You’ve created an Upwork account and now you’re ready to get to work. Depending on your project requirements, there are two ways to search for talent on your own:
- Check out Project Catalog, a collection of services—predefined by the independent professionals who do the work—that makes it easy for you to browse, compare, and buy.
- Post a job to reach out to talented professionals and agencies in Upwork’s work marketplace, who can tailor a solution to fit the specific needs of your project.
In this article, we’ll go through the seven steps needed to post your job on Upwork:
- Step 1 — Job Post Title
- Step 2 — Job Post Description
- Step 3 — Job Post Details
- Step 4 — Identify Expertise
- Step 5 — Job Post Visibility
- Step 6 — Project Budget
- Step 7 — Review and Post
Don’t worry if you don’t have a job posting drafted already. We’ve created templates to help you get started and have built-in tips and prompts along the way so the most important information is included.
Let’s get started!
7 steps to a published job post
To begin, go to your client account dashboard—the page you land on when you first log in.
From this page, you have two options:
- Create your own job post: Click “Jobs” on the menu along the top of the page, then select “Post a Job”. As shown in the image below, you’ll then be prompted to create a new post for a short-term project or longer-term work. You can also choose to edit an existing draft (if you have one) or reuse a previous job post.
- Start with a job post template: You can also explore popular project types highlighted on the right side of the page under Job Templates and select a template that aligns with your project. If you’re part of a team, you can also use previous job posts from your colleagues as a starting point.
Whichever option you choose, the next steps will take you through the process to get your job post online.
If you’ve chosen to work with a template, many of the fields will be pre-populated with suggestions that the Upwork team has adapted from similar projects. This includes tips to help you customize the content and add custom details, such as information about your industry or technical requirements.
We strongly suggest that you review the drafted text and make any tweaks to ensure the information reflects your project and your business!
Step 1: Job post title
First, give your job post a name. A clear title makes it easy for talent to quickly decide whether they can deliver what your project requires or not.
It can be helpful to:
- Include your end goal or deliverable (i.e., launch a new website, publish a series of blog posts)
- List the most essential skill requirements (i.e., WordPress developer services)
- Give a brief description of the project and the expected deliverable (i.e., Need a designer to create a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation for a webinar)
You’ll also be prompted to choose a job category. We’ll use this information to make suggestions as you go through this process and to help match your project with independent professionals and agencies on Upwork’s work marketplace
Step 2: Job description
Getting your job description right is tricky but important.
A long description may not be necessary, but Upwork has also found that job posts with descriptions that are too short often get a poor response. Just as it’s unlikely that a one-line proposal would make your shortlist, high-quality talent is looking for more!
It can be helpful to anticipate the questions you may be asked about your project and include that information in your job post. Here are a few ideas:
- Explain your project and deliverable(s), as well as problems to be solved—skilled professionals love a good challenge
- Describe the type of expertise you’re looking for (i.e. skill level, type of experience)
- Highlight anything that’s unique about your project or organization, such as a compelling mission or use case
It may also be helpful to share relevant files for professionals or agencies to check out when they’re putting their proposals together. This could include:
- A document with more detailed project specifications
- A style guide or similar reference
- Inspiration or ideas, such as examples or a concept or mood board
And don’t hesitate to mention if you need help figuring out the scope of your main project.
Step 3: Job post details
The next two sections—Details and Expertise—capture more information about the type of project you have and the work to be complete.
On the Details page, we’ll ask you to:
- Indicate the type of commitment your project requires so professionals can better understand whether they have the experience and capacity to meet your expectations.
- Consider adding screening questions. They’re optional to the hiring process but can make it easier for you to scan and shortlist proposals as they come in.
- Decide whether to ask for a cover letter. If you don’t add screening questions to your job post, we’ll require that a cover letter be included instead.
Step 4: Identify expertise
In the Expertise section, Upwork gives you the option to highlight relevant skills and the level of expertise you feel would be ideal.
Based on the information you’ve already entered—such as the category you chose up front—Upwork will automatically offer suggestions. You can then choose from these suggested skill sets or add new ones if they’re a better fit.
For example, if you indicated that you’re looking for a CMS developer, you may be asked about:
- Project deliverables
- Programming languages
- Databases
- Other technology your project may rely on
This information is all optional but it helps us match your post with more relevant talent.
How many skills should you select? Upwork’s own analysis shows that choosing just two or three skills is the sweet spot: It’s specific enough to be relevant without the noise of related-but-not-essential skills.
Step 5: Job post visibility
How widely do you want to promote your job post? You have the option to:
- Share it with the public, whether they have an Upwork profile or not
- Limit visibility to talent within the Upwork community
- Share it only with a select few that you approach through direct invitations.
If your post is invite-only, it’s important to emphasize that you won’t receive any unsolicited proposals. This may create more work upfront as you search for and invite individual professionals and agencies to consider your project and submit a proposal. But it can also mean a shorter and more curated list of proposals to review.
Even if you set the visibility of your post to “Anyone,” consider sending invites to specific professionals: You’re 80 percent more likely to connect with top talent when you get their attention with an invitation to check out your job post.
If you’re part of a team, you’ll also have an option to invite professionals your company has worked with in the past. You can do this by going directly to a professional’s profile and clicking “Invite.” You’ll then be able to send them a pre-filled or customized invitation to your job post.
Tell us more about your talent preferences
None of the details in the Talent Preferences section will prevent otherwise qualified professionals or agencies from submitting their proposals. But the more information you include, the better the talent matches Upwork will be able to make.
You’ll be asked for more information about:
- Independent professionals vs agencies
- Location
- Existing Job Success Score
- Fluency with English
- Amount earned on Upwork
- Members of an underrepresented group, such as U.S. Veterans
Step 6: Project budget
The Budget section boils down to one question: Will you pay the professional you work with on an hourly basis or opt for a fixed price? Your answer will determine the other questions you’ll be asked on this page.
We provide a brief overview of each payment structure below but, if a more in-depth look would be helpful, review the difference between fixed price and hourly projects here.
Pay by the hour
With an hourly project, an hour worked is an hour paid by you: The professional tracks the time they spend working using the Upwork Desktop App—or manually, if you enable it—and you’re billed on a weekly basis. You can set a cap on the number of hours billed every week to help keep your budget in check.
You’ll be prompted for:
- An hourly range
- The length of your project
- A weekly time requirement
While these numbers reflect your expectations and project needs, expect requirements such as the hourly rate and project timeline to be further negotiated and confirmed before the contract is finalized.
Pay a fixed price
With a fixed-price project, pricing is predetermined and you either pay all at once or by milestone—predetermined deadlines that break your project into smaller pieces of work.
The funds are deposited into escrow at the beginning of the project and/or milestone, then released as you approve the work.
Step 7: Review and post
Your job post is almost ready to publish! The next page captures all the information you’ve entered so you can double-check the details.
If there’s anything you want to change, click on the pencil icon in the upper-right corner of each section, or click on the relevant section on the menu on the left side of the page.
Use the job post checklist below to help avoid missing any of the basics.
Promote your job post
You also have the ability to boost your project as a Featured Job, or to share it with coworkers so they can help you find, interview, and evaluate the talent you connect with.
Ready to get your project moving forward? Click here to go to your Upwork dashboard or sign up to start your search for talent on Upwork.
