Cactus Communications Freelance Editor Reviews

Likes

The Whiteboard is a good platform to work. Good for freshers to learn and gain experience. They respond spontaneously to my queries and take necessary actions when I report an issue. Flexible job.

Dislikes

The pay is very less. Sometimes the work pressure is more with tight deadlines, and sometimes there will be no jobs for 3-4 months.

Work Details

Exciting but sometimes we need some change, right!

Work timings: Flexible Timings

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Very professionally managed organization where everything is system driven. There is no scope for nepotism.

Dislikes

Quality evaluation is very stringent.

Work Details

Excellent

Work days: Monday to Friday (Flexible Timings)

Work related travel: This is a desk job.

Likes

Very organised, on-time payments, knowledgeable/skilled co-workers and leads, good pay scale, transparent and well-structured entrance tests

Dislikes

1. The papers we are required to edit are written by people with very limited knowledge of English, making it hard to understand what they were trying to say 2. Available jobs are listed only when a manager assigns the job to a few people. This makes it difficult for new freelancers to get work regularly

Work Details

Work timings: 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 example: 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

Flexible working hours

Dislikes

Extremely poor pay, high expectations from managers

Work Details

Work days: Monday to Friday (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.

Likes

Freedom to work from home without quotas.

Dislikes

I worked for these people for nearly two years, and despite being massively overqualified for the job, with 76% of my client ratings at the very top end of the scale, they stopped consistently sending me work during covid. It reached a point where the job was no longer sustainable, and when I asked them why, they ignored me. My guess is that they had more than enough workers during covid, and/or that they were unhappy with me occasionally criticizing their marking, which was often of a low standard. Also be aware that they don't give references for freelancers....Read More

Work Details

Editing scientific journal articles for language use, and providing advice on their structure, content, novelty and relevance.

Work days: Monday to Friday (Flexible Timings)