The number of “hires” in Upwork is in reference to how many freelancers the client has already hired for the project. That is, when setting up projects on Upwork, clients have the option to select one or multiple freelancers.
So, in the example above, the client has already hired two people for the project or job.
Why Does it Matter to You?
In many cases, this number might not mean anything to you. For me personally, this is how I look at it. As a matter of personal preference, I don’t like to take jobs that have multiple freelancers hired and working. But, there are pros and cons! Really, this differs by your area of expertise, but lets look at a couple of examples below.
If you’re a freelance writer and you see the number of hires is more than one, that means the client is hiring multiple people for the job. Here are the pros and cons.
Pros
Better Odds
On potential positive is that you have a better chance of landing the job. This simply comes down to the umbers working in your favor—would you rather compete for one spot out of 20 applicants or for five spots out of 20 applicants? On the surface, all things held equal, you should have a better chance of landing the job.
Competition
Secondly, let’s say the client is hiring five writers, and everyone is writing about the same topic. If you can manage to stand out as the best writer of the group, you might have a better chance of being the name the client remembers for their next project.
Cons
Competition
Jumping back into the point above, this can also be looked at as a negative. Let’s say you produce a decent article, but it’s not considered to be as good as a couple of others. If you were to be the only writer for this project, you might have done a good enough job to get hired for the client’s next project. But, because in this case there were multiple writers, that’s not the case.
(On the other hand, perhaps you might not have been hired in the first place!)
Style and Freedom
When it comes to our freelance skills, we like to think we are better than the next person, right? Thus, we might develop our own processes and ways of going about things; perhaps we come up with our own unique style, etc.
Well, if the client has multiple writers, and one of them completes their project before you, and the client really likes what that person has produced, they may reach out to you asking for you to replicate the same. Now, you might have to stray far from your comfort zone and personal style to produce something the client is asking for.
Final Word
All in all, could this all be overthinking, and perhaps it really doesn’t matter for most freelancers? It certainly can! Again, it just comes down to personal preference, and now that you know what “hires” and number of hires means, you’re on track to make your own decisions. Best of luck!
