US Military Vets Group - Page 2

teresadilley · ‎09-30-2019

I had joined the US Military Veterans Group last year. Now it seems to have disappeared. I found a few jobs there. Does anyone know what is going on? That one is supposed to not be affected by the disbanding of other groups.

Thanks,

T.

jeff-lund · ‎09-02-2020

Hello Upwork,

I am a US Veteran and I feel an unfair advantage to be turned down for a job when others on here have that title and I do not! Please remove the others title of veterans preference or allow us to add that on ours. This is a legal offense and should be taken very seriously!

skodtdesign · ‎09-03-2020

Two Words - Social Media. Since this is not being addressed, it might be time to take post a write-up on Linkedin.

If that does not work, then two more words - Class Action.

skodtdesign · ‎09-03-2020

My recommendation would be to remove the group designation altogether and replace it with a searchable "Military Veteran" badge.

teresadilley · ‎09-03-2020

I guess taking this to social media might be a good idea. At least to help those who should have it, get the military designator. But a class action over this? Really? Sorry, but that's just immature and over the top. Only my opinion, but it's just a designator. With the large percentage of jobs that get cancelled or expire without us even getting those connects returned, this is piddly. I would rather that something be done about the people who post a project and then just walk away while we lose money on the connects.

jeff-lund · ‎09-04-2020

Oh ok.. I guess either you never served in the military or if you did you never left your comfortable office! I served and lost a lot! It hurts everyday for the rest of my life! You can not even fathom the mental and physical pain I or others like me deal with! So what is petty about not being recognized!!!??? What is wrong with oh it is just a designator? Rodger that!

teresadilley · ‎09-04-2020

Jeffrey,

I totally understand. I was 20 years, 9 months, and 15 days in the US Coast Guard, served on Operation Noble Eagle and recalled after 9-11. I've been there. I just feel that threatening legal action for something like this on a job board is a bit over the top. I totally agree, they NEED to stop dragging their feet or just not offer it as an option at all, but as the daughter of a lawyer, this would not merit that sort of action. Social media is the way to go if you want to fight this. Personally, I just want to work and have to choose my battles wisely. Good luck with your job search.

T.

f7c3e2bf · ‎09-07-2020

I am also a vet, how do you go about getting my account marked that I am one?

biancabartel · ‎09-08-2020

Hi, I'm Bianca the Product Lead for the Upwork Foundation and New Businesses team. We hear your requests and want you to know this is still a priority for us. We are actively working to allow veteran-owned businesses to share their certifications for the following:

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business
Veteran-Owned Small Business
Veteran Disability-Owned Business Enterprise
Service-Disabled Veteran Disability-Owned Business Enterprises

Additionally, we're working with the Veteran's Administration to have the ability for veterans to identify themselves and provide a badge on their Upwork profile in the coming months.

wlathan · ‎01-27-2021

The fact that I continue to see jobs requiring this membership but have no way to obtain it is an insult to veterans and freelancers. It's pretty simple, turn the feature off until you get it right. You are dealing with technical folks here, if you can't figure out how to do this, hire one of us, I'm sure we can do the work for you.

bruce70 · ‎10-08-2020

Hi All,

I've been with Upwork for quite awhile but don't have any indicator on my profile that I served honorably in the United States Air Force. Not sure why, perhaps it wasn't available then at the time I created my profile. In any case, is there a way I can be added to the US Military Veterans Group here at Upwork so I can have that proudly displayed on my profile? I know Upwork has deprecated the groups but I read where this particular group will remain active?

Thanks,

Bruce

VladimirG · ‎10-08-2020

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for reaching out to us in the Community with this question. I moved your post to the main Community thread on this topic so you can check the update Bianca posted a month ago, about our plans and the solution we're working on in order to be able to better support veterans like you.

~ Vladimir

bruce70 · ‎10-10-2020

Many thanks, much appreciated!

rgly1974 · ‎10-09-2020

How do I go about joining the US Military Veterans Group?

kochubei_valeria · ‎10-09-2020

Hi Robert,

Your post has been merged into this thread where we've been discussing and providing updates about the status of the U.S. Military Vererans Group. At the moment, there isn't an option to join the group. However, we are working on a solution that will become available very soon. For more information, please see Bianca's post on this thread. I'll quote it below:

Bianca B. wrote:

Hi, I'm Bianca the Product Lead for the Upwork Foundation and New Businesses team. We hear your requests and want you to know this is still a priority for us. We are actively working to allow veteran-owned businesses to share their certifications for the following:

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business

Veteran-Owned Small Business

Veteran Disability-Owned Business Enterprise

Service-Disabled Veteran Disability-Owned Business Enterprises

Additionally, we're working with the Veteran's Administration to have the ability for veterans to identify themselves and provide a badge on their Upwork profile in the coming months.

~ Valeria

jon__k · ‎11-12-2020

From what I have read in this post thread, there is no way to join the Veteran group if not already grandfathered in from a year or so ago. This needs to be fixed because you offer an option for clients posting projects to select that they only want people with this designation. I just applied to a project yesterday that said I was not qualified because I didn’t meet the Military Veteran Group criteria they preferred even though I’m a veteran. I likely will not be chosen for that position because I unfortunately am trying to join the group when Upwork is in their year plus attempt at turning the designator back on for new freelancers. Based off reading this thread it looks like the expensive part of upkeeping the group was the chat/forum portion but what everyone really wants is just the little icon that indicates we are veterans and the ability to not loose out on projects when a client is looking for military veterans.

Thanks,
Jon

g_vasilevski · ‎11-12-2020

Hi Jon,

I`m sorry for the inconvenience this is causing you. I would like to confirm that our team is working to resolve this as soon as possible and I will share your feedback with our team as well. Thank you.

~ Goran

tamaragabb · ‎01-11-2021

Have you all fixed this? I am having the same issue. I am a veteran and I am not getting a job becaue I am not part of the group.

biancabartel · ‎12-15-2020

Hi Jon,

Thank you for your feedback. You are correct that the functionality of adding your military veteran status has been disabled. The "US Military Veteran" badge on a profile, it is a remnant of the Groups feature, which was deprecated last year. That said, we are actively working on a feature to allow military veterans to provide their information, and will again link to surface this in the client job post." Our current estimate is to launch this updated feature in the first quarter of 2021.

In October of this year, we launched diversity certifications which include Veteran-owned business certification. While this is currently available only to US-based freelancers and agencies, we value our global community and as a next step are actively pursuing additional partnerships that would enhance our geographic reach - stay tuned for more details in 2021.

tamaragabb · ‎01-11-2021

Yes, but these cost money, right? We are trying to make money, not have someone charge us to prove that we served in the military. That is just absurd. It is hard enough getting work, now we have to pay to prove we fought for our country, or am I missing something?

teresadilley · ‎01-12-2021

Totally stupid. We should only need to provide a digital copy of our DD214 and be done with it. Cripes!

ralphwilliam · ‎01-12-2021

100% agreed!

jon__k · ‎01-12-2021

I technically already provided proof when upwork asked for a copy of my drivers license. There is a Veteran marking on the ID vetted through the DMV and that is on a lot of state drivers IDs lately. Either way, since the ability to verify identity with an id is already implemented when we join then asking for us to provide a veteran ID doesn’t seem overly complicated over what’s already in place. There are also external verification sites such as “ID me” that offer companies a hands off approach.

bob-meads · ‎01-28-2021

me too. I just bid on a job where being a member of the Veterans group was required, and I can't join. This thread has gone on a while. It is an easy process to verify if a person is a veteran. GET IT DONE.