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mrarpitjain
Community Member

Unofficial POLL: All Freelancers Invited

Hello Upwork Community,

 

About today I noticed that I no longer have the option for choosing which profile to be sent with the proposal i.e. General Profile or Any of the 2 or 1 Specialised Profile.

 

Upworkers like me use treat General Profile as a Specialised Profile, the reason being high number of specialization with less control over showcasing it.

 

For instance, I use my General Profile for clients looking to Setup Google Analytics, Tag manager, Facebook Pixels, 

 

Digital Marketing Profile: For clients looking for SEO, SEM, SMO, SMM, Email marketing, etc.

 

Market Research: For clients looking for research on product, pricing etc.

 

Now, as I possess multiple skills and specialization that I want to offer to my clients as a freelancer and so is the case with many freelancers on upwork. Having this feature makes it very handy so we can make our profiles stand out at the first glance by selecting which profile to be showcased first.

I know client is able to go through all the profile but it's about the first impression.

 

I had a conversation with an Upwork Support Team member, who told me that this feature was available as a test for 50% of the freelancers and has been removed today.

 

They are looking for feedback on this feature, therefore, I request the community to reply this thread with the specified format so Upwork can then finally decide whether to have the feature permanent or not.

 

Reply as:

Yes: I want to have this feature because .... state your reason

No: I don't want this feature because ... state your reason

 

Note: I request to kindly not start a debate, argument or reply to any replies of this post to start any of it... simply reply with yes or no and state your reason

ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Wes, I'd like to confirm that the issue that's resulted in you seeing that notification has now been resolved.

 

Additionally, I'd like to provide an update. All freelancers now have the option to choose which profile is sent with their proposals. Previous tests that restricted this ability have ended. If you do not have a specialized profile, your general profile will be sent.

~ Valeria
Upwork

View solution in original post

30 REPLIES 30
VladimirG
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Arpit,

 

Thanks for sharing your feedback. Just wanted to follow up and share that the option to send a specialized profile was removed after the test has been concluded, in October of 2019.

~ Vladimir
Upwork


Vladimir G wrote:

Hi Arpit,

 

Thanks for sharing your feedback. Just wanted to follow up and share that the option to send a specialized profile was removed after the test has been concluded, in October of 2019.


You may want to enable it again. Seriously, FLers know way better than your algorithm which profile to select when sending their proposals. It's okay if you guys suggest one, but the final choice cannot be yours, Upwork. Seriously.

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

So Upwork’s position is:

  • Sliced profiles are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
  • They are so great that we remind all of you who don’t have one to make one with a full page ad every time you look at your profile.
  • They are so great that we try to coerce you into making them by locking your portfolio in the past until you do.
  • But you can’t be trusted to know how use them to market yourselves.

Who could possibly benefit from preventing experienced freelancers who have read postings and have an understanding of what the client is looking for from showing appropriate information to that client? 

 

Remember, Upwork, that you're making your money on a percentage basis. Making it less likely that we'll get hired is bad for your bottom line.


Vladimir G wrote:

 

Thanks for sharing your feedback. Just wanted to follow up and share that the option to send a specialized profile was removed after the test has been concluded, in October of 2019.


This is odd, since as recently as yesterday I was given the option to pick a profile to use. I don't see it on every job I submit to, but I do see it regularly.

 

This really is a feature UW needs to keep. 

varungs
Community Member

This feature should 100% be enabled. Why for any sane reason would freelancers not want to have more control over what they send to clients? Why for any sane reason would clients not want to see the best and most appropriate side of a freelancer's work experience? It makes zero sense whatsoever.

petra_r
Community Member


Arpit J wrote:

Reply as:

Yes: I want to have this feature because .... state your reason

 


Yes, I want to be able to choose because there is no *possible* downside to being able to choose and obviously the technical ability is already programmed in (as we were previously able to choose.)

There is no possible upside to NOT being able to choose, so the removal of the ability to choose makes no sense.

This is absurd.  Freelancers should be able to choose what profile each potential client sees.  They know their skills better than some algorithm.  Not being able to choose negates the whole purpose of specialized profiles.

