Pros
Years back, (5+ years ago) being a Rater for ETS was a decent option for college and university instructors with graduate degrees to work remotely (and to "make up for" hours and wages part-time adjunct university teaching does not supply).
Cons
Many, but I'll keep it to three. (I'd give the company a HALF STAR rating, if it were possible.) 1. ETS used to offer the option of working up to 40 hours per week. It was a nice way to earn supplementary income. With part-time adjunct university and college teaching positions becoming the norm (as opposed to full-time tenure), most teachers find they need second jobs (or a spouse/partner that provides a second income). ETS stopped offering (near) full-time hours around 2012/2013. (Of course, they never offered health benefits, even for full-time remote workers.) 2. Scheduling is a nightmare, and insulting: You are told the more availability you offer, the more hours you will get. This means you are pressured/urged to submit availability for as many days and shifts as possible, but in the end, you randomly get half what you submitted for, or much less. You may submit for up to 40 hours per week (which you know you won’t get because they don’t hire any Online Raters full-time anymore), but you might end up with just 40 hours per month! Of course, they tell you that scheduling is based on test taker volumes, but since ETS is a MONOPOLY (owning the SAT, TOEFL, GRE, etc… basically every test every student hoping to enter college must take) their volumes are, except for in summer months, mostly steady. Basically, there is no way to figure out and secure a reliable/predicatable stream of income per month. 3. The most EGREGIOUS and morally reprehensible and insulting act ETS has committed: In January 2018, with no warning whatsoever, we were emailed a message (they called it a “Survey”) informing us that our HOURLY PAY was to be CUT from $18/19 + an hour to $15 per hour. No matter how many years we had been with the company and how perfect our work record was, we were asked to either Accept this change in pay and continue working, or to Reject it and walk away. Digging into the news, we discovered this interesting BIG FINANCIAL DEAL via Reuters: "Baring, one of Asia’s largest funds, would buy Prometric from a New Jersey-based nonprofit called Educational Testing Service (ETS)." Again, I would give ETS a HALF STAR rating if possible. The high level executives make a very healthy salary. Online raters mean NO OVERHEAD for ETS, and we work with our own computers/equipment. Could a company have a cheaper highly educated labor force? Shame on ETS!
