Boosted Proposals Negatively Impacting My Ability to Filter and Vet Freelancers

[#1]

As a client this feature is not helping me find the most qualified freelancers. It is really just negatively impacting my ability to adjust the filtering to show me the most recent applicants or to sort by other categories. When I try to filter by newest so I can see and respond to the most recent ones, it keeps the boosted proposals on top, even though I've already both shortlisted those two and responded, and so I have to scroll down even further to see new proposals. I don't care who has boosted their post. I am looking for the best fit, not who paid to annoy me in my filtering ability. 

I understand why freelancers would think this would be useful, but whether or not the proposal is boosted is not going to impact my vetting and selection of a consultant. I look at each of the proposals and vet them based on specific criteria. And where they show up in the list is not part of that criteria. I think most discerning clients would agree. When you force these boosted proposals on top, it means I have to scroll more and makes it harder for me to organize who I've looked at and who I haven't.

Please remove this feature and just let me select freelancers based on how I want to select them. Also, the best match is ridiculous still. I posted for a health coach, and I didn't select any skills related to business coaching, but none of the health coaches are best matches, and all of the business coaches are best matches. 

[#2]

Hi Amanda,

Thank you for reaching out and bringing this matter to our attention. Freelancers who were able to be the first in line for projects they're excited about are more likely to land on the work they want. With boosted proposals, they can bid additional Connects on their proposal, entering it into an auction for three boosted slots at the top of the client’s list. It's still up to you by the end of the day whom you wish to hire, which we believe all clients like yourself are looking for the best fit. Your feedback really means a lot to us and we'll pass this over to the appropriate team for review and action if necessary. Thank you.

[#3]

Arjay, you just gave me a lot of spiel about boosted proposals. I know what they are; I did not ask for an explanation of what they are. You have not acknowledged the problem I have clearly stated that forcing them to populate the top spots no matter how I choose to sort or filter my results causes me. I don't give two cents about freelancers being first in line or if they land the work THEY want. I care about finding freelancers who I WANT to hire. Anyone can boost their post. That doesn't mean they are a good fit. And you basically have sold away my ability to sort results by doing this, making it ineffective for me and costing me more time as I try to hire. Aside from the fact that being first in line and boosting a proposal are not the same things at all. 

I need a better response that shows you or someone on the product team actually understands the problem. Are you trying to drive clients from the platform? It's my understanding that clients bring more money to the platform than freelancers. I'm less likely to hire someone who has boosted their post specifically because of the annoyance it causes me in trying to sort and go through all the responses I have received. 

Why won't you and the product developers listen to what we tell you? 

ETA:  **Edited for Community Guidelines** I will simply have to start writing in my job posts that any boosted proposals will automatically be declined. They can spend their connects at their own peril. 

[#4]

Amanda,

Boosted proposals will be pinned to the top of the clients Proposal Manager regardless of the sorting settings or which tab they are in since freelancers use Connects to bid for a chance to have their proposal boosted. We will enforce all of our standard rules for all other proposals and they will be located below, ranked and sorted just like they are today. I'm not aware of any plans to make changes to the way it currently works. That said, as Arjay mentioned, we're sharing feedback we receive from various channels and sources with the product team and have already shared this thread with them. 

[#5]

This may be the 16.234.567th time I read these lines. It all starts to sound like a lot of blah, blah, blah.

[#6]

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Marc C wrote:

This may be the 16.234.567th time I read these lines. It all starts to sound like a lot of blah, blah, blah.

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It would be nice if the Upwork representatives could acknowledge that I've told them the feature is causing problems in my hiring. "I am sorry this product is causing problems in your hiring process." But no, there is barely any acknowledgement that I've reported a problem, just that they shared the "feedback" with the product team. As far as I know that may only mean they sent the link to someone in an email that will never be read. There's no acknowledgement that someone has reported a problem with a feature and that it was a problem. I mean, I didn't ask about plans to change it, and I don't care if there are plans or no plans. I'm reporting a problem with a feature.  Seems like I will just need to open tickets every time one of these things happens and trying and escalate up the chain since the response here is so unsatisfactory. That or I may simply choose not to hire through Upwork anymore. 

We know they don't care much about our feedback anyhow, since we gave so much feedback prior to this feature being implemented, and they did it anyway. 

[#7]

I'm a freelancer, and as I'm reading through the forums I see that freelancers seem to dislike the boosted proposals too. Many freelancers think that they must continually spend money on these bids. I don't bid to boost my proposals. I can't understand why a client would see me paying money to be at the top of the list as a benefit to them.

UpWork may have a narrow view on this topic because of how many struggling freelancers are willing to pay in an attempt to gain an advantage. I think you're right though that UpWork is overlooking the fact that ultimately they will lose money if they drive people from the platform.

[#8]

Normally, every new freelancer(such as myself) would see this boosting proposal feature to be very important, but in a long run you will notice  that  ,you have  actually lost about 50% of what you  earned so far.That is 20% for upwork fee, and the other 30% for buying connects to boost proposals and keeping  availability status on.Especially when you dont get Jobs with high  pay after boosting.

