How does failing "preferred qualifications" look to prospective clients?

[3ba47f28]

I've read the other posts where people ask about applying when they don't meet "preferred qualifications." The responses are all feel-good ones of the type, "Hey it worked for me!" My question is more specific. What do prospective clients see?

The reason I ask is that I've used Upwork as a client, and when someone didn't meet the "preferred qualifications" that I had set, their proposals were moved into a second tab that I had to click through to see. As a result, the impression I get is that when someone doesn't meet your preferred qualifications, they get buried.

Is that true? Or does it depend on which preferred qualification they select?

[kirnazdogan]

This is like going to a job interview without a shirt on. If your pants are not really nice, you would have problems.

[prestonhunter]

Some of these "preferences" are default settings. Often clients don't even know they're there.

If you are right for the job then go ahead and apply. You may be the best candidate and get hired.

[petra_r]

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Preston H wrote:

Some of these "preferences" are default settings. Often clients don't even know they're there.

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No, they're not. None of them are. The default for everything is "no preference" and "any"

So whilst freelancers are clearly free to apply, the clients *did* go to the trouble of opening the "optional preferences" window in order to set those preferences.

Phil D wrote:

The reason I ask is that I've used Upwork as a client, and when someone didn't meet the "preferred qualifications" that I had set, their proposals were moved into a second tab that I had to click through to see. As a result, the impression I get is that when someone doesn't meet your preferred qualifications, they get buried.It depends on the quantity and algorithm determined quality of the proposals.

When there are a lot of proposals, the algorithm moves some it considers to be less suitable to the "click to see more" section. That can include those who don't meet the preferences.

I frequently win jobs where I don't meet one of the preferences (usually the location one)

[varungs]

Such a tab does exist, but I'm not sure about the exact criteria that need to be met before one's proposal is sent there. I hope someone else answers you. It's also interesting to see how the two people who responded before me directly ignored your question. I see why their post counts are so high.