Company: Leapforce
Job: Search Engine Evaluator
Website: leapforceathome.com
Pay: Starts at $13/hour in the United States, but actual pay rate can average out to be much less
Rank: 90/100 – a legitimate online job opportunity, but requires intense testing many people won’t have the patience to study for, let alone pass. Also, several issues make it a less than desirable job for most. Click to view my # recommended way to earn money from home here
Leapforce is one of a small handful of companies that hire at home search engine evaluators. However, they have extremely mixed reviews online – some are claiming it’s a scam, yet others say it’s great. So where lies the truth? Let’s take a closer look to find out exactly what Leapforce is all about and why people are making such claims.
So what’s the deal? Is Leapforce a scam?
Actually, they’re not any sort of scam at all. They’re a legitimate independent company contracted by the big search engine companies (Google) to help them assess their algorithm. They say Google is always striving to be the best and give quality results, and they hire real people to help them in the process. When you’re hired as a search engine evaluator, you’re an independent contractor – not an employee. This means that you’re paycheck is not taxed and you’re responsible for withholding your own taxes.
In order to get hired you need to fill out an online application and submit a resume. If you’re selected, you have to take a series of 2 exams. They send you the training material and give you 1 week to take it. It’s a very difficult exam and a lot of people won’t pass. But if you do, you’ll be hired on and will earn about $13/hour.
Even if you do pass, you’re not a permenant employee. You could be let go at any time and your work could fail to meet their guidelines and productivity standards. Ultimately it isn’t a sustainable income source for most people.
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Top Leapforce complaints
#1 = Their pay rate is misleading
You’re told that you’ll be making a certain amount hourly, however that is not 100% accurate. You are paid for the time it should have taken you to do the work rather than how long it actually took you to do the work. In other words, they calculate how long they think each task will take you, and pay you for each task no matter how long it took.
If they think a task will take you 5 minutes but it takes you 10, you’ll only be allowed to get paid for 5 minutes. Alternatively if it took you 3 minutes to do that 5 minute task, you don’t get paid more for working faster – you just have to sit there for that 2 extra minutes and wait for the next task. Those who work slower will end up getting paid a lot less and potentially fired if they are too slow.
Those who work too fast won’t get any added benefit and could end up being punished too if they think they’re going too fast. Ultimately, you need to work at their pace.
#2 – You’re not paid for training (which takes up a lot of time)
Once you get past the initial examinations (which are difficult and time consuming) there is a huge learning curve and you are not paid for any time spent training, studying, taking tests or watching webinars. This will have a negative impact on your pay rate, especially when first starting out.
#3 – Not consistent work
Unfortunately work won’t always be available 24/7, and depending when you are able to work you may not be able to reach as many hours per week as you wanted. Some of these companies have a weekly/monthly cap on how many hours you can work, but I don’t think Leapforce does.
It may be very hard to actually reach 40 hours a week – expect around 20 and don’t count on it for a full time income.
#4 – They can easily fire you
They’re known for letting people go at any time. They have certain work quality standards you have to adhere to and if you fall below you’ll get threatened with termination. However their “quality” is subjective and doesn’t mean the person isn’t working hard, just that they’re not agreeing to their standards.
Ultimately what makes it hard is that they’re trying to standardize tasks that are inherently subjective!
Trying to standardize something that is inherently subjective is extremely difficult. Testing to monitor quality and relevancy of search engine result queries is something that isn’t an exact science. Of course there will be discrepancies, and however much they try to “standardize” it with their rules and guidelines, it’s still going to be difficult for a lot of people to perform in the exact way they want. Hence, why so many people complain about their sub-par performance levels.
I know first hand from scoring standardized tests, this was a huge problem. You have to be able to take their guidelines and apply them to each unique situation. There are people that will be really good at doing this, and those that can’t. It’s just the nature of the work.
The main thing to realize here is this job just isn’t for everyone
It may not be the greatest job and you may be treated like a disposable object, but that doesn’t really make it a scam. The fact is they DO pay you and many people do this work with no problems. I think a lot of people who complain about Leapforce have too many expectations for the job. It isn’t a full time reliable job. You don’t get benefits, vacation time, nor are you guaranteed to remain working for them for any set amount of time. It’s a contracted project and you are not their employee.
