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How To Find The Best Jobs On Upwork – 5 Flags Method

Work Online » Freelancing
How To Find The Best Jobs On Upwork

(5 Flags Method)

Updated: September 12, 2017

Let me start with a confession.

While I haven’t had a “real job” since 2010, and have mostly earned a living freelancing online since then, I’ve rarely used Upwork to find clients.

But recently I have been helping lots of other freelancers find great clients and earn a lot of money on Upwork.

Here are some of the emails and Facebook messages I’ve received from them:

How exactly did I help those people (and many others) achieve such great results on Upwork?

Four ways:

I taught them how to create a killer Upwork profile
I showed them which jobs were worth applying for (and which they should avoid)
I taught them how to write winning proposals
I advised them to pitch frequently and consistently 1

#2 above is rarely talked about, but it’s absolutely crucial to your success on Upwork.

So let’s spend the rest of this article talking about that.

4 Proven Upwork Proposal Templates To Save You Time And Win More Jobs

How To Find The Best Jobs On Upwork (And Avoid The Worst)

The sad truth is that there are A LOT of terrible clients on Upwork.

Terrible clients post terrible jobs, hire naive freelancers, and proceed to crush their souls.

If you’d like to keep your soul intact, you must be on the lookout for five “flags” whenever you evaluate a job on Upwork.

"Did someone say Six Flags??"

No, sorry, only five.

These five in particular, which I’ll teach you to recognize in a moment:

The Money Flag
The Pro Flag
The Newbie Flag
The Snowball Flag
The Location Flag

Each flag can be RED or GREEN.

Green flags are good. Red flags are bad. Most jobs on Upwork will contain a mix of both.

Smart freelancers avoid jobs with mostly red flags, and apply for jobs with mostly green flags.

Let’s go through them one at a time.

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The 5 Flags

The Money Flag

This is the first thing you should check for. It will give you an answer to this question:

Is the client willing to pay for quality?

To determine whether or not that is the case, look for the following four things in the job posting:

Budget (if set)
Experience level required
Total Spent
Avg Hourly Rate Paid

Example 1A

Budget of $1,000 and the client doesn’t even expect an Expert Level freelancer for that price, happy to hire someone at Intermediate Level.
They’ve already paid more than $60,000 to only 14 freelancers on Upwork.
The average hourly rate they’ve paid isn’t huge ($28.41/hour), but not unreasonable for an Intermediate Level freelancer.

Example 1B

The client hasn’t set a budget for this job but we can see that they’ve already spent more than $8,000 on Upwork, paying freelancers an average of $53.63 per hour.

Example 1C

Looking for an Expert freelancer but only willing to pay $10, a clear indication that this client is insane.

Example 1D

Looking for an Expert freelancer but only willing to pay $20.
$40,000 total spent, but the average hourly rate they pay is a ridiculous $2.16.

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The Pro Flag

This flag helps you answer the following question:

Does this client seem professional / someone I would like to work with?

To find out, look for these two things in the job posting:

Positive reviews
Clear requirements (as per the job title, job description, and listed questions)

Example 2A

Twelve reviews, all 5 stars.
Very clear title and requirements for the job. They’ve obviously thought this through and know exactly what they’re looking for, which means you can get to work right away instead of going back and forth with the client trying to figure out what needs to be accomplished.

Example 2B

Six reviews, all 5 stars.
Clear title and very specific requirements, not a job that was posted on a whim.

Example 2C

Less than a 2.5-star average on 11 reviews means this client is most likely a nightmare to work with.
Incredibly vague job title and description.

Example 2D

No reviews yet.
The job title and job description give little information. They don’t specify how many “amazing pieces” they’ll want you to produce or in what timeframe, nor do they specify what topics they want you to write about.

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The Newbie Flag

This tells you whether or not a client is new to Upwork.

Some newbies are obviously worth taking a chance on, but they are an unknown commodity so if you spot a newbie flag you should be extra diligent checking for the rest.

Tell-tale signs that a client is new to Upwork:

Payment Method Not Verified
0% Hire Rate

Example 3A

Payment method verified (as signified by the green check mark on the right side)
41 jobs posted and a 96% hire rate.

Example 3B

Payment method not verified.
3 jobs posted and a 0% hire rate.

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The Snowball Flag

The question you’re looking to answer here is:

What are the odds of getting hired for this job? 2

Obviously you can increase your odds by writing a great proposal, but that’s not the only factor at play. You can also get a good feel for the odds via a careful perusal of the job posting.

