upwork. Once we are able to offer this opportunity to more people, we will provide an update here.

 

If you are invited to participate, you will need to pass a rigorous pre-screening process which may include a portfolio review, coding tests, interviews, or other steps relevant to your area of expertise. Agencies participate in a similar process to assess the agency’s expertise.

 

Our initial focus is Design & Creative; Web, Mobile, and Software Development; and Sales & Marketing.   



How is this different from previous programs, like Upwork Premium?

Expert-Vetted replaces previous programs for expert-level talent. We’ve done extensive research with businesses seeking expert-level talent on Upwork for large projects and created new criteria in line with current client expectations. If you’ve previously taken an assessment for Upwork Premium or Upwork Pro, thank you! We have your results on file and will take them into consideration as we grow the program and extend additional invitations. Your results also continue to be available to our Talent Services teams which take them into consideration when sending invitations to jobs.

 

Timing

  • The Expert-Vetted badge was released today to some clients. If you qualify for this badge, clients on Upwork’s Enterprise and Business plans will now see it. You will start seeing the badge on your own profile and MyStats later this summer - we’ll notify you by email once you can see it there



RISING TALENT & TOP RATED

 

Freelancers who are currently Rising Talent or Top Rated will continue to keep those badges and benefits. Expert-Vetted and Top Rated Plus are not replacing Rising Talent or Top Rated.

 

When you earn Expert-Vetted or Top Rated Plus status, your new badge is only visible to Upwork's Enterprise and Business clients—as well as select Plus clients for Top Rated Plus.* All other clients will see your Rising Talent or Top Rated badge if you have one.

 

See the chart below to learn which badge clients see when they look at your profile, depending on the client type.

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We care deeply about helping you succeed on Upwork. There is plenty more to come! We will continue to invest in our talent badges and other solutions. We'd love to hear your thoughts on how these new statuses impact your work and other ways we can help you achieve your goals.

 

Thanks!

 

Iliana Montauk

Product Manager

 

*Beta test update July 2021: We are always working to improve features on our platform, from time to time some users may see options while we test changes for this reason. Over the next few weeks we'll be testing a way for badges be visible to all clients when searching Project Catalog. If there are any changes that will permanently take effect we will update you here!


559 Comments
g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member

That's correct, Jennifer. Later this summer freelancers who qualify will be able to see their Top Rated Plus badge on their profile and My Stats page. At the moment, these badges can be seen by clients on Enterprise and Business plans and some clients on Upwork’s Plus plan.

florydev
Community Member

You got an email saying you are not TR+...that's cold.

aditipie
Community Member

For Top rated freelancers support via chat was a perk. Has that been taken away now? I am a freelancer with a Top rated badge but can no longer connect with Upwork via chat. 

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Diogo,

 

I can confirm that an email notifying you that you do qualify for Top Rated Plus status had been sent to you. Top Rated Plus badge shows on your profile when clients on Enterprise, Business membership and some clients on Upwork Plus Membership view it. Your Top Rated status is still showing on your profile when other clients view it. I'm going to check to see if there is any issue with Top Rated badge being shown when you view your own profile. 

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi Aditi,

 

I just checked and as a Top Rated freelancer you should have access to all support options via the Get Help button at the bottom left here (here is a Screenshot.) It'll ask you to type in your question, then offer possible solutions. If those solutions don't fully address your question, you can scroll down past them, click "Contact Support" and select your question's category. Once you click "Continue," you should see your support options. 

petra_r
Community Member

Aditi J wrote:

No email for me yet. With JSS at 100%, I am still not Top Rated plus :)? 


You don't meet the requirement of one or more successful contracts of $ 5000 or more.

coachcohen
Community Member

I recently came across a new top rated plus badge for freelancers with high-value, long-term projects depending on their area of expertise. As a content editor, I rarely reach projects that are greater than $5K although my 12-month earnings is significantly higher than the $10K minimum. 

 

Is Upwork also considering a separate badge for high earners?

 

jacnis
Community Member

Hello

 

Could one of you lovely Mods please advise if I have been given the TR+ status?

 

I ask because I've been Top Rated for some time now, but today I received an onscreen message "Congratulations you're Top Rated", which seems a little odd as I already am?

 

Thank you!

jmlaidlaw
Community Member

Janean,

 

I'd like to circle back and confirm that the email notification has been sent to the email address we have on file for your account. I checked and double-checked that. Could it be that you set up your email to filter some emails from Upwork? Could you please check under spam or "promotion" areas of your email?

 

Valeria -- I greatly appreciate your effort. I have checked my email. While I have many emails from Upwork, including (but not limited to) notifications regarding Job Invitations, Messages, Payment Confirmations, and New Jobs Posted by Indeed Clients, I have found NO notification of Top-Rated-Plus status in my inbox, my spam folder, or (less likely, because this would have required an active deletion by me) my trash folder. A search of the term "Upwork" in my email has produced no such notification.

 

Thank you for checking. I remain mystified.

 

-- Janean

 

 

gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Phyllis G wrote:

Thanks, Valeria. I'm trying to figure out whether a particular contract that just closed will qualify me for TR+. Is there a way to view the original job post now?  The title of the job was "Researchers and Writers Needed...". If it was categorized as research, that comes under Sales & Mktg where the threshold is $10k and this job won't put me over. But if it was categorized as Writing where the threshold is $5k then this project was large enough. As you can imagine, I'm very interested to know whether or not I'm eligible for this new badge.


I cannot edit my own post! If I could, I would add: Never mind, I figured out how to access the original job post. Now I am waiting for whatever needs to happen so the closed job with fb that shows up in my contracts list also displays in my profile. Assuming once that occurs, then it will be factored into my TR+ eligibility.