No matter what project, Upwork would only charge 1 connect ?

[#1]

Is this the right news? and we can also boost our proposals by spending additional connects.Thats heaven for freelancers then..A big thanks to Upwork.

[#2]

I think this will just cheapen the platform. As a client, I don't care about seeing proposals that people paid to shove in my face - I don't care how much they want my money or how passionate they are about this excel file I need formatted. I only care about finding the best person to help me out.

I'm not a big client, I don't spend 4-5-6 figures here per month, but if I did and I saw Upwork highlighting unprofessional, unskilled, low JSS, fresh-out-of-school "freelancers" to me, I'd think this platform is absolute garbage.

[#3]

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Ines H wrote:
I think this will just cheapen the platform. As a client, I don't care about seeing proposals that people paid to shove in my face - I don't care how much they want my money or how passionate they are about this excel file I need formatted. I only care about finding the best person to help me out.

I'm not a big client, I don't spend 4-5-6 figures here per month, but if I did and I saw Upwork highlighting unprofessional, unskilled, low JSS, fresh-out-of-school "freelancers" to me, I'd think this platform is absolute garbage.

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Good point. My question is, how does the interface look from the client's point of view? Do they see how many connects a freelancer spent? Does the ranking change once he is outbid? Will clients even be aware what influences the ranking? What happens when 30 freelancers bid the same amount? Will established freelancers try desperately to bid, or will newbies with no history and experience outbid the more qualified people? (The answer to my last question is no, and yes.)

[#4]

(I don't know how to quote on mobile, but this was in response to Martina's comment:
Good point. My question is, how does the interface look from the client's point of view?)
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I worry that, from client's point of view, there are gonna be spaceships and flames and huge, green, ambiguous messages surrounding the freelancer(s) who paid for the promo.

Leading clients to naturally think "oh wow, this 43% JSS person who specializes in video production is the best Upwork has to offer for my romance novel? Guess I'm out."

[#5]

Yes. This is exactly how it will be. Regular clients will leave because Upwork does not respect them, and newbies will get burned on recommended Upwork freelancers with 43% JSS. Facepalm 

[#6]

The frustration of not knowing the details...

It's like being told "I know something but won't tell you what it is" 

[#7]

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Ines H wrote:
(I don't know how to quote on mobile, but this was in response to Martina's comment:
Good point. My question is, how does the interface look from the client's point of view?)
--
I worry that, from client's point of view, there are gonna be spaceships and flames and huge, green, ambiguous messages surrounding the freelancer(s) who paid for the promo.

Leading clients to naturally think "oh wow, this 43% JSS person who specializes in video production is the best Upwork has to offer for my romance novel? Guess I'm out."

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Lol ... spaceships. Yeah, you're right. The average client will have no idea how the ranking is produced, and naturally assume that some clever algorithm has selected the best people for his job, and then recoil in horror. Oh man, this is such a bad idea.... 

[#8]

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Ines H wrote:
but if I did and I saw Upwork highlighting unprofessional, unskilled, low JSS, fresh-out-of-school "freelancers" to me, I'd think this platform is absolute garbage.

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I think there will be some indicator for sure to show the profile being shown at the top is "boosted" or promoted or sponsored or some sort of indicator to indicate it.

Upwork will not show the profile of a person if a person has low JSS or does not have enough work in that specialty as the best match. Just the proposal will be pushed at the top of the stack with an indication about being a boosted proposal.

[#9]

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Ashraf K wrote:

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Ines H wrote:
but if I did and I saw Upwork highlighting unprofessional, unskilled, low JSS, fresh-out-of-school "freelancers" to me, I'd think this platform is absolute garbage.

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I think there will be some indicator for sure to show the profile being shown at the top is "boosted" or promoted or sponsored or some sort of indicator to indicate it.

Upwork will not show the profile of a person if a person has low JSS or does not have enough work in that specialty as the best match. Just the proposal will be pushed at the top of the stack with an indication about being a boosted proposal.

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Sure they will. They said it is dependent on how many connects the freelancer bids, neither his JSS or work experience. It's not a best match any longer. It is just spending connects. 

[#10]

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Ashraf K wrote:

I think there will be some indicator for sure to show the profile being shown at the top is "boosted" or promoted or sponsored or some sort of indicator to indicate it.