In particular, you should check:

Hire Rate
Number of proposals already submitted by other freelancers

Example 4A

This client has an 88% hire rate and only 5 people have already submitted proposals for the job. If you can submit a quality proposal fast, the client is very likely to see it and you’ll have a solid chance of getting hired.

Example 4B

More than 50 people have already submitted proposals for this job, and the client only hires someone about half of the time (54% Hire Rate), so you might as well be competing with 100 other freelancers.
Also, with so many proposals already submitted, it’s unlikely the client will even see yours at this point.

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The Location Flag

The geographic location of the client can be an important thing to check for two reasons:

Time zones.
Language and culture barriers.

These things can make it difficult to communicate and collaborate effectively.

For example, say you’re a freelancer in the United States and you’re hired by a company in India to write blog posts. There’s likely to be a long lag in communication because you’re working while they’re sleeping and vice versa. And if their level of English isn’t great, it could be a pain to resolve even the smallest issues.

Example 5A

A vague job posting from Spain with multiple typos. Fairly safe to assume that communication with this client would be muy difícil, especially if you’re in a time zone far far away.

Example 5B

Uhh…

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False Flags

You’ve seen above which pieces of information you should pay attention to when viewing a job posting on Upwork.

Now I want to show you three “false flags.”

These are pieces of information on Upwork job postings that newbies often get excited about (for better or worse) but don’t really mean anything.

They are:

Experience Level
Everything listed under “Preferred Qualifications”
The client promising more work in future

Let’s go through them.

Experience Level

Many inexperienced freelancers on Upwork see “Expert Level” in a job posting and immediately back away.

Even if you’re new to your craft, don’t let “Expert Level” jobs intimidate you.

Many clients have no idea what level of freelancer they need. They select “Expert Level” when posting their jobs because they know they’ll scare off a lot of the bottom-feeding freelancers and won’t have to waste so much time wading through their crappy proposals.

Check the 5 flags I listed above. If they are mostly green and you believe you can do a good job for the client, go ahead and submit a proposal.

Everything Listed Under “Preferred Qualifications”

Same story here.

If a job has enough green flags and you believe you can deliver the goods, don’t let a lack of “preferred qualifications” deter you from submitting a proposal.

After all, they are preferred qualifications. Not required.

The Client Promising More Work In Future

Beware of clients who write stuff like this in their job postings:

“There will be a lot more work for the right candidate”
“Long-term collaboration potential”
“If this first job goes well, I will hire you on an on-going basis”

Usually the clients who write stuff like that are trying to justify a really low budget, or there’s something else unsavory about the job that they’re trying to distract you from.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t apply for the job. Just don’t get your hopes up that it will turn into something more.

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I bet you say that to all the girls.

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Fast-Track Your Flag Check

To save you from wading through tons of crappy jobs, you can fast-track your flag check by going heavy on the search filters Upwork provides.

For example, if I was looking for blogging jobs, I’d use the following filters.

With that, the jobs showing up in my search results are much more likely to be worth my while, and I can filter even further if needed.

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5 Flag Cheat Sheet

Here’s a quick summary of the flags to check for on each job posting:

1. The Money Flag

Answers the question:

Is the client willing to pay for quality?

Look for:

Budget (if set)
Experience level required
Total Spent
Avg Hourly Rate Paid

2. The Pro Flag

Answers the question:

Does this client seem professional / someone I would like to work with?

Look for:

Positive reviews
Clear requirements (as per the job title, job description, and listed questions)

3. The Newbie Flag

Answers the question:

Is the client new to Upwork?

Look for:

Payment Method Not Verified
0% Hire Rate

4. The Snowball Flag

Answers the question:

Do I have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting hired for this job?

Look for:

Hire Rate
Number of proposals already submitted by other freelancers

5. The Location Flag

Answers the question:

Am I likely to have issues communicating with this client?

Look for:

Location, duh.

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Final Tips

Before we finish up, let me emphasize that there’s no such thing as a perfect job on Upwork, so don’t hold out and only apply for jobs that have 5 green flags.

There are plenty of jobs on Upwork with 3 and 4 green flags that are well worth applying for, and you’re likely to find a few of those listed every day.

Also, as noted up top, being selective about which jobs you pitch is only one piece of the puzzle.

To give yourself the best chance of success on Upwork, you also need to:

Create a killer Upwork profile
Write winning proposals
Pitch frequently and consistently

Let me know in the comments which of those topics you’d like me to write more about. I’d also love to hear what you think of my 5 Flag Method above and how it works for you.

Oh, and remember, if you’re sick and tired of Upwork, there are better ways to find freelance clients.