Please Improve the Projects Screening Criteria

[#1]

When I run a screen looking for new hourly projects to submit proposals on I am seeing projects where clients are offering US$3 or US$4 as their budget for finding an "expert" freelancer..

I respect that this level of compensation might be in line for an "expert" in certain segments in certain markets, but projects with such low budgets are of no interest to me.

If I select "hourly" as the only as the type of project I'm screening for, I see the message, :Hourly jobs don't have budgets" which, of course, is wrong. Every client has a budget in mind for their project. (Well, OK, every intelligent/experienced client has a budget in mind, even if the project is hourly.)

Please, Upwork, add a minimum pricing criteria for freelancers screening open hourly projects, just as you have had that element in place for fixed price projects since I can remember. Ideally, this would allow me to set a minimum $ amount in my search and I would only see projects where that number is at or below the maximum range the client has indicated is acceptable to them.

Thanks in advance.

[#2]

Will, I assume you're talking about clients offering hourly rates of $3 or $4, and you want to be able to filter jobs by hourly rate (on hourly projects) as well as by budget (on fixed price projects).

I was planning to post a similar request.  I'm actually glad to see that many clients are now giving an hourly rate range in their job posts.  This is a big improvement on the old days when we had nothing to go by except Entry/Intermediate/Expert level. But now that we have those hourly rates,  we should be able to filter by them. 

[#3]

And I am going to disagree with both of you.  Why should I even remotely care what a client wants to pay for a project?  On what basis are they making that assertion?  I am pretty sure they want it free but are at least wise enough not to expect it.

If you go to post a job it now comes up with this handy dandy thing telling you the sweet spot of ranges:

So now, tell me how this helps me?  Or you?  Or anyone?  What does it matter what the average project in my criteria pulls.  The way I see it this just creates one more battle for me to fight and what good does it do Upwork as well?  I can't see this as anything other than making it harder for me to find work which is dumb because a lot of people who would charge in the sweet spot don't prove to be able to do the work (and if they can then one of us is billing wrong and it is not me).

I really wish Upwork would stay out of pricing altogether.

[#4]

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

I don't want to even have to look through listings of new projects where the client's stated target price range for their specific project is 5% - 10% of my minimum target rate. It's a complete waste of my time.

I have never even seen the chart you posted and I don't care what other handy dandy information is in the project description. There is no reason for me to look at what, for me, are very, very low-budget clients and projects. I gladly leave them to others for whom these are attractive opportunities for new work.

[#5]

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Will L wrote:

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

I don't want to even have to look through listings of new projects where the client's stated target price range for their specific project is 5% - 10% of my minimum target rate. It's a complete waste of my time.

I have never even seen the chart you posted and I don't care what other handy dandy information is in the project description. There is no reason for me to look at what, for me, are very, very low-budget clients and projects. I gladly leave them to others for whom these are attractive opportunities for new work.

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**Edited for Community Guidelines**

My point, which I think you missed is that by instructing a client what an average rate is they are actually causing them to become low budget client and with maybe a little convincing they might get there.  But you do you man.  I wasn't telling you that you are wrong, just telling you that I disagree.

[#6 · Accepted solution]

Thank you, Mark, Will, and Richard, for providing this valuable feedback. I'll be sure to share it with our team. 

[#7]

Thanks, Bojan.

Just to be clear, I was not suggesting a new screening criterium that every freelancer MUST select when using Upwork’s “Find Work” function to look for new project listings. I was sorry to see that this simple request devolved into irrelevancy so quickly.

There are currently 10 different sections of sorting criteria in this function. As a freelancer I am not required to use any particular criterium and I am not suggesting any change in this respect.

I know I might miss out on one or two great clients now and then as a result of the new screening criterium I am suggesting, but that same criterium will also reduce the number of project postings that come up when I am screening for new projects by at least 500 – 600 per year. It’s a tradeoff I’m willing to risk.

[#8]

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Mark F wrote:

If you go to post a job it now comes up with this handy dandy thing telling you the sweet spot of ranges:

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Thanks for posting that, Mark, as I haven't seen it before. But this is a different question from whether clients should simply be allowed to post what they're willing to pay, and whether we should be able to filter our job feed by those posted rates.

I've just generated a sample job post from my client account (without posting it), and the "typical" rate for work like mine was given as $27-$50. Since my own rate is $40, that suits me quite well. In practice I'm pretty sure that typical rates on Upwork for this sort of work are lower than $27-$50, so Upwork seems to be talking up the rate, which is fine with me! Of course, I can see why you might think otherwise if the "typical" rate given for your kind of work is lower than your usual rate.

[#9]

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Richard W wrote:

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Mark F wrote:

If you go to post a job it now comes up with this handy dandy thing telling you the sweet spot of ranges:

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Thanks for posting that, Mark, as I haven't seen it before. But this is a different question from whether clients should simply be allowed to post what they're willing to pay, and whether we should be able to filter our job feed by those posted rates.

I've just generated a sample job post from my client account (without posting it), and the "typical" rate for work like mine was given as $27-$50. Since my own rate is $40, that suits me quite well. In practice I'm pretty sure that typical rates on Upwork for this sort of work are lower than $27-$50, so Upwork seems to be talking up the rate, which is fine with me! Of course, I can see why you might think otherwise if the "typical" rate given for your kind of work is lower than your usual rate.

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Different question maybe but certainly related isn't it?  And it isn't what the clients what the clients are willing to pay, or want to pay, they are trying to find a range of what they should have to pay. Maybe your clients come into transactions with you knowing that your rate should be $40 an hour but I would certainly question where they come by such information.

But this has nothing to do with a feature that has been requested many times before and will again or you and Will.  It has to do with people wanting to use such a filter and my warning that it might be a mistake.  It is the same thing as filtering off "cheap" fixed price work because you will immediately stop seeing jobs at $5.00 which is what many clients put in as a placeholder because they have no idea what something should cost.

My advice to everyone, and especially Upwork, is to never assume a client knows anything about what you do and especially how much it should cost them.  You filter off projects based on that and you will miss out on an oppurtunity to make a sale.  You may have to struggle to get it but fine.

And that chart is the rate range for what I typically do and it either is worldwide, which would be bad, or specifically US which then makes it ridiculous.  I doubt I could hire an expert C# developer at those rates nearly anywhere in the US for $53 an hour (barring massive unemployment during a pandemic but even then I am not sure).

[#10]

Yes, Richard. 

I know what kind of clients I want to work for and what pricing I'm willing to consider.

That doesn't mean I won't consider sending a proposal on a project where the client's stated top of range is $25 if my minimum target is $30, but there is no reason for me to even waste time considering a project where the client's target range is $3 to $5.