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Cambridge Proofreading

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Good for side work but often frustrating - Copy Editor Cambridge Proofreading Employee Review

3.0
Mar 18, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The open market is nice when you need to pick up some extra work without waiting to be assigned to it. Bonuses are offered frequently. The variety of subject matter keeps things interesting. Being able to preview documents helps you determine quality before taking a paper. The Slack channel is great for asking questions and socializing with other editors; I've had some great conversations there.

Cons

Management seems disorganized, and there are many inconsistencies in their policies. Their expectations are not clearly communicated and seem to change often. Some policies are only communicated in the Slack channel and not recorded in official documents on the website. There is an air of unprofessionalism here. The write-up for the client takes extra time that cuts into your overall pay, and the guidelines for writing them are confusing. While these kinds of write-ups are standard in copyediting, the pay usually reflects the time required to write them. Clients are discouraged from but still allowed to input files in PDF and Latex format, which many editors are not equipped to handle. Editing these kinds of files is also much more time consuming even if you own the required programs. These are supposed to be clearly flagged in the system but they are sometimes not. If a file needs to be converted, the editor is responsible for doing so, which wastes time. There should really be a rule that clients must always submit Word documents. I get the impression CP just doesn't want to turn away clients or risk losing their business, even if this is detrimental to editors. Email communication with management is usually good, but you may get different answers from different people. You sometimes don't receive a response at all during busy times. The online system is not very user friendly and should really be updated. There are other companies with a similar business model that put a lot of effort into taking care of their editors and helping them maximize their earnings, which in turn means high quality edits for their clients. CP pales in comparison, honestly.

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Cambridge Proofreading Response
5y
Thanks very much for your feedback; we appreciate the time you took to write a review. We’d also like to address some of the points you raised. First, summary reports are not required for orders under 3,000 words. They’re only supplied as part of larger orders, and we provide templates to help save our editors time, in addition to a guidance document that sets out the requirements for the report. Second, we are one of the few agencies that allow editors to preview documents before they accept them. We never force anyone to take an order, and there’s no requirement to edit either PDF or LaTeX documents if you’d prefer not to. It’s also worth noting that we specifically discourage our editors from converting PDF documents, precisely because of the formatting issues that can result. These policies are clearly set out in the Editor’s Handbook. Regarding your comment about our policies, we don’t believe that they are inconsistent. When our new editing team manager joined last year, we undertook a review of all of our policies and procedures. This led to the publication of the Editor’s Handbook, which is the sole repository of our company policies and procedures. Our Slack channel exists only to encourage communication within the team and to help our editors clear up difficulties they encounter on the job. It gives editors access to their team members and management whenever they’re unsure of how to approach a specific problem. If an editor needs assistance or advice, all they have to do is ask. We hope this addresses some of your concerns, but if there’s anything else you’d like to raise directly with management, we’d be happy to discuss at any time.

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5.0
May 27, 2024
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CEO approval
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Pros

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

Cons

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

5.0
Feb 29, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

The company policies are transparent and fair. Management is supportive of their freelancers.

Cons

Although the compensation rate for base editing is comparable to other companies, they do not offer clients any add-on premium services that could boost pay for editors.

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