Boost Your Proposal to the Top of List (March 2022 Update): Questions & Feedback

[MichaelJ]

Today we’re reintroducing the boosted proposals feature with some changes. Read the announcement from James, Director of Product, here and let us know your thoughts about these updates in the comments below.

[31ee461d]

How do you know if your proposal have reviewed or not 

from where could I know?

[9ae9194a]

You can't do this because up work doesn't allow, but you can know how many people who saw your profile (the clientmay see your proposal but don't see your profile )

So you can know this by going to https://www.upwork.com/my-stats/

[9ae9194a]

You don't have to make boost, The boost will help you to be in the beginning of proposals.

I mean if someone made a boost let's say 3 connects and another one didn't make any boost the person who made the boost will be the first and the other person will be the second . It's look like the SEO in search engines.

[678a8752]

But it seems we cant send proposals unless you purchase extra Boost 

[9ae9194a]

No you can when you go to section boost your proposal you will see 'boost' button just don't click it .

But actually you may don't know that you have to spend some connects to make a proposal (the client decides this)

[d633930e]

I think You do not necessarily have to boost your proposal everytime. However, if you find a job that you feel you are a top candidate, You can boost. This would only allow quick/swift profile viewing and maybe response...

[d633930e]

I have boosted a proposal before and I got the Job. On the otherhand, I sent a proposal creating a solution to the client's problems without boosting profile and I got a response too. So I would not say boosting profile is 100% effective.... 

[ead6b094]

Who else thinks that the old way of bidding was good? I think boosting of posts just discouurages effort and first come basis.

[bd412c70]

Hi Sharon!

I think that a new way is much better as I use my connects wisely and have success in getting projects. Before, many freelancers with poor knowledge got projects as they are cheap. Now, you need to invest your money and efforts to highlight yourself from others and the efforts always pay out.

[4c5b9f71]

Sharon I would respectfully disagree with you on boosting/bidding  system.

In its sole form its pay to get to the top. A lot of freelancers who don't pay will not be able to take advantage because they can't afford it. 

Plus not all people hired are cheap, just most cases, to take a small statistic and make it an absolute and say that justifies a system where you pay to get an advantage is really off or unsound. 

Tbank you,

Marcelino 

[kdniazi]

You don't think previous bidding  method  was better then current connect based priority bids?

[calado-marco]

Hi Khandad

Actually i do. To me it it's just starting to look like a way to make the freelancers spend connects.

The current method is just a sort of "google's" search, when you pay for an SEO so that your link comes up first.

And that for me undermines the idea that the best freelancers get the job, i'ts pushing the bid's by paying for it, instead of relying on the freelancers portofolio/work quality.

[sahiramsiyag]

Give you valuable feedback on new boost system.

[calado-marco]

Hi Mike.

Andrea G just merged my post "Bid boosting does it work?" to the post " Boost Your Proposal to the Top of List (March 2022 Update): Questions &"

I understand why she did it, and it helps.

The thing is that when i posted it, my intention was to get a general idea of how is it working for other freelancers. Call it a "poll".

When she merged the two topics it defeated the purpose. It got lost in the sea of other answers so to say.

Is it possible to set it again to a single topic?

All the best and keep on the good work!

[asadkhalid3105]

Last 3 months.. Don't get any requests... what can I do now.

[anis_u_rehman]

I have this new boost proposal feature. Please disable it.

[borini]

The stupidest thing Upwork has ever done. I remember when I started on Upwork even though inexperienced, and didn't know how to write good proposals I still got responses and invites, but nowadays with the new boosting system, it's impossible to get a reply and not even talk about getting hired. I feel like the rich are getting richer in this case Upwork and the highest paying freelancers and we that are in the middle or just starting are just left to "die". I really hope someone from Upwork reads this and removes the boosting system because they will lose freelancers, I don't think most of us can afford to bid on 20 jobs daily and use 20 connects for every job, that's like 400 connects per day that's around 60-70$ per day. It's absurd and no one guarantees that you will get a reply or be hired. Shameful from Upwork.  😞

[sales_iksen]

Hello Christopher,
You have reintroduced the Proposal Booster feature with a slight change. The objective seems good that the more confident bidder of a job will boost his/her proposal with a higher number of booster connects.  But it'll only work if the RFP is genuine.