Unfortunately it may require a large initial time commitment that may not pan out in the end. However for many it is a great source of extra income. I’d say if you are a college student, stay at home parent, or just in need of a second income source for yourself then go for it. If you’re trying to make it a full time profession, you’ll be majorly disappointed.
What other companies hire for this type of work?
- Lionbridge
- Butler Hill
- Workforce Logic
You can easily find these companies from a quick Google search.
Hey, Im thinking of joining Leapforce. If i do, what kind of jobs will i be getting? Can anybody pl elaborate nature of the work. Is it simple or tough? Does the pay depend on the difficulty of the work or just $7/hr for all kind. Can i trust them and give my bank details? Can i shift countries later after joining from current one. (P.S. I’m a student and might leave to U.S from India.). Also
I came to know about Leapforce from this article. I decided to give it a try and here’s what I have to say.
My Experience: I started working at Leapforce in early December 2015, and I just received my first payment. I am very satisfied with the company and I am happy with the environment and the professionalism.
At Leapforce, there are different kinds of positions and the most popular among it is Search Engine Evaluator. You will basically be helping Search Engines to improve the way they show the results for a query by a user, according to the relevance and importance.
You can qualify for more projects if you are good at what you do. When you start, you will only be able to work for an hour. The limited time will increase and it can go up to unlimited, and it all depends on the reviews you get and some tasks you complete. I am doing 2 projects now.
Whenever I send emails to them, I get immediate response. They have a very good team behind this company. There is also a social network within the company where you can follow people and chat with them. This is very useful to learn about the job and there are some wonderful people there who have years of experience working for Leapforce.
Pay: Leapforce functions in countries like US, UK, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, India, Indonesia, Egypt, South Korea .etc
In the United States, they pay $13 per hour, and in India they pay $7. For the people in India, there is also an option to select the language they prefer (English/Hindi).
The money is wire transferred directly to your bank account. You need to submit the invoice on the 1st of each month, and the amount will be credited within 30 days.
Qualification procedure: For the position of Search Engine Evaluator, you will be required to take a 3 part exam. They will provide the study materials in PDF format. The first part is directly asked from the PDF, and you can check the material during the exam. The 2nd and 3rd parts of the exams are practical.
You have 7 days to complete all 3 exams. You will have to pass each exam to be eligible to take the next one. In my case, I failed in the 3rd exam in the first attempt, and luckily they allowed me to re-take the test. I was able to make it through the second time, and I learned a lot within the last month. Please don’t forget to add comments during the 2nd and 3rd parts of the exam when there is an option to add them. (I forgot it during my first round of exam)
If you get the mail from them to take the exams, you will be able to start working within 10 days, provided that you pass the exams.
How to Apply: You need to select your country and language and proceed with the application. You will be asked to upload scanned copy/photo of id/address proof. Application procedure is fairly simple, but please note that it may take around 2 weeks to get a reply from them. In my case, I got their reply within 3 days, but I know people who got it after a month. It is worth the wait.
Leapforce is a completely genuine company and it is an excellent way to make money online. There are people who work full time on Leapforce. I am from India, and $7 per hour really helps me. I could qualify for multiple projects which means that I can do work for more hours a day. Imagine how much you can make if you become eligible to work for unlimited hours!
To see current openings and join Leapforce, please click on this link, select your country and language and continue:
https://www.leapforceathome.com/qrp/public/jobs/list?uref=9eed6109a963e53e8a12e1396e923988
Keep your resume and government ID proof handy.
[ P.S. I earn a small bonus when people join using my referral link, pass the exams and work at least 150 hours. This could help me, and I would really appreciate it
]
Thanks for sharing your experience with Leapforce! I’m sure it could be helpful to many people, as long as they’re aware of all the negatives as well. It isn’t for most people but there are certain people that can do it and enjoy the work.