The Connects on upwork are somehow too expensive , 10 connects for  $1.5 and no one conplains about it

[#9]

You're right. The thing is that we're complaining and pointing out the faults of this change. As Amanda pointed out, she wrote to Upwork to state her opinion as a client, but no one seems to be listening what's she's trying to tell them.

It turns out we're having this conversation here, without it actually leading to some results and help for freelancers who are the core of this platform. Something has changed and we're definitely struggling to get a job. 

Our proposals can't even get read by clients if we don't have the money to outbid everyone possible. Ugh, I was very supportive of Upwork and praised it everywhere I could because it supported the freelancer lifestyle.

Now, it's more evident than ever that profit has become a top priority and freelancer support has dropped down in the scale of priorities. 

Fees everywhere and results nowhere. It turns out we have no quality. I have been providing consistent results as a freelancer and got amazing job offers and applied to jobs and got hired, while now I'm struggling to be noticed.

[#10]

One simple fact I have established reading this convos thread as a freelancer is that Upwork do not care about clients or freelancers interests but about their own interest.

Thanks

[#11]

Of course they do. Upwork never said it was a charity...

[#12]

No one said it was a charity. But it is a service. And if they don't care about their Freelancers or what their clients think, the services provided will worsen over time.

And that causes a loss of revenue.

P.S. Not being a charity is never an excuse for being abrasive and disregard feedback.

[#13]

"We know they don't care much about our feedback anyhow, since we gave so much feedback prior to this feature being implemented, and they did it anyway."

Upwork claims to respect the freelancers and clients opinions, yet when they ask for feedback, they totally ignore feedback and say thanks for the response, but we're going to do exactly what we planned all along.

It's worse than just implementing one of their horrid ideas, because it gives people the idea Upwork is listening and actually cares what their customers think.

[#14]

   This is not the place to look for jobs. You need to use your job feed.

[#15]

Finally!! A client who understands!! Amazing Amanda, it's time that the other side speaks up about this new change which isn't helping anyone at all!

Remove the outbid, Upwork, this is terrible.

[#16]

I agree with you, Kristina. I am relieved to see so many complaints from both freelancers and clients regarding this boosting system! It has been very frustrating; I have not landed a job in about six months. I have boosted two or three proposals when the job sounded like something I really wanted, but I typically don't boost. I don't get many connects these days because I haven't gotten any work, and I refuse to spend money I'm not making just to get more connects to boost my proposals (and possibly annoy clients, as Amanda described)! I hope Upwork removes this feature.

[#17]

Of course Amanda  understands lol, she is a freelancer as well 😛

[#18]

Freelancer is Upwork's term. I am a business owner. And I run a business, meaning I both find clients and hire professionals to help run my business, which is what ALL businesses do. I have hired quite a bit throughout my whole career. Please do not mistake the fact that I use Upwork on both sides of my business with a failure to understand client needs. 

[#19]

I'm a client as well, Amanada. 

Not sure, why are you telling me this.

I was just saying you understand the situation as both the client and freelancer (speaking on Upwork terms) 🙂

[#20]

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Filip K wrote:

I'm a client as well, Amanada. 

Not sure, why are you telling me this.

I was just saying you understand the situation as both the client and freelancer (speaking on Upwork terms) 🙂

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Sorry, must have been pre-coffee, and I interpreted it a more prickly way. But I think Upwork needs to take those of us who are on both sides of the platform seriously. We have unique perspective about how things work, and we aren't just freelancers who hire sometimes (which is how I've heard us described). I frequently hear clients complain about the UX, and they ask for my help and I walk them through how to use it, which I can do because I have a client account and have used it enough to actually know how it works. My brain is mushing around on this right now, but one reason I think Best Match might be a problem is overuse of skill tags. I only use a very, very few on my own profile because it weeds out unrelated jobs. So you can get a Best Match because someone has all those skills, but those skills are too vague and 20 different kinds of freelancers have to have those skills. That's just one example of why Best Match is not useful. The bidding is just an ad spend, and I understand Upwork wanting to monetize yet another aspect of the system, but the UI sucks so bad already, I would much prefer it be a pop up of the boosted bid instead of a forced filter. 

[#21]

Well, most of the time Amanda is a freelancer, so obviously she understands this topic from a freelancer's point of view.

I have boosted an offer once, to see how it worked. I don't boost my offers because I think it's not necessary, but I need to add that I've been freelancing on Upwork since 2016.

[#22]

That will be great step, i really wanted to share this issue as a freelancer. Many freelancers use their connects to boost their proposal due to which our organic proposals get ignored. I will consider it as cheating.

[#23]

We (the freelancers) are not excited at all about this feature. It just makes us spend more money, we have gotten practically no jobs in months and it only seems to benefit Upwork and not the customer. 

[#24]

That's true. Upwork used to be a great place to find work, it still is, but It feels like they are begin greedy and they are not listening freelancers and client's complaints at all.

Upwork team, please report our discouragement! 

This all connections method is not working for us!!!

[#25]

Yes, they lost their ability to listen somewhere along the way. Upwork was wonderful and supportive before this terrible change. I miss those times and I wish they could listen to those who make this platform what it really is: the freelancers.