u/Ok-Bat-1243

I did a work trial and was wondering whether this was normal.

When I started the work trial was presented to me as Project X and I studied the material on Project X in preparation for the assessment.

The initial deadline (which didn't appear until a couple of weeks into the trial) was set at Oct 3 but I received a one-day expiration notice on Sept 29.

I logged in and discovered that the deadline had been moved from Oct 3 to Oct 1 and that the work-trial had been renamed/changed to Project Y.

So there are two issues:

1. The trial had apparently shifted from Project X to Project Y without any notice and I was expected to study different material.

2. The deadline was changed from 10/3 to 10/1 and the expiration email said I had 1 day left even though the dashboard showed 2 days remaining.

The open-book assessment itself makes clear that it's based on a completely different set of material. It says:

“Everything in this assessment is graded against the Project Y guidelines attached below.”

It then directs the candidate to read those guidelines before proceeding. The document is 180+ pages long.

I'm curious whether this kind of thing is normal with Mercor work trials. Has anyone else had the project/materials or deadline changed during a trial without being notified?

I've been freelancing for Cactus/Editage for close to 10 years (JP=>EN). I used to make around US$2,000/month for about 60 hours of work for several years.

I haven't received any work from them in the past couple of years.

They recently reached out asking for a rate adjustment so they could hopefully assign me work more regularly again.

They're proposing a rate cut of nearly 60%. I feel like they're lowballing me even with AI in the picture (which they tell freelancers not to use!)

It's always been a side gig and I'm not desperate for the income but I wouldn't mind working with them again if the economics make sense. Any thoughts?

One other question. Has anyone freelancing for Cactus been contacted by them recently about revising rates? I'd be interested to know whether you received a similar request. I'm trying to get a sense of whether this is a company-wide adjustment.