How Many Freelancers Will Bid on My Job Post?

[Lena E]

When you post a job on Upwork, you’re putting your project out there to thousands of skilled freelancers and agencies looking for projects just like yours. That’s a lot of talent to choose from, which is why Upwork gives you a few ways to narrow the field to the services and talent you need. If you need more help vetting proposals, Upwork offers talent services to help you find who you need.

Generally, the number of freelancers or agencies who submit proposals will depend on a few things:

• The quality, detail, and preferences in your Job Post
• The availability of freelancers with the skills you need
• If you set your job post to public or private. Note: Sponsored listings can increase visibility and the number of proposals you receive
• How many freelancers or agencies you invite to apply
• How you filter freelancers

As you can see, most of these variables are under your control. You can set the parameters for who and what you need, and Upwork will help match talent to your project based on those filters.

“Some other factors that can affect which freelancers will submit proposals include the freelancer’s location—whether that’s domestic or global—and the price you’re willing to pay as expressed through your budget or the beginner/intermediate/expert tier of your job.” – Zak Hubbard, Director of Product Management, Upwork

Whether you need an agency to help with a large, ongoing project or specialized talent to fill a skill gap, Upwork can connect you with a few or many freelancers your way—and fast.

Let’s look at little closer at each of these factors to show you how you can ensure you’re getting connected with the best possible talent for you.

A LOT DEPENDS ON WHAT’S IN YOUR JOB POST

The goal of your job post is to attract freelancers with the skills you need who are serious about taking on your project. Some clients include a screener question or request to make sure freelancers have read their post all the way through.

On the flip side, to make sure top freelancers apply to your post, include plenty of detail and context in your description. The more you can sell your project and yourself, the more they’ll want your project.

The skills you need will determine the size of the talent pool

The Upwork site helps you access to highly skilled freelancers and agencies with nearly every skill under the sun. Once you post a project within a particular category, you may start receiving bids from qualified freelancers within 24 hours.

For freelancers and agencies with niche skill sets and extensive experience, you’re looking at a smaller pool—and more competition for their bids, which why a stand-out job post is particularly important.

As a rule, the rarer and more in-demand the skills, the fewer freelancers. To specify other related skills, add expertise when you post your job so more freelancers with those skills see your job post in search. Three to five skills is a good place to start, but you can add up to ten, which will return more search results.

 

Posting a public job post will increase your job’s visibility

You have the option to make your job posts public or private. Which you choose will affect how many freelancers or agencies see and submit proposals for your job.

Public job posts are visible to any interested freelancers, which automatically widens the pool of freelancers who might see it. There’s no guarantee they’ll all see it or all be interested (one reason you want to write an awesome job post!), but it will be more visible.

On the flip side, private job posts are invitation-only. They are only visible to freelancers you invite to submit proposals.

Read How Do You Write an Effective Job Post? for more details on the job post process.

Keeping your post private can limit how many freelancers see your post, but it can also prevent you from being overwhelmed by too many proposals at once. Note that you can always go back and set your post to public if you want more proposals.

WHEN YOU POST YOUR JOB, NARROW THE FIELD USING FILTERS

As you’re posting your job, you’ll create the title and write your description, then you have the option to narrow down who you need by expertise and location (U.S. only if you’re in the U.S., or worldwide). From there, you can set your job post visibility (anyone, including search engines, and Upwork freelancers; or, invite-only) independent freelancer or agency, and any qualifications you need. If you select invite-only, you’ll get to hand-select who you invite to your job post. You can narrow down proposals you search with filtering.