Upwork Talent Specialists

[#1]

I've been invited to 2 jobs by Upwork Talent specialists recently. The first time, the specialist didn't check my country or profile rate ($40) so they made me go through the screening process, then told me at the interview that the job paid $10-$12. I thought Talent Specialists were supposed to do their Due Diligence before inviting someone.

Second time, the Talent Agent hasn't been responding to my correspondence. They've basically ghosted me on Upwork.

My wife has also been approached by a Talent Specialist but has had no responses at all.

Why do talent specialists have no professional skills or follow through, when clients always reply when they invite you and you respond. Is upwork just hiring anyone as a talent specialist now? There seems to be no quality of service or professionalism from upwork anymore, the care of freelancers is going from bad to worse. This will also likely translate to a poor experience for clients. I really think Upwork needs to up their game if they want to stay on top of the freelance market

[#2]

You can opt out of the talent specialist program here.

[#3]

I don't mind being on the program, I just wish they were professional.

[#4]

Oh you guys, be a coconut!

You'll be completely happy. 😁:desert_island:😂

[#5]

Thank you for posting the unsubscribe link. I've found the invitations I get from Talent Specialists to be a complete waste of time.

[#6]

I thought so too for years. But the past one year the Talent Specialists have been bringing me really good stuff, including an Enterprise Client.

Perhaps Upwork could let those Talent Specialists who matched me with good clients teach their approach to all the others so that every freelancer would get as good support as I've gotten recently.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

Hello Damon,

I am sorry to hear about your experience with the Talent specialists team. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. I'll pass this along to the appropriate team.

Pradeep H.

[#8]

Thanks

[#9]

Hi Pradeep, a talent specialist will only recommend jobs for top rated (plus) freelancers. Is it correct or not, please? Thx.

[#10]

I've had the same problem and being told I can opt out. I don't feel that is a proper answer. 

I just want to leave a feedback to improve the service:
I don't want to opt out. I feel a Talent Specialist's service could actually help a lot pairing clients with freelancers. 

I would love for Talent Specialist to send us relevant job offers. I've recently been contacted to create 15 illustrations on a very detailed style for 250USD and all to be done in one month. That budget fits only 2 illustrations of that kind and I'm being gentle with the price. To consider too, one month deadline is a very short span of time to finish such a huge and detailed project. 

I wish the Talent Specialist's program would send us relevant projects with adjusted budgets to our profiles and work history. 

The current state of the service is not good for us nor for upwork. If I had been sent an offering with a proper timeframe and a budget that was at least near to the quantity of work needed I would definetly talk to the client to find a common ground. Instead of declining the offer I could have accepted the interview.

I hope this feedback can find its way to improve the service,

Thanks!

[#11]

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Ayelen L wrote:

I've had the same problem and being told I can opt out. I don't feel that is a proper answer. 

I just want to leave a feedback to improve the service:
I don't want to opt out. I feel a Talent Specialist's service could actually help a lot pairing clients with freelancers. 

I would love for Talent Specialist to send us relevant job offers. I've recently been contacted to create 15 illustrations on a very detailed style for 250USD and all to be done in one month. That budget fits only 2 illustrations of that kind and I'm being gentle with the price. To consider too, one month deadline is a very short span of time to finish such a huge and detailed project. 

I wish the Talent Specialist's program would send us relevant projects with adjusted budgets to our profiles and work history. 

The current state of the service is not good for us nor for upwork. If I had been sent an offering with a proper timeframe and a budget that was at least near to the quantity of work needed I would definetly talk to the client to find a common ground. Instead of declining the offer I could have accepted the interview.

I hope this feedback can find its way to improve the service,

Thanks!

________________________

We have been assured that the talent specialists have been trained - perhaps the 'training' processes need to be reviewed. 

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[#12]

Thanks for your response Ayelen, I agree, what a lame response "just opt-out". No, I would like to have access to as many features that I can that will allow me to gain more clients. Yes, the Upwork Talent Specialist service can be improved but it also alerts me to jobs out there that I may have missed. My latest disappointment with the service is they sent me a job "that might be a great fit for me" and after reviewing the posting it was a job I had just submitted a proposal to and received a "declined" response to. Can't the Upwork Talent Specialist see that I had already responded to that job? 

Thanks

[#13]

Agreed. In theory, it should be a great service. Instead, most of my invites are not even within the ballpark of the kinds of services I offer, my availability, or my rate—so it's a waste of time for everyone involved. 

Like you, I don't want to opt-out. I just want the system to work better. 

[#14]

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Ayelen L wrote:

I wish the Talent Specialist's program would send us relevant projects with adjusted budgets to our profiles and work history. 

The current state of the service is not good for us nor for upwork. If I had been sent an offering with a proper timeframe and a budget that was at least near to the quantity of work needed I would definetly talk to the client to find a common ground. Instead of declining the offer I could have accepted the interview.

