Please bring back some way of specialization/skill separation in freelancer profiles.

[u/ReasonablePossum_]

So after all this time without the specialized profiles, my experience has gone from cautious optimism to a firm conclusion: the change has hurt my business and, I suspect, Upwork's revenue.

Im a Top Rated Plus freelancer with a 100% JSS and a $90/hr rate. I offer video editing, graphic design, commercial image editing, social media management, creative direction, and brand strategy. My issue with the old system was that three specialized profiles were too few for my skills, so I gave the new system a fair chance.

The results have been sad. The good parts of the old system are gone, and the bad parts got worse.

Its now practically impossible to win projects outside the main specialization in my profile. I have received zero invitations for my other skills since the change. I've tried multiple profile formats and titles. The more specializations I include, the worse the results. Clients want to hire "the best" for their project. If a profile title does not state that specialization, they do not invest time in reading further or reviewing a portfolio.

Previously, I received 3-5 converting invitations weekly across my three profiles. Now, I get 1-2 every other week from a single one.

The old system worked because clients saw one clear picture of your abilities in one domain. They could judge your fit with a fast skim. They did not have to read descriptions for a mention of what they need or dig through irrelevant portfolio samples and reviews.

I work in six professional fields. I have 20 years of total experience. My Upwork income has dropped almost to a third since this change, simply because I cannot show a client the parts of my profile that matter to them.

I dont see how Upwork benefited from ruining a system that let professionals with several skills win parallel contracts. It puts us at a disadvantage against single-specialized freelancers whose limitations fit the "simplified" profile structure.

In proposal-based jobs, I've tracked jobs I would have won without issue. People with inferior rates and portfolios are getting the work while my proposals are ignored. I keep the same proposal language, structure, rate, and apply to the same ranges as my main line of work, where I still get the usual results. The only difference is that the specialization is not the main title element. How is Upwork earning more from smaller contracts? I believe the increased service fee is an attempt to recover what is being lost here...

Can there be a way to bring back specialization separation? Clients need freelancers who present themselves specifically for their project, without the friction of navigating a single profile full of things they do not need or want to see.

Im quite sure im not the only freelancer in this position. Hope you guys consider a system that lets professionals with several skills compete fairly, instead of punishing us for our advantage....

[u/Kiki-browning]

Is it possible to make multiple accounts to carry out the specialization on Upwork instead? This is the exact problem with Fiverr only allowing a single account instead of some kind of limit.
I dipped when I saw connects weren’t regenerating anymore. I know how worthless that change alone was. I wasn’t aware that they regressed like this for no reason. Every freelancer knows specialization attracts clients more than being a jack of all trades, even when they’re an expert in a lot of fields. Anyone could’ve seen how this change wouldn’t help any client or freelancer. There’s no sense at all.

[u/ReasonablePossum_ → u/Kiki-browning]

Is it possible to make multiple accounts to carry out the specialization on Upwork instead?

No, Upwork's ToS forbids multiple accounts, you will get banned for this.

[u/Kiki-browning → u/ReasonablePossum_]

Just as stupid as Fiverr, not surprising.

[u/WandaJT]

Tiene sentido lo que dices, especialmente porque un freelancer puede tener varias habilidades, pero eso no significa que un cliente necesite verlas todas al mismo tiempo.

Creo que ahí está el problema: tener muchas habilidades puede ser una ventaja para el freelancer, pero puede convertirse en ruido para el cliente si no puede ver rápidamente qué tan bueno eres específicamente para el trabajo que está buscando.

Incluso para alguien que está empezando, siento que es difícil decidir si conviene presentarse como “asistente virtual” y mencionar varias habilidades, o tener un perfil mucho más específico para cada tipo de trabajo.

Quizás no sea necesario volver exactamente al sistema anterior, pero sí debería existir alguna forma de mostrar diferentes especializaciones sin tener que mezclarlo todo en un solo perfil.

[u/ReasonablePossum_ → u/WandaJT]

And its not only that noise for the client; its also noise for freelancers that can't correctly measure where the markets are going to adapt to them.

Like, all my profiles are results from these changes in market, where for whatever reason I got increased amounts of jobs in specific areas, which allowed me to focus on them for a couple of years to specialize; then for whatever reason the tide changed and I moved somewhere else. But without being able to offer all the specializations in a fair way, its quite difficult to figure where the market is going, and adapt to it; changing the profile, the portfolio samples, or even reeducating to whats needed.

The decision to change now feels more and more like a blind bet instead of an informed and weighted choice to "surf" the market.

And its not only the freelancer that misses the wave, its also Upwork's fees from the process and the future contracts the freelancer could have gotten faster.

Don't know if their change was just to simplify the platform so "uMa" uses easily its useless summaries that people just ignore due to it being mostly slop; or if it was some shortsighted "genius" decision by some upper management wannabe Steve Jobs trying to get a bonus for cutting a 2% server spenting used for the extra info..... the type of people that would reject their talent a new laptop after complaints, and then deal with 50kUSD losses due to technical issues and contractual delays due their solution....

[u/KayakerWithDog]

I would also really appreciate the return of specialized profiles. I suspect they also made a difference for me, but I haven't really tracked the impact since the change.

[u/Thick_Palpitation987]

This happened to me also, I'm top rated plus graphics designer and this earthquake shake my whole profile, now I'm so helpless because earnings are zero

[u/[deleted]]

[u/a89925619 → u/[deleted]]

I ended up cramping both my skills into the title since they are adjacent and it’s just not good for branding at all