
I don't know about shady organizations, (and I know nothing about any specific companies being discussed here), but legitimate essay companies probably don't have to
pretend that new applicants "failed" their tests just because they don't have a lot of business coming in at the moment. It doesn't really cost them anything to maintain more active writer accounts during slow times and they wouldn't want to have to start scrambling for new writers when business picks up. Chances are if a company indicates that a writer failed their writing test, it means you really failed the test. Let me give you an accurate view of exactly what you can expect if you hope to do this for a living:
Earning a fulltime living as a company writer is certainly possible, but most people probably couldn't do it even if they're very good writers, simply because of what's required to get enough choice assignments to support yourself. I did it for years for one of the largest and best companies in this industry and I know from talking to other writers who signed on with that company later that at least one of their representatives used to use me, in particular, as an example to new (or prospective) writers of how much a writer could earn writing for them. (They didn't refer to me by name, but they described a writer in NYC who had a law degree and who was earning exactly what I'd been earning; and I don't think anybody else on their payroll fit that exact description.)
I have a natural tendency to be a hermit, but it would be
very difficult to earn a fulltime living doing this if you're not. I had a computer on 24/7/365 in every room of my apartment (including both bathrooms) and that enabled me to jump on new projects the instant they got posted. For years, no matter
what I was doing (literally), I was never more than an arm's reach from a screen and I also had a few tricks that allowed me to grab almost all the high-value (mostly rush) projects before any other writer. the main reason that I built a gym in my apartment was because I just couldn't afford to be away from my screens for several hours at a time just to workout and I definitely wouldn't have been able to start playing hockey again as a fulltime company writer. I wouldn't have been able to serve on the board of directors of my building, either, if I couldn't have been checking my writer's account throughout our meetings. Unless you're prepared to be at home to check your screens instantly and every few minutes 24/7/365 except when you're sleeping, you might be able to supplement your other income writing for companies, but you'll never be able to support yourself without other income. You can also forget about limiting yourself to your college major or even a modest number of different academic disciplines, because there just aren't enough projects to support yourself unless you can handle a very broad range of disciplines and subjects, and well. As a company writer, it's critical to have customers specifically request you as their writer and that's only possible when most of your customers are thrilled with your work.
It takes
years to build up a big enough private clientele to become a fulltime freelance academic writer. For years, I did both simultaneously, writing as many freelance projects as possible while also taking on about $50,000 to $70,000 worth of company projects a year (gross). I'd still always have a second screen logged into my company account even anytime I was already working on my other screen and I'd grab more (usually short, rush) projects as soon as they popped up. Practically on a daily basis, I'd suspend work on one project to bang out a company project that got posted only a few hours before it was due. Plenty of times, I'd end up writing two or three short projects that popped up while I was working on a longer project due later that night or the next morning. During the busy seasons, the approximate amount of writing I'd get done in between scanning all the new company projects that were always popping up was less than a full paragraph.
This was all before smartphones, which would, admittedly, make it much easier to be untethered from your laptop; but with such small screens, they could also get you into trouble because it's very easy to grab projects too quickly by accident if you can't read all the details and check the posted sources for projects before committing to write them. Many projects seem desirable on first glance, until you check the full details for them and/or the files that customers upload. At the same time, you might only have a few seconds to preview good projects before pulling the trigger or you'd lose them to other writers. Even apart from the heavy competition to grab enough good projects before the other writers, you also have to be prepared to write projects at any time of day or night, which conflicts with any semblance of a normal life. In my experience, it would be impossible to earn a living that way if you expect to work just 8 hours a day, or to plan your working hours in advance.
It works for me because of my peculiar lifestyle and I definitely prefer earning a living like this than going to an office 5 days a week, but if you hope to earn a fulltime living doing this, you should know what it takes to do it successfully.