This Is My Dream Job - Contract Editor Cambridge Proofreading Employee Review

There were lots of documents available to proofread and the resources for editors were useful.

Pay is low unless you are able to edit documents very quickly

I really appreciate being able to choose orders from the open market, and the system is fairly streamlined. They have a well-developed handbook that I reference often. The support/management team is very responsive and gives helpful, applicable feedback. They've also supplied me with detailed feedback and answered questions whenever I've sought help. Cambridge Proofreading also has a Slack where you can get virtually any technical or editing question answered if you're stuck; I was already fairly proficient in Word, but I've learned so much from this community! A couple of times I have had a migraine come on or a family emergency that impeded me from meeting a deadline, and the client services manager was gracious about giving me short extensions, though I try not to abuse this. Overall, I think Cambridge Proofreading is an excellent part-time job for any editor and especially for those new to the industry who are trying to learn the ropes. I've already improved exponentially as an editor by having so many experienced folks to learn from.

The workload naturally ebbs and flows with the academic year, so there are definitely dry spells; I've been told that having more than one gig can compensate for this. As an arts and humanities scholar/editor, I'm not assigned a ton of orders; STEM, business, and the like probably receive more assignments. If you do get assigned orders, you've got to be prompt in checking your email, as they disappear quickly (within an hour or so) to give others the chance to take the order. Sometimes it's anxiety-provoking to try to achieve the 10% insertion rate, since the quality varies hugely from job to job (and some orders are best served by deletions, rather than insertions); I've been scolded twice for this.