Thanks for the honest and helpful review. It seems that currently they are not accepting new contractors, recently I had submitted my resume on their website but I got a message that currently they cannot consider even though I am eligible as per their rules.
Hi Wendy,
First of all thank you very much for the info on Leapforce. I am from India and currently in the process of giving the exams (cleared the first one and pending other two). I am not too sure if you’ll be aware of it but would you know the rate at which they pay people in India? I did see one of the comments above from a certain Gopinath where he has claimed to receive $7/hour but is that exactly what people will get in India or is there something else to it as well.
Also while applying to this job on LeapForce they clearly mentioned this role is specifically for India. Now that they’ve made the location specific, do employees in India receive tasks which are related to our locale or do we still get tasks related to any country or US probably. The reason I ask is that while rating tasks it will be easier if you are working on searches in your own locale than some other country because the search maybe related to a very familiar thing in that locale which the evaluator (say in India) may not know at all and hence may not be correctly rate that search. For Ex: If someone searches for Staples, only some people in India may know that it is a big chain of stores in the US.
Thanks
Neil
To be completely honest, I have no idea how Leapforce works with people from India nor what they pay them. I can only speculate, and I would imagine if one commentor said the $7 per hour, that is likely around what they offer there. I heard it was $13/hour in the US, but it only makes sense they wouldn’t need to pay that much in India. Also keep in mind you don’t get paid for your time training or studying, which takes up a significant amount of extra time and will lower your overall average hourly wage.
As for the search, I’m pretty sure it’s location specific. You’d be given that the particular search for “staples” was done in “los angelos, california” for example. Someone seraching for staples in india wouldn’t necessarily be looking for the store.
However, I think you bring up a really good point to a serious flaw in their system. No single person is going to possibly know everything about every search query, so therefore how could they be an accurate judge of what is or isn’t relevant to any particualr search if they don’t know about the topic? I’m sure that situation could apply to anyone, no matter where in the world they were. Considering the fact you can literally Google ANYTHING these days, there’s no way to know who is or isn’t a good evaluator for each search!
Hello, I take the test on Monday. If I do pass I’m skeptical of giving my account information for direct deposit. I know this is a normal feeling. I even checked with the Better Business Bureau and they got an A rating. Hope this works out because any extra money a month will help. Thanks die the info.
For*
I wouldn’t worry about that, they are definitely a legit company. I wish you luck!
Seriously $13/hr ? They offered me just $7/hr? Is the offer vary with country? I’m from India. Can anyone reply to this
Yeah, unfortunately I would imagine the reason is you’re located in India.
Hi,
I signed up leapforce and waiting for the exam for Search Engine Evaluator. can I earn money once I passed, how genuine are they in paying money
Please send me the details on oggunagraj@gmail.com
Regards
Nagraj
If you pass the exam and start working, they do pay you. There are plenty of contractors that can vouch for that. The problem is most people don’t pass the exam, and even many of the ones that do complain there’s a lot of additional and ongoing training requirements once you get the job, and you are never paid for time you spent training. That can add up to a lot of unpaid hours…
You’re also only paid for the time Leapforce allots for each task, not the time it actually took for you to do it. Even the people that can make it all the way through the training and work hours on the job probably are going to be getting paid much less than they bargained for.
This is my experience with Leapforce. I’ve submitted the following company review to Glassdoor and it’s pending approval.
Title
If you like working for free, then this is the place for you
Pros
Can work your own hours but then again, since you will be cheated out of income you rightfully worked for, you
might as well collect unemployment because it pays better.
Cons
After 2 weeks of logging hours, I was diligent to make sure that I logged out every time and stopped the stopwatch
on my Iphone when I took a break or had to read their lengthy instructions at the beginning of each new task. In
other words, you are not paid while reading their instructions on how to complete the task but that’s OK since
this was disclosed up front.
I submitted my first time card for the month of January for 19 hours and they kicked it back stating that I was
53% of productivity. Meaning, they wanted me to revise my time card from 19 hours to 10 hours. I refused and sent
it back to them with a note and they kicked it back to me and then locked my account for “productivity” which
means they will not assign me any more tasks until I revise my time card. I’ve already advised of my intent to
discontinue my contract and to pay me what I am owed. I will update this review pending the outcome.
