My thoughts on making the experience on Upwork better

[26e63ea4]

It's been a long time since this idea came to my mind, and today I decided to share my ideas and thoughts on making Upwork a better platform for everyone.

The main idea is to make it more popular. It feels like the number of quality, high-paid clients and overall decent jobs have dropped drastically recently. Yeah, I realize that the war in Ukraine, the inflation, and crawling recessions might be the reason, but I feel like Upwork doesn't do enough to attract more clients.

What I mean is basically working with new clients and onboarding them to Upwork. Literally selling them Upwork's services.

There's no need to tell about Upwork to those who look for employment or/and projects (read: freelancers) - they know about it already or will know once they google "Freelance platform".

When it comes to clients it seems like many prefer to stick to their local markets and that very few know about the possibility of outsourcing their work and saving a few bucks. That said, I think onboarding new clients from first-world countries is super important for the platform - this is the defining factor of growth for Upwork at this point.

More clients = more work for freelancers = more money in fees and connects, etc. for the platform.

The second idea is the changes to the bidding system. I think getting rid of unintuitive, scam-alike features (casino-style bidding) would help a lot. The availability status badge? Really? That's the least intuitive and useful thing on here, and yet freelancers are the ones paying for that.

Boosted proposals are also a scam-alike feature that I can't help cringing about. Like c'mon! People used to get replies thanks to their proposals, their profile, reviews, keywords, and some other factors, but now it seems like straight-up casino/gambling - the more you pay, the higher the chances to get discovered/your proposal read. Very questionable decision.

On the positive side - I like the renewed My Stats section with more insights on how many proposals were sent/viewed/read and interviews. Keep up the good work.

Once again - I feel like it's a defining factor for the platform's growth - CLIENTS, not freelancers. If there's no work - there's no reason for freelancers to stick around.

Thank you for your attention, and feel free to add your ideas and thoughts on what can and should be improved here in order for all of us to work comfortably.

[slyraccoon]

I would suggest the following (I know it sounds bad, but I think it makes sense): 1 rookie client work should only be done by experienced freelancers to minimize possible negative experiences. And first impressions are always important. Therefore, only experienced freelancers should apply for 1 job (let's say earnings from 5k, or experience of 100 hours, a rating of at least 85, etc.)

[bobafett999]

"When it comes to clients it seems like many prefer to stick to their local markets and that very few know about the possibility of outsourcing their work and saving a few bucks".

Many prefer that because they feel comfortable and are afraid of getting scammed.   Many have developed "relationship" with their existing help.  They value that.  Also, some of them have tried upwork and for one reason or another their project didn't go as planned.  

Upwork is bending backwards to please the buyers and often at the expense of freelancers.  So spending more resources may not help their bottom line.  They can improve their bottom line by vetting out junk freelancers and buyers.  Making sure buyers pay, and freelancers deliver.

[26e63ea4]

I don't see how they can check the legitimacy of any given client and whether he's just a scatterbrain who is here to ask a question and never reply to anyone. Agree in terms of checking freelancers and sorting the scammers out

[paywell]

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Prashant P wrote:

"When it comes to clients it seems like many prefer to stick to their local markets and that very few know about the possibility of outsourcing their work and saving a few bucks".

This has recently been an eye-opener for me.

I don’t mean to cry about it, but only 1 out of my 7 proposals (to well-studied job posts) were viewed, although every client visited the job posting shortly after I posted my offer.

Now I believe that my name and country could be the culprit.

What could be the solution?

The world is globalized: a person named Pradeep or Pavlo could be 100% American in all cultural aspects, apart from his name and the nationality of his parents.

I strongly believe, that clients need to know about this.

Perhaps a marketing campaign, addressing this particular matter, could be a solution?

It would have to address the fact, that not only local people can be part of the American culture, but also people from other cultures can keep up with the local team, becoming a great asset.

Apparently, racial and national differences are still an issue, hindering clients not only from spending, but also from saving “a few bucks”.

On Artyom S proposition:

I am in favor of a “cold calling” campaign to get more companies on board with Upwork.

But I also would like the abovementioned matter to be addressed:

There must be a way for assimilated non-Americans to get a job from the U.S. market, if they meet all the requirements apart from their location.

Tests / client testimonials, proving the person has the required cultural background / frame of refference to work in an American / German / Asian / etc. environment could be the answer.

There could even be paid (by the client OR the freelancer) or outsourced tests in order to provide the means for a strong infrastructure to be put in place.

Ideally you would have a team of specialists from the U.S., different parts of Europe, Africa and Asia to assess freelancers.

It would be like a citizenship test, but on a global scale.

If Upwork could become the first platform to bridge clients with old (pre-global) mindsets and users with the right cultural background – we might be looking at a breakthrough.

[26e63ea4]

Totally agree. This has to be a universal solution or better say a campaign from Upwork to break the wall and allow more freelancers and clients from different, oftentimes very different countries and cultures to register here and work together w\o thinking: "oh, that guy/girlis from *country name* - he must be dumb/scammer/works on several projects at a time/can't work bc his country is in war/etc."

But the resistance is still strong among those seeking different services - they prefer a local person who speaks their language, is in the same timezone, and probably charges several times more than people with a similar skillset, but located outside of the Americas.

The closer we are to our clients - the better "aftertaste" they have after working with us - the higher the chances they would recommend working with us to friends and business allies.

[81f2681a]

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Artyom S wrote:

More clients = more work for freelancers = more money in fees and connects, etc. for the platform.
...
Once again - I feel like it's a defining factor for the platform's growth - CLIENTS, not freelancers. If there's no work - there's no reason for freelancers to stick around.

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I agree partialy to you. You are right when saying to focus on clients, but I must complement: Upwork must focus on legit clients that posts legit jobs, not just any client. Upwork just does that, Upwork let anyone post a job, and a lot of these "clients" is scammers or peoples just playing around, a lot of them is people that isn´t realy interested on having their projects dones, or even don´t have a true project to be done. Freelancers must have their ID verified before starting working on this platform, but clients don´t. Anyone can be a "client" and post a job. In my opiniom, to improve Upwork, clients must have their ID verified and must have a payment verified. Fake clients, as we just have in this platform, is completely useless.

[26e63ea4]

Totally agree, Andre. The number or fake clients and those wonder-goers who perceive Upwork as a forum where they just can ask a question, get a free reply, and disappear is astonishing. Again - I don't know how to deal with that situation apart from checking how well the description is written, how well does the client know English/other language he/she posts the job in, and just your inner feeling about this project.

I think landing big clients and startups will help - they aren't scammers, and they know what they want - to hire somebody, to cut the production costs, etc. This is who must be attracted.

Small clients are valuable as well, but at a glance - big corps bring more jobs and work, so they must be in focus for Upwork to track and onboard