New talent badges are now available!

ilianamontauk · ‎07-06-2020

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!

daudiering · ‎07-09-2020

its nice and interresting.

how can i gain it please?

a_dergachev · ‎07-09-2020

Another level of segregation for freelancers, great! The easy entrance for newbees is closed forever now?

vstuart · ‎07-09-2020

Steven E. L wrote:
Iliana M wrote:
As my colleague explained (and the email you received should have explained too - though it sounds like it wasn't clear enough!), the current launch of the Top Rated Plus badge is a "soft launch."
In addition to the untold number of email notifications, of which I received said email, there are 117 replies to this message. This is the first-ever mention of the phrase "soft launch."

Define "soft launch": the release of a new product or service to a restricted audience or market in advance of a full launch.

Based upon the multitude of Dev and Moderator responses, this is a "full launch." Under what circumstances does it do any good to hide the trinket badge from the people it applies to?

If it's not ready, simply wait. Do it right the first time.

See also ¹ and ².

THIS!!!! (However, I believe it's more like...let's get their mind off the ongoing destruction...how can we do that? Just sayin...)

vstuart · ‎07-09-2020

I have to say that many (if not most) of us got this invisible badge without an Enterprise or Business client. Do you think that maybe it might make sense to REMOVE the constraints and allow us to continue to do so, in our own way, the way we always have (loyally!)? It just makes absolute sense to me...I'm clearly not understanding where Upwork is not understanding that.

felipedeval · ‎07-09-2020

That sounds nice, I’m a top rated profile but since the corona virus the budgets of clients has become stupid, something like 3 months of work for $150 USD -20% of the UpWork’s fee -the membership - the money to withdraw the earnings.

The last in the best situations because the most concerning thing is that clients are using UpWork to contact the freelancers and propose business outside of UpWork, that is happening because the platform doesn’t has a minimum price, everybody can post!! The freelancers loose tokens and the platform money.

With that low prices I think is almost impossible earn $10.000 USD, and congrats for the new badges, but, what's UpWork going to do to protect the work of the freelancers and to keep the business?

UpWork is one of my main sources of income and I’m very grateful with the platform, I understand that I have to contribute to keep the business and that’s why I always do all my business here, but please don’t be blind, work on some filters strategy or something to find the right clients 🙏🏾

kavitagabani · ‎07-09-2020

Hello Vladimir,

Can you please check if I am eligible for the top rated plus badge? as I have many long term clients.

Regards,

VladimirG · ‎07-09-2020

Hi Ricardo,

Thanks for your question. Top Rated Plus is a new variation of Top Rated status. It’s especially for freelancers who not only have a history of delivering great work to their clients on Upwork, but have also taken on and successfully completed larger projects. To earn the badge, a freelancer must meet the following criteria:

Earned more than $10,000 in the past 12 months

Worked on one of more large* projects in the past 12 months with positive feedback

Not be an exclusive agency contractor

Maintained Top Rated status

*What is considered a large project can vary depending on skill category. For example, in certain categories a large job might be one with earnings of $5,000 but in others it might be a $20,000 or $30,000 contract.

VladimirG · ‎07-09-2020

HI Kavita,

I see you're working primarily from your Agency profile. Please note that in order to become Top Rated, an agency needs to meet the following criteria:

Earned more than $20,000 in the past 12 months

Worked on one of more large* projects in the past 12 months and at least 90 percent of the contracts had successful outcomes (based on feedback)
Maintained Top Rated status

*What is considered a large project can vary depending on skill category. For example, in certain categories a large job might be one with agency earnings of $10,000 but in others it might be a $20,000 or $30,000 contract.

Based on the information I'm looking at, your Agency needs to meet at least one more of these requirements in order to receive the Top Rated Plus badge.

jpbl1976 · ‎07-10-2020

Thanks, Iliana!

iaabraham · ‎07-10-2020

Iliana M wrote:
Hi Christine,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful questions!
As my colleague explained, the large project threshold is for one contract. We are considering future improvements to better highlight relationships that last a long time but are composed of multiple small contracts. The soonest those are likely to be on our roadmap would be 2021.
We prioritized highlighting talent that is successful on large contracts because we've learned from clients and talent that was one of the biggest gaps in helping to make excellent matches.

We welcome your feedback on these ideas and any ideas you'd like to share!
Best,
Iliana

But surely multiple successful contracts with 1 client is exactly the same as 1 successful contract with 1 client? Why can't the new badge be applied to both scenarios? The client may just want to divide individual tasks according to contracts to clearly define the projects (as is the case with one of my clients). It's a pity that a weird nuance like that would exclude Christine from this badge when really it makes no quality-related difference to her work history??

I have a selfish reason for questioning this, as if I lose one of my long-term clients (hopefully not!), I would like the fact that I have multiple contracts with 1 client that collectively meet the amount threshold to qualify me for the badge.