What really annoys me is that after working the first 2 days which exceeded 2 hours a day when I was told that I
will be receiving an hour of work a day, I emailed support asking them if I’m spending too much time or, am I
receiving more work than anticipated. They told me they can’t tell me that until “after I’ve submitted the invoice
for the month” so You have to work the entire month to only find out that they will not honor your hours.
I can understand a little discrepancy but 9 hours? That’s completely absurd. I recorded the time honestly,
accurately and fairly. Many times when given a task, you need to do additional research simply to understand the
search engine query. They even tell you to research queries that you’re not familiar with because they emphasize
quality above all. They also insist on copious detailed notes with explanations along with your ratings evals so I
don’t see how you can maintain any measure of quality based on the time constraints placed on you. Furthermore,
none of this is explained to you upfront as they are advertising an hourly rate of $13.50.
I am not sure how any of this is legal as you are categorized as a 1099 independent contractor but if you read
what the DOL states about independent contractors, the employer cannot direct the means or the manner for how you
the contractor will perform the work just the result but clearly this is what Leapforce does.
so if you decide to try this work from home opportunity, proceed with caution and expect to work 30% – 50% of
your hours on your own time. In the end, you’re not earning $13.50/hr but closer to $7.00 hr which is below the
Federal minimum wage. Unemployment pays better than that!
Advice to Management
Revise the estimated time to complete tasks as they are clearly un-attainable or, disclose the hours and number
of tasks upfront you are willing to pay per assignment so the contractor knows if they are willing to proceed. To
be blunt, stop cheating people out of their money.
Thank you for sharing your experience with Leapforce, Cliff. It’s such a joke they only pay their contractors for the time they think it should have taken them to do the job versus what they actually took. And they say they strive for quality? Yeah right! There is no “one time fits all”… people work at varying speeds and it’s dumb (or horrible) for them not to factor that.
I’ve seen the work they want you guys to do and it’s completely humorous. It’s impossible for a group of people to be the judge of what’s good or bad or right or wrong across the entire scope of topics on the internet. It’s the actual people searching for the particular given topic that should (and are) the judge of that.
But it really sucks they make you work for an entire month for you to realize you won’t be getting paid for all your time spent. They should definitely make it clearer that you only have _x_ amount of time to do a task no matter how long it actually takes you. Total crap..
It sounds like you all need to understand something. This is a contract job, not employment.
You get paid for the work you do. Obviously it isn’t that terrible or no one would do it. Even normal jobs where you get hired can have a week’s worth of unpaid training before you begin working.
If they say do it in X and you do it in X+5 then do better next time. There’s a reason so many companies are still paying minimum wage. It’s because no one we’ll put any actual hard work into their job. I think some people try to hard to not work at work.
Until you’ve created your own company, don’t talk.
It would be nice if someone spelled out the compensation. It’s hard to take a “business opportunity” seriously if you don’t know what they are paying.
Leapforce states that they pay $13 an hour. The reason you don’t really see the figure being displayed much is because when you are hired you have to sign an income disclosure agreement, and they’ll only tell you the pay when you go through the application process. I never signed the agreement because I wasn’t hired, but they did inform me of the pay rate.
THe $13 an hour is a little deceptive though because like I said above, you’re not paid for all the work that is actually required (training and studying, etc) and the rigourous exam that is required for hire most people end up failing, yet it takes a few days to get through the entire thing! That is a lot of unpaid time! When you average it out, it’s a lot less than the $13.
Great commentary on Leapforce. Someone had asked me about them. I was looking for some unbias insight. You did a good review of them. Theere are many good opportunities out there. It requires some due diligence as any employment opportunity would.
So many are looking for perfection when it comes to”Working From Home”. What’s perfect for one may not be suitable for others.
We also look for good people to do good work. We have helped thousands through the years attain their freedom and financial independence, but “Work at Home” opportunities require a proper work from home environment, proper tools, consistency, partnerships, great income for great follow-through and a good game plan just like any traditional business.
Keep up the good work.