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gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

UW Talent Specialist team strikes again

Below is the note I just sent to the client when I declined an invitation sent to me by an UW TS:

 

It's unfortunate that the Upwork Talent Specialist wasted your time and mine with this invitation. Your average pay rate is $12/hour and you require very fast turnaround on the project in question (writing online job descriptions). My posted hourly rate is $80 and I have never done a project on this platform for less than $40/hour (and that was several years ago), and the writing projects I take on typically last for several weeks. So, this would seem to be a very poor fit.
Good luck finding the right freelancer for your needs!

 

The TS's invitation text pointed out that my skills include "writer" and that's why he thought it was such a fantastic match and such an exciting opportunity for me. Apparently, he did not really look at my profile very carefully, much less my job history.

 

17 REPLIES 17
renata101
Community Member


Phyllis G wrote:

Below is the note I just sent to the client when I declined an invitation sent to me by an UW TS:

 

It's unfortunate that the Upwork Talent Specialist wasted your time and mine with this invitation. Your average pay rate is $12/hour and you require very fast turnaround on the project in question (writing online job descriptions). My posted hourly rate is $80 and I have never done a project on this platform for less than $40/hour (and that was several years ago), and the writing projects I take on typically last for several weeks. So, this would seem to be a very poor fit.
Good luck finding the right freelancer for your needs!

 

The TS's invitation text pointed out that my skills include "writer" and that's why he thought it was such a fantastic match and such an exciting opportunity for me. Apparently, he did not really look at my profile very carefully, much less my job history.

 


This is why I think the Talent Specialist program does more harm than good. Why invest in offering this service if there is no benefit to either clients or freelancers? The specialist in this case isn't analyzing your profile using the right criteria to make the match. I think we'd all be better served if UpWork concentrated on providing users (both clients and freelancers) with better baseline customer service. 

To be clear, I'm not personally affronted. It takes a few seconds to decline an off-target invitation. But when it comes from a Talent Specialist, it is upsetting for the reason Renata noted: It's a complete disservice to the client which doesn't help any of us.

hfspeegle
Community Member

I feel your pain, Phyllis. I have received at least two invitations from Talent "Specialists" where the job specifically requested a MD or DO. I'm not a physician, and I don't claim to be. My profile makes my education level clear, but the "specialists" either don't take the time to read the information or their English reading comprehension is very poor.


Heath S wrote:

I feel your pain, Phyllis. I have received at least two invitations from Talent "Specialists" where the job specifically requested a MD or DO. I'm not a physician, and I don't claim to be. My profile makes my education level clear, but the "specialists" either don't take the time to read the information or their English reading comprehension is very poor.


My favourite was when they sent me an invitation to become the director of an online law school. I've edited a handful of law papers and a couple of law blog posts. But maybe I'm just not seeing the obvious opportunities to parlay that into a career advancement strategy?  I mean, seriously, what's there to know that someone with a decent law dictionary can't handle? 

I did have a TS invite me for a job that actually *WAS* perfect for me. Once.

 

The only fly in the ointment was the fact I was already hired on that very contract.

 

What happened to all that training that was going to be implemented a few months back - and the assurance that this feature was necessary and professional?  


Petra R wrote:

I did have a TS invite me for a job that actually *WAS* perfect for me. Once.

 

The only fly in the ointment was the fact I was already hired on that very contract.

__________________________________________________________________

Petra, I remember when you'd previously shared that. At the time I thought OMG and continue to so think! 

 


 

silviacs
Community Member

---Apparently, he did not really look at my profile very carefully, much less my job history.---

 

Well, a few seem to do that. The very first line in my profile states that I'm not an English mt, so I'm not translating in English and guess how many invitations to translate from Italian to English I keep on receving?


Silvia Carlotta S wrote:

---Apparently, he did not really look at my profile very carefully, much less my job history.---

 

Well, a few seem to do that. The very first line in my profile states that I'm not an English mt, so I'm not translating in English and guess how many invitations to translate from Italian to English I keep on receving?


Upwork, notoriously, is incapable of recognising language pairs. If one well-known translation site can  do this so should Upwork. If this were my business, I would make sure that I sorted this problem to give my competitors a run for their money.

 

Unfortunately (and mistakenly, IMO), translators here are low in the hierarchy of money-making importance. 

I do not doubt that people are frustrated by the Talent Specialist program...

 

For what it's worth, my primary contract right now is with a client who an Upwork Talent Specialist asked me to apply to - at a time when my profile was completely blocked from invites.

I opted out after I got an invitation to provide a draft for a golf ball with holes.  I am a paralegal who drafts documents.  Just couldn't deal with it anymore.

Mary, that is hysterical!

Last time I was invited by a talent specialist I did a with a research for UW freelancers and found him. His profile had nothing showing any special talent or quality that explained why he had been given the job by Upwork. The only thing I noticed was that he was in Asia.

 

Or maybe it wasn't a talent specialist, maybe it was some support person, I'm not so sure anymore. Will have to try to do a research with the name of the next one.

kat303
Community Member

I just wish Upwork would be what it's supposed to be. - a site that brings clients and freelancers together for the purpose of getting work done. 

Instead it seems more and more like Upwork is trying to become an employment agency. 

Paying for connects,

restricting the number of freelancers a client can invite (unless they pay)

Suggesting jobs to freelancers

Suggesting freelancers to clients

Forcing specialized profiles for freelancers

Suggesting projects and projects pricing in freelancers profiles. 

 

Let us handle are own business. 

Kathy T,

 

"I just wish Upwork would be what it's supposed to be. - a site that brings clients and freelancers together for the purpose of getting work done. 

Instead it seems more and more like Upwork is trying to become an employment agency. 

Paying for connects,

restricting the number of freelancers a client can invite (unless they pay)

Suggesting jobs to freelancers

Suggesting freelancers to clients

Forcing specialized profiles for freelancers

Suggesting projects and projects pricing in freelancers profiles. 

 

Let us handle are own business,"

 

You may have found a business model for Upwork. It does not need to be everything to everybody. It could, in fact, offer a la carte services. My go-to ebook cover artist can't do what I want, so I posted in the designers/creatives forum with a description and asked how to ask for it so that people don't waste time and connects. I'd certainly be willing to pay someone to tell me how to word the job post and help me find good freelancers. As a freelancer, I would pay someone to help me get in front of the right clients, if the person understood both freelancing and client needs. So far, I'm not encouraged.

The invites I get are mostly in my field of grant writing, they are just too often for clients who are not good candidates to receive a grant and/or expect me to work for $12 an hour or even less. On the one hand, I don't work with clients who I don't think will be competitive for a grant. I don't just take their money and write a grant and not care if they win or not. I'm a successful grant writer, with more than $25 million in grant awards in my portfolio. I make my hourly rate because I win money. So if you want to win, go with me and pay my rate and remember that you'll be $1 million to $5 million richer in a year's time, or go with someone else who took an online class, charges peanuts, and has no track record to count on.  But honestly, if I could tell them I only am interested in invites for expert jobs with a certain budget floor, that would be awesome. It would save the client and myself time. 


Bill H wrote:

I'd certainly be willing to pay someone to tell me how to word the job post and help me find good freelancers. 


You should've said that before I answered your question!

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