Cactus Communications Content, Editorial & Journalism Department Reviews

Likes

The overall culture, the work culture is so amazing, you learn so much while you earn. Everyone is so helpful plus no one ever raises the voice on you... They all are so polite and down to earth!

Dislikes

Well, I can't find any :)

Work Details

Good :)

Work days: Monday to Friday (Strict Timings)

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

You will receive intense experience in editing, including how to edit for specific journals. You will also receive experience in related skills such as writing cover letters, scientific edits, and completing forms to analyse the structure and style of a manuscript, and you will have to be vigilant to spot plagiarism. There is a massi ve support system, and all the support staff are very warm and knowledgeable....Read More

Dislikes

You must understand how your brain works and whether it will fit well with the pace and patterns of Cactus CRM/Work delivery platform requirements. There are many levels of quality checking before edits go back to authors, which means you need to be able to do a particular job within a particular period. You won't know how much work is needed on an edit till you open it up, And you are very dependent on your co-workers to have done their aspects of the job to the best standards so that you can start at a reasonable point, I takes a very singular focus and dedication to be comfortable in this space, you must enjoy pressure and attention to detail....Read More

Work Details

Work timings: Flexible Timings

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Flexible work hour

Dislikes

Almost everything. I wouldn't recommend anyone to join CACTUS. Life is too valuable for that. I worked as an Editorial Reviewer. While the training they provide during onboarding process is comprehensive, the subsequent evaluation is not. They have a quality index (QI) scale of 1-4, 4 being the highest. A reveiwer is expected to main tain a minimum QI rating of 3.6 or higher to enjoy full salary privileges. But, here's the cut, they have developed a system in which one cannot attain the elusive 3.6 QI rating, and thus there are salary cuts, to such an extent that one gets less than half the amount one had signed up for. Quite the business strategy. You are bonded labour on their payroll. And guess what, they have the freedom to deduct costs due to lost client from your own salary. They do not give any additional pay benefits such as payment for internet charges, electricity costs and infrastructure costs. In short, a for profit organisation with the most conniving minds in their workforce....Read More

Work Details

Work days: Monday to Saturday (Strict Timings)

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

-Flexible working hours -Remote work -Non-toxic environment -Approachable managers

Dislikes

-Low pay -Low work volumes -No promotions/appraisals -No new opportunities to explore -Monotonous nature of work -Isolated working condition (not enough team activities, appreciations/acknowledgements)

Work Details

Work days: Monday to Friday (Flexible Timings)

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Work-life balance, work from home, helpful teammates, learning experience

Dislikes

Poor pay

Work Details

Work days: Monday to Saturday (Flexible Timings)

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Paid on time

Dislikes

Run away, you are more valuable than this. If that's not enough, keep reading. The pay appears decent but is WAY below minimum wage, explained here: Most jobs only pay 30% of the word count. Their rationale is that a round of editing has already been done. However, you are expected to edit the whole document. Here is a TYPICAL examp le: A 5000 word document would make you believe that you would make $100 at the $20/1000 word rate. BUT, most jobs of this nature would actually only pay you $30 (30%), even though you are doing $100 worth of work, at least. Furthermore: For each document you edit, you need to provide 1-2 additional documents UNPAID, that often take as long as the edit itself: 1. A letter from the editor (LFTE) - you summarize everything, highlight all the changes you made, you make a recommendations on figures, submission readiness etc. 2. A cover letter. For journal submissions, you write a letter to the journal itself, basically doing the job of the client, summarizing the work, highlighting the importance, etc. IT GETS WORSE: The $20/1000 word rate is only if you hit 60,000 words, which is actually 200,000 words since only ~30% of the document counts. If you don't hit this milestone, you make less $. And to top if off: If you find 1000 mistakes during an edit and happen to miss 2 because your brain was about to explode and you have been realizing that you have a PhD and are working at $5/hour, they will provide you with a rating of < 3/4 (by their definition, bad). The reviewers get paid to find your mistakes, so it is in their best interest to give you a poor rating so they stay relevant. They start you off with 4/4 ratings to make you feel like it's an ok job....Read More

Work Details

Work timings: Flexible Timings

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

it was good reading the different research manuscripts

Dislikes

An unfair system. The daily productivity rate is 16,000 words. Each person has a dashboard where jobs appear and you are supposed to grab them. However, very few jobs appear in a day. Even if they appear they may be 350 words or a little more. if you are lucky you may get a 5000-word job. Then your productivity level becomes low even if your QI is high enough. So this is not the fault of the employee, Finally, they tell you that your productivity level is low. BETTER TO USE THIS PLACE AS A SECOND OPTION. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO MY FRIENDS. THEY SAY IT IS A SAFE PLACE FOR WOMEN - OBVIOUSLY, IT IS A REMOTE JOB SO HOW CAN IT NOT BE SAFE WHEN YOU ARE AT HOME? They kill your interest by not allowing jobs to appear on the dashboard. the dashboard IS MANIPULATED. The person who is supposed to guide you IS MOST OF THE TIME BUSY WITH HIS WORK - HE tells you not to disturb till a particular time after that he logs off - also often he is not sure enough to answer your doubts if you have any. STAY AWAY FROM THIS JOB....Read More

Work Details

Work days: Monday to Friday (Flexible Timings)

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Flexible timings

Dislikes

Decisions are sometimes one way

Work Details

Work days: Monday to Friday (Flexible Timings)

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Good work environment

Dislikes

Work levels are low, low pay pay compared to other companies.

Work Details

Work timings: Flexible Timings

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Work from home flexibility

Dislikes

No enough work

Likes

The process managers are good to communicate with and provide feedback regularly. Thus, it is easy to learn and master the art of ESL editing.

Dislikes

The payment could have been better.

Work Details

Work timings: Flexible Timings

Work related travel: This is a desk job.