I have serious doubts about the genuineness of the RFP itself. It requires a good amount of research to prepare a killing proposal which is evident from the proposal itself. On top of it, it requires extra connects to prove the interest of the freelancers. That is also acceptable if the RFP is not spammed.

So my suggestion is that if the job is not offered to any freelancer, the connects including the booster connects be returned to the Freelancer.

[osama_reda77]

hello guys,

i hope u all are ok ..

i have a big issue with BOOST PROPOSAL FEATURE. i believe this is not a fair feature.

u have to pay more money to pay more connects to get a higher position in pidding.

this is totally wrong feature. 

this feature serves only the freelancer who can pay more money to get jobs. this is not related to how professional u are or how your work is good.

i really was enjoying working on this platform but i am not now.

i think i gotta search for a new platform where more transperancy is provided and i believe all freelancer who not believe in this feature should do the same.

i hope this post not to be deleted or ignored because it is  really big problem ..

waiting to hear your opinions..

thanks in advance.....

[27976d7e]

The whole concept of Upwork is unfair. The idea of 'connects' is bad and not ethical. 

Newcomers are likely to use the boost feature because they have no system rating on UpWork (only from the outside world). 

Just because someone is new and has boosted doesn't mean they are not professional or talented. I got one of my first decent jobs by lumping on a whole load of free connects onto a proposal. Maybe 30-40 connects and there was no way I paid for them (just free connects). And guess what, the client was a 100% happy with my work at the end. To win the job I did a sample of video graphics which took 15 minuets to complete, and added it to the proposal. (watermarked). That's how I won that job. Maybe I was lucky as well but I beat a top-rated freelancer to it. However, I think to myself,... well if I didn't boost, my propsal would have just been left at the bottom of the pile, many pages back. Is that fair to me? 

When I first signed up I was under the impression it was easy to get work. The problem UpWork and is too many freelancers de-valuing the work. In my case motion-graphics, video editing and image manipulation.

There are a lot of things UW could do to improve its service. 

It sounds a bit harsh, but I think UW should stop new memberships with certain trades. (just temporarily maybe),

Otherwise, the ocean is just going to get bigger and you are going to end up with a lot of unhappy freelancers. 

Maybe compartmentalise regions. It is unfair if a UK employer is exploiting foreign talent but not paying them a UK, US rate. And this prices out UK freelancers.  Although, some UK clients are more altruistic and pay ok.

The really bad thing about UpWork is the exploitative nature of it, and whilst I have had some pleasant clients to begin with, 

I have seen people have had very bad experiences with clients acting like D-heads. 

The boost fetaure is there to let people in, but I see clients and established freelancers don't like it. But there is a lot of other stuff not to like, which could be fixed. 😞

[osama_reda77]

i agree that Upwork has a lot of prbs which they gotta work on but the boosing prb is a huge one they gotta remove that system. 

if u are a professional and u have a good portfolio, u will get alot of work without paying much money for these connects

[miriam-ocampo]

Well, we have been discussing this for months (now that I don't get any jobs I have a lot of time to read these discussions), and short story: Upwork doesn't care, I guess it's working for them. 

[osama_reda77]

it is really working for them but we gotta do something 

[anis_u_rehman]

I am 100000000000% agreed with you.

I am also planning to leave this platform.

[abid_2243]

The Boost proposal is just benefiting upwork. It neithers benift the client nor freelancers. The one who throws more connects get recommended to the clients while the more experience and talented freelancers are ignored. There is no limit on how much you spend as freelancer and most of the times the connects are wasted on jobs which either expires or goes with out hiring. It's killing the platform and most of the freelancers are quitting on upwork as I know hundreds of my friends are moving to other alternatives, and so I am planning to do.