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What makes you think that? The universally hated "Available Now" thing has no such indication either...

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Ashraf K wrote:

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Upwork will not show the profile of a person if a person has low JSS or does not have enough work in that specialty as the best match.

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Again, where do you that idea from? That isn't true

[#11]

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Ashraf K wrote:

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Ines H wrote:
but if I did and I saw Upwork highlighting unprofessional, unskilled, low JSS, fresh-out-of-school "freelancers" to me, I'd think this platform is absolute garbage.

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I think there will be some indicator for sure to show the profile being shown at the top is "boosted" or promoted or sponsored or some sort of indicator to indicate it.

Upwork will not show the profile of a person if a person has low JSS or does not have enough work in that specialty as the best match. Just the proposal will be pushed at the top of the stack with an indication about being a boosted proposal.

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Clients don't spend nearly enough time on Upwork to know or care about what different colors and indicators mean. Clients don't and won't have the slightest clue what the difference is between 100% JSS, top rated, top rated plus, rising talent, available now, best match, and now boosted. All they'll conclude is - these guys have "it", these guys don't, so the ones who have it must be special.

[#12]

So a small note to our new community VP. 

Start here and fix this mess, and then a few of us might believe in your north star vision - at the moment the guiding light is certainly not present. It is more like being showered by meteorites, pretty to look at,  but in reality,  a sort of (heavenly) dandruff. 

[#13]

How much does this new idea cost Upwork? There are so many things they could devote resources to, such as getting dishonest freelancers and clients off the site. A sleazy ad hiring people to post bogus Trustpilot reviews (prewritten by the client) that I flagged six days ago is still there, last viewed by the client two hours ago.

[#14]

i saw yesterday that i can Apply and make it boosted, now i dont have have that Option .. Why !?

[#15]

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Ahmed H wrote:

i saw yesterday that i can Apply and make it boosted, now i dont have have that Option .. Why !?

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Because it is something that was meant to be launched in September and someone messed up and unleashed it by accident. Once they noticed, they turned it off again pretty quickly.

[#16]

I think I saw a pop-up screen yesterday saying that from now on, all jobs ask for ONE connect rather than multiple connects according to the project scale.  It also said that bidding multiple connects would boost my profile up so that clients are more likely to see you.

But the problem is that I have been applying for jobs today and they still need 2-6 connects to apply for them.  Does anyone know if this change has already taken place, or is it to start some day in the future??

[#17]

Never mind, I found out that it's a system that is to start in September!

[#18]

Hi All,

Thank you for the discussion!
We will be sharing more information about this test when we officially launch later this year. We will make sure to get the questions brought up on this thread answered then.

We will continue to gather feedback from multiple channels, including the Community here, and test results to determine the next steps with such features.

[#19]

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Valeria K wrote:

Hi All,

Thank you for the discussion!
We will be sharing more information about this test when we officially launch later this year. We will make sure to get the questions brought up on this thread answered then.

We will continue to gather feedback from multiple channels, including the Community here, and test results to determine the next steps with such features.

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But, if you already have the information, why can't you share it so we can judge the idea BEFORE you launch it?
It would really be nice, for once.

[#20]

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Maria T wrote:

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But, if you already have the information, why can't you share it so we can judge the idea BEFORE you launch it?
It would really be nice, for once.

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To be fair, in theory anything could work/not work but you need to test it on real data before you can judge if it's good or bad. 

[#21]

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Viacheslav K wrote:

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Maria T wrote:

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But, if you already have the information, why can't you share it so we can judge the idea BEFORE you launch it?
It would really be nice, for once.

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To be fair, in theory anything could work/not work but you need to test it on real data before you can judge if it's good or bad. 

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Viacheslav,
In line with the "anything could work" logic, do you think you and the people who dreamed this up would volunteer to jump off the roof to test your theory? Theoretically, that could solve a lot of freelancer issues. But I think The Team would be back revving up the Bad Idea Generator the very next day. 

We really need some signs that people at Upwork are coming up with decent ideas, not just throwing the dice or dreaming up more ill-founded Russian Roulette strategies for the freelancers to test out. 

Because of the nature of the work I do, I end up paying a lot in fees on this platform. A reasonable display of thoughtfulness on the part of the people who force us to have to put up with these types of solutions would be much appreciated. 

