This Structure Of Transparency Is Not To The Benefit Of Both Upwork's Freelancers And Customers.
Better proposals and freelancers with talents that could deliver quality work aren't rewarded. But inexperienced freelancers, new to the platform who think they can buy their way to success will invest in connects to boost their proposals.
And since the boosted proposal ranks at the very top, they will create the first impression a new customer will have of upwork freelancers, which might cause them to bounce off and hire on a platform like Fiverr, which obsessively rewards top-performing freelancers over newbies.
Upwork is far more transparent than Fiverr as it provides an equal and fair opportunity for anyone to succeed as long as you can sell yourself and go beyond the client's expectations to earn a stellar review.
But this transparency in boosting proposals is like a shadow that doesn't reward creativity & talent but whosoever has the most money to spend (waste).
If Upwork is out of features to make its company more competitive in the marketplace here are some features I will suggest that every freelancer would find enticing:
Automatic Connects Refund
If a client posts a job and he fails to hire and doesn't close the job, after a certain period (like 30 days) Upwork should automatically close it and refund freelancers' connects back.
And Upwork won't lose connects earnings if they choose to refund connects. In fact, upwork stands to gain even more because more freelancers will apply for more jobs, including the ones they are not certain the client would hire since they know they will get their connects back.
Star Proposals
There's is no problem with Upwork former method of boosting proposals (where other freelancers can't see what other freelancers have bid). But I will suggest Upwork handpicks & reward the 3 best-written proposal that promises to resolve the client's problem using a special Algorithm and rank them at the very top above other proposals.
That way the first impression a new customer has of upwork is fantastic. Customers will know upwork have their back and freelancer would be interested in writing better proposals since they know it would be rewarded.
That way both parties win and when both parties win Upwork wins big.
