Upwork Hiring Process
We Want You to Enjoy Your Experience
Upwork is dedicated to bringing out the best in every candidate so that you feel positively about your interview experience — regardless of the outcome — and so we can accurately see your potential.
We follow a structured hiring process designed to exclude biases and to find the best talent to fuel our growth and innovation. While the length of the process and types of skills assessments can vary depending on the type of role, all candidates go through these five stages.
Upwork Hiring: The Five Stages
1. Application Submission
Our application form is simple to complete, consisting mostly of contact information and a resume/CV upload.
Your application to a job post through our Careers site, or through LinkedIn Easy Apply, triggers your entry into the hiring process.
2. Application Review
Our recruiters conduct an initial review of applicant resumes. If you're selected by the recruiter, you will advance to the interview stage.
3. Interviews
Upwork utilizes both phone and video interviews. The first interview is a phone conversation with the recruiter. If selected by the recruiter, you will advance to a phone conversation with the hiring manager.
The next step is the video interview, which is a collaboration among team members at Upwork. The number of video interviews you'll participate in depends on the role, but typically you can expect 2-3 interviews. You will also likely be asked to complete a skills assessment during this stage.
After your first interview, if you will be moving forward in the process the reference check process will begin.
4. Decision
After interviews are completed, the hiring team individually completes candidate scorecards and then comes together as a team to discuss their findings. At the end of this stage a candidate will be chosen, or the team may decide to review additional candidates.
5. Offer
Once the hiring team decides on a candidate, our recruiter reaches out to the chosen candidate to extend a verbal offer, followed by a written offer.
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