How a review actually works
Not a rubber stamp and not a rewrite. A review is a set of specific corrections to the parts of a Blueprint that are wrong.
Before any of this: one way in
There is a single route onto the Ladder, and it is the same one for everybody.
Apply
Your Track, your experience in it, and a couple of pieces of work. About ten minutes.
Sit the Calibration
A 45 to 60 minute blind review of a seeded document in your own field. Everybody sits it. Your experience decides what a pass is worth, never whether you are asked.
Get accredited, and start being paid
Your first three reviews are read by a senior reviewer before they reach the customer. They are paid in full — checking a new reviewer is our cost, not yours.
The life of one review
You claim work from your Queue
Nothing is pushed at you. Your Queue holds the jobs your accreditation, Band and availability allow, with the scope and the fee shown before you claim.
You claim it, or you leave it
Leaving work costs you nothing. Claiming it starts the clock.
You review against the Blueprint
Section by section, correcting what is wrong and saying why. Vague disagreement is not a correction.
The customer responds
They accept the corrections or push back. Accepted corrections are what your standing is built from.
You are paid
Fees are released from Escrow once the review is accepted or the response window closes. What the work pays is set out in full on the payouts page.
What makes a review acceptable
The bar is the same at every rung; only the volume and the scope change.
Specific
Points at a Section and states what is wrong with it.
Checkable
Somebody else could verify the correction without taking your word for it.
Inside the window
Returned within the window the job carries. Late work is declined work with extra steps.
Conflict-free
You declare a conflict with the customer or their Category rather than reviewing around it.
Proportionate
A minor Blueprint does not need a major rewrite, and a major flaw is not a footnote.
Its own work
A review generated by a model is not a review. That is the thing being reviewed.
Reviewer questions
Do I get sent work, or do I go and find it?
You claim it. Your Queue is filtered to what your accreditation, Band and availability allow, and you take what you want from it. Nothing is assigned to you without you accepting it, and leaving a job in the Queue costs you nothing.
I have twenty years in this field. Do I still sit the Calibration?
Yes. Everybody does, because a level somebody types into a form is not evidence — and at senior rungs it is the claim most worth checking. What your experience does decide is what passing is worth: it sets the rung and the Band you start on, so a long career does not land at the bottom.
Is my first work unpaid, or at a lower rate?
Neither. Your first three reviews are read by a senior reviewer before they reach the customer, and they are paid in full at the ordinary rate for the work. The check is there to protect the customer while your record is short — you are not paying for it.
What if I disagree with the whole Blueprint?
Say so, in the review, with the reasons. A plan built on a wrong premise is the most valuable thing a reviewer catches — but it has to be argued, not asserted.
What happens if the customer disputes my review?
It goes to a senior reviewer to adjudicate. Their decision settles whether the review counts as accepted, and the fee follows that decision.
Can I leave work I do not want?
Yes, and it does not count against you. Reviewing outside your competence does.