I'd ditch the "dropdown menus that look like links". (Estimating, implemented, using.) You want new visitors to instantly know from shapes that it's a form with specific interactive areas, rather than a line of really avant-garde poetry, or a suspiciously-empty page that might've failed to render fully.

The searchable dropdown on the left could use a white background. As-is, its boundaries are invisible, and the down-arrow (the only hint of interactivity) is faint, as is the magnifying-glass icon which hints someone can type to search.