You can manage proposal volume by switching job post visibility between public and private. Public posts appear in searches, while private ones require direct invites. If overwhelmed by proposals, change to private or close the post entirely. Note: some proposals may still come after visibility changes due to caching or saved URLs.
You can help manage how many proposals you get by adjusting your job post visibility:
- Public posts are visible to all freelancers and agencies on Upwork and appear in search results
- Private posts limit who can see and submit proposals. They don't appear in searches, so you'll need to take the time to find and invite the freelancers and agencies you need
If you’re getting more proposals than you want, switch your post to private. You can always make it public again later if you want to attract more talent.
To change your job's visibility
- Locate the job by going to Hire talent > Job posts and proposals
- Choose if you'd like to make the post private or public from the job post's (...) options menu
Stop proposals by closing your job post
If you’re not planning to hire anyone — or you’ve finished hiring — you can close the job post to stop receiving proposals. Need to reopen it later? No problem. Just repost it if your hiring needs change.
Note:
If you change visibility from public to private you may still get a few proposals. This is because a freelancer may have saved your job's URL, the URL may have already loaded in their RSS feed reader, or the job post is still appearing in search engines outside of Upwork. It usually takes about a day for them to remove your job after a visibility change but can take longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, we offer public and private job post visibility status to help you control the flow of proposals. If you have enough proposals or need time to review the ones you already have, you can change the visibility status to private. If you decide you want more proposals later, you can make it public again.
If you change visibility from public to private, you may still get a few proposals. This is because a freelancer may have saved your job's URL, the URL may have already loaded in their RSS feed reader, or the job post is still appearing in search engines outside of Upwork. It usually takes about a day for them to remove your job after a visibility change but can take longer.