[#22]

Renata,

You and all the others who have expressed their indignation at this half-baked, poorly thought out idea are right. But in the meantime, in my mind's eye all I see is Upwork middle managers huddled in a conference room in Santa Clara cracking jokes about the "talent" losing their marbles over what UW undoubtledly thinks is a brilliant masterplan. 

[#23]

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Viacheslav K wrote:

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Maria T wrote:

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But, if you already have the information, why can't you share it so we can judge the idea BEFORE you launch it?
It would really be nice, for once.

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To be fair, in theory anything could work/not work but you need to test it on real data before you can judge if it's good or bad. 

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What I am asking is that they put forward the "idea".
What it is, how it is supposed to work, how it affects freelancers and clients, what expense would it entail, how it will appear on the client side, how it will affect NOT using it, etc ...
They already have this documentation, there is a video (which I couldn't see) and there will be a "read more ..." already created.
I don't think that to know "if it will work" you need to launch it first.

These kinds of things are what the new vice president should pay attention to.

[#24]

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Maria T wrote:

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What I am asking is that they put forward the "idea".
What it is, how it is supposed to work, how it affects freelancers and clients, what expense would it entail, how it will appear on the client side, how it will affect NOT using it, etc ...
They already have this documentation, there is a video (which I couldn't see) and there will be a "read more ..." already created.
I don't think that to know "if it will work" you need to launch it first.

These kinds of things are what the new vice president should pay attention to.

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I just never saw a big company ask their userbase before implementing a new feature or change. They mostly put it out there and look at stats. People rarely like change. I'm not that thrilled about this change either. Most people didn't like the creation of JSS, 2-6 connects per job or the removal of the free connects per month. But I do see these things improved the platform in the long run.

[#25]

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Viacheslav K wrote:

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Maria T wrote:

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What I am asking is that they put forward the "idea".
What it is, how it is supposed to work, how it affects freelancers and clients, what expense would it entail, how it will appear on the client side, how it will affect NOT using it, etc ...
They already have this documentation, there is a video (which I couldn't see) and there will be a "read more ..." already created.
I don't think that to know "if it will work" you need to launch it first.

These kinds of things are what the new vice president should pay attention to.

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I just never saw a big company ask their userbase before implementing a new feature or change. They mostly put it out there and look at stats. People rarely like change. I'm not that thrilled about this change either. Most people didn't like the creation of JSS, 2-6 connects per job or the removal of the free connects per month. But I do see these things improved the platform in the long run.

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Most big companies who fail to consult their userbase or factor in their opinions and/or experience with their product or service sooner or later fail. Just because not consulting customers (and yes, freelancers are UW's clients too, since we pay **Edited for Community Guidelines** of money in fees and connects) in the past has been the norm doesn't mean it's an enlightened way to go forward and grow the business. 

[#26]

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Viacheslav K wrote:

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Maria T wrote:

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What I am asking is that they put forward the "idea".
What it is, how it is supposed to work, how it affects freelancers and clients, what expense would it entail, how it will appear on the client side, how it will affect NOT using it, etc ...
They already have this documentation, there is a video (which I couldn't see) and there will be a "read more ..." already created.
I don't think that to know "if it will work" you need to launch it first.

These kinds of things are what the new vice president should pay attention to.

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I just never saw a big company ask their userbase before implementing a new feature or change. They mostly put it out there and look at stats. People rarely like change. I'm not that thrilled about this change either. Most people didn't like the creation of JSS, 2-6 connects per job or the removal of the free connects per month. But I do see these things improved the platform in the long run.

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Viacheslav, no offense, but I don't give a **Edited for Community Guidelines** what other corporations do.

A lot of people here are sick of running into implementations that appear by surprise. Many times you find out that they are trying something because the "lucky ones" have found it working and do not know what the issue is about.
Upwork is fortunate to have forums where you can gather feedback without having to implement anything.

And regarding the underline, and in my opinion, JSS proves to be a disaster for its lack of "human part" and its mysterious way of working, the cost variance in connects for the proposals I don't think has made UW go better or worse (and now they want to change this for another invention), and the free connects per month ... well, they gave them again, although less and you can also earn them with interviews, so ... it didn't work too well, right?

I am very angry that the potential of a forum like this is not being harnessed to make Upwork truly the freelance work site it could be.