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351a1706
Community Member

Cannot find prior freelancer search results

Is the Upwork search functionality still as quirky as forums from 2015 indicate it was?

 

I'm new here and spent some time poking around last week to see if this might be a worthwhile resource for finding freelancers. I grabbed screen captures of intros for a few people that intrigued me (did not have an account, could not save profiles). This week, I'm trying to find those same people (and using the same and/or variations on the same keywords) and they don't appear to exist. I've even tried doing new searches specifically targeting somewhat unique words in their profile; no luck. I've tried a title search on their title; no luck.

 

Is it really possible that multiple people I identified just last week are deleted, private, gone, something? Or is the search functionality not finding people? How do I search for specific people if all I know is their posted name? 

4 REPLIES 4
AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Allison, 


Welcome to Upwork! Regarding your question, search results vary depending on the type of profile used to conduct the search, since a number of factors are taken into account. Clients will always get a different search result for the same keyword/filters than freelancers using the same parameters. In addition, freelancers are regularly rotated in search results and the order the profiles are displayed in will change every couple of weeks.


~ Avery
Upwork
351a1706
Community Member

Interesting. This seems like a failing. I'm searching for VERY specific parameters that are not common (e.g. not Microsoft Office skills). There is a very small pool of candidates that potentially fit, and yet I can't find some of them. As a company seeking freelancers, this is a waste of my time. I had not used Upwork before, did some searches prior to creating an account (Thursday of last week), found some interesting potential matches, set up an account Wednesday of this week, and several of the same freelancers cannot be found. I understand they could have turned their profile to private, but it seems unlikely that multple in this small niche may have done that within such a short period of time.

 

Sounds like it's possible if I search from a not-logged-in browser I may find those people again because the parameters of my search (but not my search terms) will be different. But, that would be pointless as I cannot save them to my profile in order to make contact.

 

Seems to me that Upwork should be trying to make it easier on the companies seeking help, not harder. I don't need rotations of freelancers or screenings. I have very specific search terms that accomplish that.

 

 

mtngigi
Community Member

Allison,

 

Freelancers don't like being hard to find, but the rotation of profiles is what it is.

 

If your niche is really that small, perhaps you should just post the job; chances are those you spotted have job search parameters set so they'll see your post under their "saved searches" and bid. Worth a try anyway.

 

 

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Allison, 

I'm sorry if this has been an inconvenience for you. I can put you in touch with our Talent Specialist Team so that they can get in touch with you and assist you with shortlisting freelancers for your project. 

Personally, when I'm looking for something I can't find on the internet (like a previous article I was reading and want to read again), I go through my browser's history and use the same keywords that led me to that article. I hope this helps. Just the same, let me know if you would for our team to connect you with our Talent Specialist Team to assist you. 


~ Avery
Upwork
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