Advice Sought! What should I be looking out for when researching companies to work for?

Hi All

I have a few questions that I'm struggling to find the answers for. I've tried the search option on here but for some reason it's not working, either that or I'm very dumb and not putting the right keywords in.

I have just graduated from university with a 2.1 degree in Law. Due to the current economic climate and the fact that I have a family to provide for I have been unable to start the LPC this year but it is something that I very much want to do in the near future. As the law changes so much I though it might be a good idea to do some freelance legal writing so that I can keep up to date with everything.

My problem is this, from reading several posts on here I can see that everyone has good and bad things to say about certain sites. I totally understand this because if you've had a good experience it is normal that you would write something positive about it, just as you would write something negative after having a bad experience.

What I need to know is, what I should be looking out for when I'm researching these different companies. What screams out "this is a scam" and what tells me something is legit?

I'm very wary of companies that want an up front payment to secure work - I don't get why that would be asked. I'm also wary of companies that would fine you for submitting poor work. I have always considered myself to be a good writer when I'm writing assigments so I'm not exactly worried about my ability but if I was ever fined I'm not sure I would be in a position to pay such an amount.

Any advice that could help me get started would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

First, read the webcopy on the various sites. Most of the foreign scam sites have horrible grammar and odd word usage--you don't want to work there.


Let me make sure I'm understanding--there are companies that want you to pay them before you start working for them? I've never come across this, but I would run like hell if I did. No job should ever require an up-front payment (I've had deductions from my first check for uniforms--not from writing jobs, obviously--but even then there was no up-front payment). No job should require employs to pay the employer--that's backwards, and illegal in many countries, I would assume.


As you should be. A good company will simply fire you (actually, since you will not be an employee but a contractor, they will simply stop assigning you work) for low quality, plagiarism, etc. If the company has a major fine system, run.

Signing a contract is a good sign, as it means that the company is legally protecting itself--meaning it abides by laws (generally).

As a last piece of advice, I would say that it never hurts to apply. As long as you don't give out your bank account info and other private information, at worst you'll waste a few hours of your life before figuring out that a given company isn't worth working for.

A couple of things I could suggest - register, then take a small order, wait until you get paid; and once that happens, go for it.

Up-front fees = bad
Fines = bad

After reading this forum for a while it gets quite confusing - everyone is dumping tons of **** over other companies and writers, questioning their mental abilities or calling them 'pigs', 'egg-suckers', 'aholes' etc just on the basis of their nationality. Am I being wishful thinking people are good?

just becuz a site has bad webcopy does not mean that it is not legit. I work for 2 sites w/ horrible web copy; rates are good and payment on time every time.

you little pig.

rustyironchains

I thought you'd forgotten to add the compliment, lol

hey dude, have you discovered the right companies yet.

The Black Writer, if you can't see the list, there is a problem with your monitor. Call tech support and don't get off of the phone until TS fixes your problem, even if it takes all day.

It is never easy to find a research company to work for that is on the level. It stems from the problem of having a number of them coming out of the 3rd world countries or European scam offices. However, if you really take the time to research the companies and consider the reviews they have been receiving online, and the comments made by other users and independent writers here, you should be able to narrow down your search. An additional investigative tool that you can use is the Do Not Discuss list here. Most of the companies that have had enormous amounts of complaints from both users and writers are listed there. Based on that list, you don't have to decide upon the legitimacy or illegitimacy of a company. If they don't want to discuss their company and its dealings in public, there must be a solid and verifiable reason. I would steer clear of those companies and consider those that seem to come highly recommended by other students and writers instead.

Make sure that the company does not ask to pay for some sort of membership fee to become a "member writer". There is no such thing. Also, don't continue to apply for companies that give only grammar tests as a part of the application process. They normally will hire anyone but won't pay anyone either. While the website blurb will be the best indicator of the actual location of the company, remember that the blurbs and reviews are paid so you can't take their word for it. The only way you can decide if this company is one that you would consider working for is to go into the chatroom and indicate that you are a writer applicant. Ask questions. Treat it like a real job interview only this time, you are the one asking the questions. If you are satisfied with the responses, then proceed with your application.

Before you sign up with a company, make sure that you have an acceptable payment channel in your country. Since Paypal no longer allows money transfer from these academic companies, the remittance products the writer can use has become limited. One option is Payoneer, but I understand that there are still some countries that do not accept that payment channel. The payment channel is a must to check out because it would be a waste of your time if you worked for 2 weeks, then were unable to collect your salary at the scheduled date.

I'd give aspiring company writers a version of the same advice that I've always given prospective customers looking for a legitimate essay provider. Just do a couple of small projects for them, first, and see whether they pay you what they're supposed to pay you before doing a whole month's worth of projects based on trust. Gradually increase how much work you do for them in a month to limit your potential risk if they don't pay you everything that you're rightfully owed for that month. It's not impossible that they'll pay you for your work initially and then find excuses not to pay you as soon as you do a much more substantial amount of work; but increasing how much work you do for them gradually is a lot safer than jumping in with a huge project (or dozens of smaller projects in a given month) that represents a major investment of time and effort without first testing them out with smaller amounts of work.

I recently learned that there are some academic writing companies that are still hiring writers, provided they agree to be paid in bitcoin instead of actual currency. I do not have much trust in a company that pays via bitcoin. There are just so many red flags when it comes to these companies. They tend to disappear overnight and writers do not actually know how much they are being paid in real currency since the bitcoin conversion is usually lower than expected, and never announced publicly. If the company pays in bitcoin, reconsider their offer, if you passed their assessment test that is.