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The clients are the ones who set the deadlines and budgets, not the Talent Specialists, and I'd be very surprised if it was part of their job description to tell clients whether their expectations are realistic or not. It often doesn't matter anyway; I frequently bid with much higher prices and different timelines, and still get the project. Since it doesn't cost anything to accept the interview, you don't have much to lose.

[#15]

I'm in agreement - I've been an Expert Vetted Freelancer for 1 year now and the Talent Specialists have never connected me with a project.  Communication is never thoughtful or clear and most times I am ghosted when I ask a question in the rare instance when I am recommended for a job.  It's like talking to bots.  After 1 year in the "Expert Vetted" program, this has resulted in 0 jobs and 0 Enterprise jobs.  I was expecting that Upwork / Talent team would take an interest in fostering relationships with Expert Vetted members but this has not been the case at all.  I have nothing positive to say about the Upwork Talent Specialists or the Expert Vetted program.  

[#16]

Ayelen, Thomas and others,

Thanks for sharing your experience and feedback with Talent Specialists. I would like to clarify a couple of things about the program. The program provides services to clients who may need help finding talent on the platform. While Talent Specialists may provide some guidance to the client about how they could improve their job postings to attract top quality talent, it’s ultimately up to the client whether or not they’ll edit their posts. It is also up to the client and the freelancer to discuss the project after the invite is accepted. Talent Specialists would only invite potential candidates to the job, but they will not be a party to the conversation after that.
I’d also like to clarify that the Expert-Vetted program is different from the Talent Specialists program.

[#17]

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Valeria K wrote:

Ayelen, Thomas and others,

Thanks for sharing your experience and feedback with Talent Specialists. I would like to clarify a couple of things about the program. The program provides services to clients who may need help finding talent on the platform. While Talent Specialists may provide some guidance to the client about how they could improve their job postings to attract top quality talent, it’s ultimately up to the client whether or not they’ll edit their posts. It is also up to the client and the freelancer to discuss the project after the invite is accepted. Talent Specialists would only invite potential candidates to the job, but they will not be a party to the conversation after that.
I’d also like to clarify that the Expert-Vetted program is different from the Talent Specialists program.

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Could you add "relevant" as well? I am constantly getting invites to jobs that do not have German as a target language. The Talent Specialists are paid hourly and with the fees we are paying. The least to expect is that they make sure the freelancers they invite actually provide the service the client is looking for.

[#18]

Agreed - most of the rare instances where a Talent Specialist recommends a job, it's not even close to my listed rate.  Then, I decline these jobs and it effects my search ranking... and makes it less likely for Talent Specialists to reach out to me.  The system is completely broken.  

[#19]

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Thomas J M wrote:  Then, I decline these jobs and it effects my search ranking... .  

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It doesn't (affect your search ranking).

[#20]

I disagree with this - I declined several scam jobs at the beginning of 2022 and my name is now ranked much, much, much lower in search.  I am willing to bet that declining jobs does negatively impact your search results.  And I can see why - Upwork wants to match clients with freelancers who are most likely to accept jobs.  Upwork is financially motivated to boost freelancers who do not decline jobs.  (They only make money when jobs are accepted).  

[#21]

Hi Thomas,

I'd like to confirm that simply declining invites has no affect on search results. It is best practice to respond to invites in a timely manner though (decline or accept,) as that influences the freelancer's response time indicator.

[#22]

Do you have any ideas as to why my name has stopped showing up in a reasonable place in the search function?  I have stopped getting job invitations altogether because my name takes hundreds of pages of results to show up... despite 100% JSS and Expert Vetted badge with $220k earnings.  It's been around 2 months since I got a single invitation that wasn't a scam posting.

[#23]

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Thomas J M wrote:

Do you have any ideas as to why my name has stopped showing up in a reasonable place in the search function?  I have stopped getting job invitations altogether because my name takes hundreds of pages of results to show up... despite 100% JSS and Expert Vetted badge with $220k earnings.  It's been around 2 months since I got a single invitation that wasn't a scam posting.

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For a very simple reason, the list of freelancers rotates so that everyone appears at some point. Sometimes you will be higher and sometimes lower.
In addition, it must be added that, when you do a search, it depends on whether you are a client or a freelancer, it shows it in a different way. I seem to remember that Petra has once commented on this, I'm not sure.

[#24]

Earlier in April, I tested using my client account and my name showed up between pages 200 and 300 of search results.... behind some users whose names showed up 3-4x and other users who were not applicable to the search I posted for.  

The search function is broken.  

[#25]

I have a 100% timely reply rate.  There has to be some explanation as to why my name shows up 200-300 pages deep in the search results, behind other users whose names show up 3-4x before my name shows up once.

The search function is broken.