What is Upwork JSS (Job Success Score)?
What is Upwork JSS (Job Success Score)?
Understanding Upwork JSS
Are you an Upwork freelancer and need to know how your Job Success Score works? Is your JSS still not appearing on your profile? Is your low JSS preventing you from getting new jobs?
Upwork calculates your Job Success Score to measure the quality of the job you deliver to your clients. Your JSS reflects your clients’ satisfaction with your work over time and will change depending on your latest stats. For example, if your first contracts were satisfactory, but you’ve been struggling with your latest ones, it may be that your JSS displays a low score overnight. Read this article to understand how your JSS is calculated, some tips, and its importance in landing new clients.
How does Upwork calculate my JSS?
According to Upwork, they won’t reveal the exact method of calculating your Job Success Score. Doing so would allow freelancers to “artificially” boost their Job Success Score, which (for obvious reasons) would decrease the quality of their freelance marketplace. However, they do provide information at a high level on how they obtain the metric:
Successful contract outcomes – negative contract outcomes / total outcomes
With the information provided (and the data they share through their forums), we can deduce Upwork uses stats from your private and public feedback (provided by clients). We also know firsthand that they give more weight to high-budget and high-quality contracts. Also, Upwork is aware that toxic clients exist, and they might discard previous jobs with them when calculating your JSS (cheers to Upwork for that).
Why does my JSS change over time?
The reason is simple; Upwork calculates your JSS by segmenting your performance into different time frames for the last 24 months. According to Upwork, they calculate your average JSS every two weeks like so:
1.- Your average JSS during the last 24 months.
2.- Your average JSS during the last 12 months.
3.- Your average JSS during the last 6 months.
4.- The sum of your average score for the last 6 months with the average of the previous 3 divided by 2. They call this your “Trending JSS“.
Then Upwork picks the highest number of these four parameters, and that’s the one that will show in your profile.
Bear in mind that your JSS will keep changing depending on the date of your contracts. For example, if a 5-star feedback job you completed is older than 24 months, it will no longer be considered in your JSS calculation. That’s why your JSS may change suddenly (and sometimes not for good).
Some examples to understand better your JSS
Is still the Job Success Score a little confusing to you? Don’t worry; it’s not as hard as it may seem. Here are two examples to make it more clear:
Example #1: Freelancer John D.
1.- Average JSS during the past 24 months: 90%
2.- Average JSS during the past 12 months: 85%
3.- Average JSS during the past 6 months: 87%
4.- Average JSS during the last 3 months (let’s say is 91%) + average during the past 6 months (which is 87%), then we divide the result by 2:
(91+87)÷2= 89%
In this example, the JSS displayed on John’s profile is 89%, the highest number of the four parameters.
John D.
Silberfeld, Germany – 1:39 am local time
Job Success
Example #2: Freelancer Diana K.
1.- Average JSS during the past 24 months: 85%
2.- Average JSS during the past 12 months: 90%
3.- Average JSS during the past 6 months: 94%
4.- Average JSS during the last 3 months (let’s say is 80%) + average during the past 6 months (which is 94%), then we divide the result by 2:
(80+94)÷2= 87%
In this example, the JSS displayed on Diane’s profile is 94%, which is the highest number of the four parameters.
Diana K.
Job Success
Why is my JSS not showing on my profile?
According to Upwork, for your JSS to show, you need to fulfill two prerequisites:
-To have worked with at least two different clients.
-To have four or more different contracts within the last 24 months.
If you already have both, and your JSS still isn’t showing, don’t be worried, as Upwork may discard some past clients whose feedback may be deceitful. It means they treat those clients as “bad quality” when providing feedback.
Just work a little longer, and your JSS will appear sooner or later.
How to increase your JSS
Although Upwork doesn’t share all of the information they use to calculate your average JSS, it’s more than clear that leaving all (or most) of your clients satisfied is vital to keep it high. Here are some tips for you to achieve it:
1.- Apply for jobs in which you have expertise
Don’t apply wildly for jobs out of your niche. Better focus on the jobs you know you can complete successfully and on time.
2.- Ask for entire project briefs
Do it before accepting any job. It will let you know if you can complete them and are proficient enough for it. Reject/avoid jobs if you’re not sure about it.
3.- Keep responsive
Super important; Most clients expect fluid communication from you, especially with close deadlines. Reply one day late, and it can lead to negative feedback.
5.- Prioritize quality and client satisfaction
Aim to be the best service provider in your niche and keep your clients happy by adding value to your job. Remember that Upwork is based on competitiveness. Exceed your clients’ expectations and take for granted you’ll be getting a high JSS score.
Need more Help?
At DigitalME, we know the importance of freelance work since a significant part of our workforce consists of full-time freelancers. Our agency also has a presence on Upwork guided by the advice and expertise of CEO and expert freelancer Ross Jenkins. If it interests you, he has built an amazing Facebook Community where you can get a hand from highly experienced freelancers to help you in your Upwork Journey. Ross also provides a mentoring program in which you will learn more in-depth secrets and tricks to become an expert freelancer.
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