Screen Shot 2020-01-31 at 7.20.18 AM.png

lysis10
Community Member

Oh god, Upwork no no no. I threw everything into my specialized profile just to have one so I could add a portfolio piece. But the profile text is lame just because I knew I would not use it. I totally have the brain power to choose the best profile.

 

If you do this, I might have to just make both profiles identical. 

a_lipsey
Community Member

I agree with the other FLs. Let us choose which profile to send. I just made a specialized profile that I pretty much never use. I will have to make them both identical too if we cannot choose. 

martina_plaschka
Community Member

Boy am I glad I never created a specialized profile, mainly because I have one skill only. Mind you, it's a particular skill, even if it's not a particular set of skills. Can't ever change my portfolio again in my life time, but that seems to be a small price to pay to stay away from this madness.

 

Upwork, neither the collective 'you' nor your algorithms have a single rudimentary clue as to what:

 

1) client needs are based on RFPs

nor

2) what FLers do

 

And this decision proves it - yet again. 

 

Who better to determine the proper and more financially lucrative profile to send than the FL who understands what the client needs and how to expedite getting the client to their goal?

 

CHANGE IT BACK.

 

 

I agree that people should have control over which profile to present to the client. Why would I leave this to an algorithm I've never sat down to lunch with? And why would anyone leave this to an algorithm at all?

I have to say that I'm thoroughly fed up with the poorly considered, poorly designed, and poorly executed AI approaches that are so rampant on this platform, along with all those ditzy marketing dodads they keep throwing in to make things more exciting. 

Thought for the day: Bad AI can make you look really dumb on a really regular basis. 

(Edited to add the following:
N.B. I'm engaged in some ongoing discussions about what constitutes the dumbest thing you can do that could still be considered AI and whether any of what we've been seeing would actually qualify as artificially intelligent. I don't want to perpetuate any misconceptions surrounding this.)  

I chose the same path, Martina.  "Avoid the madness".   Classic writing.   I have been irritated that I cannot add new pieces to my portfolio - the madness stalks us even yet.  When I come into the rare circumstance I might want to reference work that is not mentioned in my portfolio, I just attach the deliverables or whatever it is would have been in the profile directly into the proposal.

 

Avoid the madness.  Solid life strategy.  I will work hard to remember that in the upcoming week.


John B wrote:

 

 

Avoid the madness.  


Lol 🙂 

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless
kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Hi All,

 

I'd like to clarify that when you don't see an option to choose which profile is shown to the client with your proposal, Upwork is NOT making a selection on your behalf. Instead, your general profile is shown to the client with your proposal. I'd also like to add that we are continuing to develop and test improvements to specialized profiles to result in more successful contracts.

~ Valeria
Upwork


Valeria K wrote:

I'd like to clarify that when you don't see an option to choose which profile is shown to the client with your proposal, Upwork is NOT making a selection on your behalf. Instead, your general profile is shown to the client with your proposal. 


I just clicked submit on a job and saw the below message, which seems to indicate that it's not showing the general profile.

chrome_atfQnmtEDw.png

Just to clarify: Is Upwwork DEFINITELY enabling freelancers (presumably intelligent, thinking humans) to select the information (specific profile) that is sent to each client with whom these freelancers are interacting?

Hi Wes,

 

Thanks for the screenshot. I've shared this with the team and they are looking into it. That's not the expected behavior.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Wes, I'd like to confirm that the issue that's resulted in you seeing that notification has now been resolved.

 

Additionally, I'd like to provide an update. All freelancers now have the option to choose which profile is sent with their proposals. Previous tests that restricted this ability have ended. If you do not have a specialized profile, your general profile will be sent.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Thanks, Valeria!


Valeria K wrote:

 

I'd like to clarify that when you don't see an option to choose which profile is shown to the client with your proposal, Upwork is NOT making a selection on your behalf. Instead, your general profile is shown to the client with your proposal.


Even if true—contrary to evidence just presented—how in any construction of English meaning is that not a "selection" by Upwork from among the available options?


