Preferred Raters Program

If you’ve landed here, you might have heard about the Preferred Raters Program…and It looks like there is finally some great benefits coming out for Lionbridge/Raterlabs for raters who achieve high scores and have consistently high-quality ratings and comments for all task types. This is for raters who work on the Yukon/Raterlabs project. Through this program, agents are identified and rewarded based on high-quality review scores and high-quality work they do on the Yukon project. 

It sounds really great, but it is highly selective and prestigious, and only available to a limited amount of raters. The requirements to get into this program are very high, as well as inclusion and retention…meaning it will be tough to get in and also stay there. Participants are held to strict standards of quality and professionalism and the quality team reviews candidates quarterly to determine if they qualify for the program for admission or if you’re already in the program if you stay or someone comes along and takes your place. 

So, what about the rewards and are they really worth it? 

If you do get into the Preferred Raters Program, you’ll get a boost in pay rate. You’ll go from $10 to $15.00 dollars for Raterlabs and from $14 to $18 at Lionbridge. Not a bad little pay raise at all even if it is temporary. 

As another added benefit, your username will be in green in chatrooms showing that you’re a highly skilled and very experienced rater. 

How Do I Qualify? 

As we mentioned earlier, raters are regularly reviewed to see who meets the requirements of the Preferred Agent Program. 

Note: Sending them emails might be the quickest way to NOT get into the program. It is not recommended to email them about your status in the program. 

Only if you have met the program’s requirements will you hear from the project’s Quality Team. If you don’t hear from them, then it may mean that you need to step up your quality or performance, or there just may be too many candidates and not enough room to fill them all. We do believe it might be the opposite since requirements are so high for the program. 

The most important thing to focus on is quality review scores for all task types. Having high scores in this area will get you looked at for eligibility for the Preferred Raters Program. But it’s not all as there are several other additional criteria used to determine an agent’s final acceptance into the program and we’ll go over all the things they use to select someone. 

Primary Selection Criteria

The very first thing to point out is only agents who have worked on the Yukon project for at least one year are eligible. 

And agent needs to complete enough of the following tasks to receive the minimum Quality Review feedback:

Needs Met: 6 sets of feedback

Side by Side: 3 sets of feedback

Page Quality: 2 sets of feedback

The quality reviews all have to be extremely positive for all the task types, not just one, and high adherence and demonstrated comprehension of the principles detailed in all the guidelines and project instructions. 

Comments are also a part of this and Preferred Raters will show excellent commenting skills for all tasks. 

An agent will have a consistent history of good interactions with the community that should always be positive. This includes all areas of communication with admins in chat, social posts, and emails. 

While we’re on the subject, we shouldn’t have to tell you that candidates that have a history of unprofessional, nasty, or obnoxious behavior in chat or other social channels won’t be considered for this program. 

Agents in the program will always meet the minimum hours’ requirement and complete all the tasks in a responsible manner and not releasing them in an excessive or malicious way because maybe the agent doesn’t want to rate the produced results. 

Did we mention that it’s hard to get into the Preferred Raters Program? We should mention it again and also state that it’s not an easy thing to achieve or maintain. But if you give hard work, perseverance, and show a very thorough understanding of the concepts from the General Guidelines, then chances are good that you’ll make it as a candidate. 

I’ve made it as a candidate, now how do I keep my status?

We mentioned that the Preferred Raters Program is considered prestigious, highly selective, and it is limited to a small number of raters. That just means it’s going to be a lot more difficult for you to get in and stay there. But after you are in, a rater must maintain the high-quality standards across all task types and have high-quality reviews after acceptance. 

If a rater fails to maintain high standards of quality, then they are put into a probational period and given the opportunity to improve. That’s good news since if you are in this program, you’ve worked hard to get where you are. However, if an agent continues to fail meeting the program criteria, they will lose their preferred status and the rewards associated. Also, once you are in the program you can be removed at any time at the Quality Teams’ discretion even without a probational period. 

So what if you are put on probation?

If a rater fails to meet requirements they are placed on probation. This probation is actually two more reviews and if your reviews are bad, then you’re out. One other thing:  If you are placed on probation and receive a substandard or unacceptable review score in ANY review type during your probationary period, your Preferred Agent status will be immediately removed.

So what triggers probation? 

When an agent gets three bad scores within the most recent 6-month period below the Preferred Agent standard, this will trigger a probationary period. Also, if the majority of your recent scores are all bad and not meeting the high standard, you are placed on probation. The bottom line is that your scores should be primarily Exceeds Expectations or higher. Meets expectations do not cut the cake. While they are respectable, they are not high enough scores to be in the program. Multiple scores of Meets Expectations can result in the loss of your Preferred Agent status. 

Another thing that should be mentioned is that two Substandard and Unacceptable review scores within a recent year’s time period will trigger a probation period. Any additional scores of the same type will result in the immediate removal from the program. Preferred Raters cannot have such low scores. 

The most important requirement of a Preferred Agent is that they consistently provide exceptionally high-quality work and if your scores fluctuate, it might suggest to the Quality Team that you are unable to maintain the high standards of the program, and you will be placed on probation. While it is a disheartening thing to be placed on probation, this does mean that you are being given the chance to improve your quality of rating. Remember that Meets Expectations is not good enough. 

Some other things that will provoke the Quality Team are poor commenting habits, excessive releasing of tasks, and complaints about unprofessional behavior in chat or other social channels could lead to probation or it could just see you leaving the program altogether. Remember that we said they have total discretion and can release you from the program at any time for any reason. 

If you are put on probation then it’s lucky you and you’ll have to use the opportunity to correct the problems and retain your Preferred Agent status. 

As we touched on a little earlier, Quality Teams review agents on a quarterly basis and if there is room to promote new agents, they will do so. If the program is full and all those raters are keeping their high standards up, then there won’t be any new raters accepted into the program. When a rater is removed from a program not meeting high-quality standards, then another rater who is consistently doing this is taken into the Preferred Agent program. 

You might be wondering if one low score will put you on probation. The answer is no and the Quality Agents recognize that sometimes bad things happen. However, if you continue to get low scores, then you will be put on probation until you fix them and they only give you two reviews after this and you must score high on BOTH reviews, not just one. 

Just so we are sure we covered this, while you are in the program, three low scores will get you noticed by the system which will trigger a probation period. 

A rater must meet high-quality standards in all areas and all tasks, not just one area. Because the program is considered prestigious, it is limited to a certain amount of raters. That said, if you are in the program and have some problem in one area, it will show and you will likely end up on probation. 

You can earn the status back if you lose it by demonstrating that the quality of your work meets the program’s qualification standards on a consistent basis. Keep in mind that just because a rater has been in the program before, preference will not be given over them when determining new rater eligibility. There are only two times you can be put on probation meaning that the third time and you are out of the program. 

We hope that we were able to answer your questions about the Preferred Agent program. Are you in this program? Tell us your experience in the comments and if you need help you can always reach us by email.