Upwork

Site's statement

Jobboard Finder’s opinion

Summary: Created in 2015 by a Greek entrepreneur, Odysseas Tsatalos, and other partners from Elance, UpWork quickly became a popular choice for freelancers, especially for remote work. Today, as many as 39 million visits are recorded every month by Similarweb, 21% of which come from the US, 9% of which are from India, 7% of which are from the Philippines and the others are from the rest of the world. Despite the international success, the site is only available in English. UpWork is particularly active on social media for its many followers: 120 000 on Instagram (a number which has shot up over the last couple of years), 207 500 on Twitter, 832 324 on Facebook, 730 195 on Linkedin and 43 600 on Youtube (where there are many videos). All their social media tells the story of an incredibly successful job board. There are 12 main categories and over 90 different subcategories for freelance work, so at least you know there’s a lot to choose from.

Design: Most of the homepage explains how to use the site. There are also different sections with lists of categories, skills and locations, inviting users to discover what Upwork has to offer. There is a discreet search bar, which enables you to view some profiles and jobs before creating an account, but ultimately, to use the site correctly, you will need one. Once you’ve filled out all the necessary forms, you can view offers and candidates (and not just the top rated candidates). Depending on your account, you will have access to one of the following listings: freelancers and freelance work. In both cases, the list is based on your profile description but you can also use the search engine to find other offers/users using keywords. A freelance work offer includes a description, the rate (hourly or fixed), the location, the publication date, the number of proposals, a description, a star rating, how much the company has spent through UpWork and if the payment has been verified. Jobseeker pages have a description, a success rate, an hourly rate, the number of jobs, the hours worked, skills, reviews, samples of their work and how much they’ve earned. For the jobs page, you need to choose a specific category before getting a grid of offers and the filters (project attributes, price, delivery time and talent details). For talent, you have filters (category, location, talent type, hourly rate, job success, earned amount, hours billed, English level, other languages) on the side.

The job board objective: UpWork strives to connect businesses with great talent to work without limits, and to create economic opportunities for jobseekers.

Recruiter observations: It is free to post a job. However, you will need an account. When you create one, you can list the project as a onetime or ongoing project. You can also choose who can see the offer (anyone, UpWork users or only on request). The type of candidate you want and how long the project will be up and running are required information. However, you cannot post an advert for non-paid work. UpWork removes any such post very quickly.

Jobseeker observations: When filling out your profile, all the fields are required (that includes the photo and the address). You also need to include your tax information if you are outside of the US in case there are local limitations. Not everyone can join UpWork and if your profile isn't interesting enough, the site will reject you.

The job offers: There are many job offers in all of the categories. The categories include jobs for writers, web developers, translators, designers, telecommunication assistants and accountants.

Reactivity: It’s a bit difficult to find a contact number. According to Crunchbase, you can contact the team at info@upwork.com.

Special features: The blog; the app; the customer stories; job description writing advice, interview questions, tips, common mistakes and a hiring guide customized for different positions (very impressive); the job success scores (based on previous work); top rated badges; job templates; the weekly summary sheet; the forum; invite a coworker; the job success rate (on profiles).

Verdict: UpWork is an interesting idea and definitely a practical, trustworthy choice for freelancers and people looking to hire freelancers. Some of the features can be confusing though, like applying to job offers, but they have put in a lot of time and effort to make their UX design as helpful as possible.

Written by Ali Neill

As the job board tester and blog editor for the Jobboard Finder, Ali works on job boards from all around the world and keeps a close eye on the recruitment trends thanks to a number of sources, including the website's social media pages.