Why can’t I add my own category/skills?

[standishproud]

Why don’t you have any categories for social work? I contract through various businesses and provide Medicaid service to folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Many families are looking for this kind of service since they don’t have enough help or don’t like the help they do have through the Medicaid system. Private Pay has allowed me to provide higher quality service. But there’s no way I can define myself with your app. Seems pretty limited to various IT and standard office responsibilities. Why can’t I enter my own category???

[prestonhunter]

You can recommend new categories.

Many of the categories now in place originated with request from freelancers.

[standishproud]

Didnt I just do that? Yeah like you're going to update that anytime soon. I can recommend all I want but will anybody listen - probably not. Just allow the person to type in their own category because we know what keywords our customers are looking for. Not a very helpful reply. Most likely will be deleting this useless app. Poor design. Too much control. Why? 

[feed_my_eyes]

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S P wrote:

Didnt I just do that? Yeah like you're going to update that anytime soon. I can recommend all I want but will anybody listen - probably not. 

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Well yes, you can make a recommendation but there's no guarantee that it will happen. Upwork is geared towards supplying services that a majority of clients are looking for, as opposed to services that individual freelancers wish to offer. Also, this is a global marketplace, so the categories are no doubt designed to be broad, whereas you're trying to provide a service to a specific category of people in the U.S. only. However, it's possible for you to do an advanced search using your choice of keywords, in order to find suitable projects.

[standishproud]

So in other words, people that do freelance work. Let me repeat that, that do freelance work cannot use your freelance app unless they fit into one of your pre-approved categories, right? How is allowing somebody to add their own category going to decrease the usefulness of your app? There's absolutely nothing out there to help folks in this market that I am functioning. And attitudes like yours don't help.

[BojanS]

Hi there, 

You should be able to select one of the existing categories as your main category and then select the skills according to your expertise. 

You’re also able to create separate Specialized profiles for your expertise. Please check this helpful article for more information about Specialized Profiles available for Freelancers on Upwork.

Please note that your profile must represent you as an individual and that all the information in your profile including your name needs to be accurate, truthful and verifiable.

Thank you!

[standishproud]

The existing categories do not have anything that relates to social work, working with individuals with disabilities or advocacy. Could you please point me in the direction of those categories if I am missing them? Otherwise could you explain why you do not have these categories? They do not fit as a subcategory to any of the existing major categories either. Again the app Is extremely limited and does not allow the user to modify it for what they know will work best. You're not going to take over my business so why do you wanna challenge me on this?

[BojanS]

Hi there,

It's not possible for freelancers to enter a custom category as a free text when setting up their profile. Both freelancer and job search on Upwork rely on categories and subcategories freelancers and clients select on their profiles and when posting a job. That said, we appreciate your feedback about not having a category that would precisely describe the kind of work you do. I have already shared it with the team. Meanwhile, you could select Admin Support as a category, Other as a subcategory and then select Public Health as one of your skills on the next screen.

Thank you! 

[standishproud]

This app is very limited and tends to have a lot of bugs reading through the community postings. So far not impressed nor am I committed to keeping this app if it doesn't allow me to do what I need to do. Limited categories cheap looking App and Customer Service completely avoids your questions and send it directly to the community support section. Good luck finding help when you need it!