Douglas Michael M wrote:

Valeria K wrote:

 

I'd like to clarify that when you don't see an option to choose which profile is shown to the client with your proposal, Upwork is NOT making a selection on your behalf. Instead, your general profile is shown to the client with your proposal.


Even if true—contrary to evidence just presented—how in any construction of English meaning is that not a "selection" by Upwork from among the available options?

 

 


I THINK what she's saying is that if you don't get to pick, they are not applying bad AI to make that determination for you, just defaulting to the general profile without regard to whether that seems like a good or bad idea or what you might prefer.


Valeria K wrote:

 

I'd like to clarify that when you don't see an option to choose which profile is shown to the client with your proposal, Upwork is NOT making a selection on your behalf. Instead, your general profile is shown to the client with your proposal.


Sorry?

Valeria...

 

Capture d’écran 2020-01-31 à 23.05.56.jpg

 

 

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless
bizwriterjohn
Community Member

 

Reply as:

Yes: I want to have this feature because .... state your reason

No: I don't want this feature because ... state your reason

 

Note: I request to kindly not start a debate, argument or reply to any replies of this post to start any of it... simply reply with yes or no and state your reason.

 

No, I don't need this feature because I do not use specialized profiles.

----------

 

On... a side note.  Perfect blog post ending.  Form the responses in a way useful to you --  or, at least -- made a solid showing in the attempt to do so. 

 

You are doing exceptionally well, Arpit.
Chat with you soon.

 


John B wrote:

 

On... a side note.  Perfect blog post ending.  Form the responses in a way useful to you --  or, at least -- made a solid showing in the attempt to do so. 

 


It's not a blog post. It's a thread in a community forum where people ask questions and receive answers. It's not a marketing  venue for useless posts in which OPs put out unsolicited advice. If you want a blog, then there are many different venues for you to create one. That is not, however, the purpose of a community forum. 


John B wrote:

 

On... a side note.  Perfect blog post ending.  Form the responses in a way useful to you --  or, at least -- made a solid showing in the attempt to do so. 


Quite the contrary, John. This is a forum, not a blog (which one can set up to accept or suppress comments at will). It's not about "forming" responses. It's not about whether either new topics or their responses are "useful" in some self-serving way to the poster. Arpit was within their rights to request poll-type responses. It was not a "perfect" ending. To expect binary yes-no responses on such a cluster of hot-button topics was perhaps naive; it's not surprising that few respondents complied, compared with the numbers who chose to address (not debate) different aspects of a longstanding complex of dissatisfaction.


tlsanders
Community Member


Arpit J wrote:

 

Reply as:

Yes: I want to have this feature because .... state your reason

No: I don't want this feature because ... state your reason

 

Note: I request to kindly not start a debate, argument or reply to any replies of this post to start any of it... simply reply with yes or no and state your reason


As to this, I don't need this feature because I recognized early that specialized profiles would end in catastrophe and didn't make one. But, I want others to have it.

researchediting
Community Member


Arpit J wrote:

 

...I had a conversation with an Upwork Support Team member, who told me that this feature was available as a test for 50% of the freelancers and has been removed today.

 

They are looking for feedback on this feature, therefore, I request the community to reply this thread with the specified format so Upwork can then finally decide whether to have the feature permanent or not.

 

Reply as:

Yes: I want to have this feature because .... state your reason

No: I don't want this feature because ... state your reason

 

Note: I request to kindly not start a debate, argument or reply to any replies of this post to start any of it... simply reply with yes or no and state your reason


Arpit,

Alas, the Support Team member misinformed you, and/or were themselves misinformed. Upwork is virtually never "looking for feedback" on any feature. That's why they abolished their user advisory board, and why they usually do blind A/B testing instead of proper beta testing. Upwork has already "finally" decided to remove this feature, insofar as they've ended their test without implementing it.

 

Like all Upwork decisions, this one is final until it's not. There is no reason to believe that anything we say here—let alone a test even less scientific than their norm—will influence them. That does not prevent us from openly and freely discussing the issues.

 

Best,

Michael

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