Hello, I am thrilled to be a part of this new and exciting journey in my life. In the past I have seen T.V. shows that display a group of people around a table having food and conversation.Then, talking about their experience. I have always said " I want to do that". So, I am ready to do that!. Wish me luck on my new venture!

Dora

Hello Friend,I am so delighted to be a recent member Joining the community. There are still many aspects of assignment processing that I don't quite understand. I would appreciate some insight on how I can be selected for shops I take time to request. If the web sight doesn't give me any indication that I should not request certain shops, I,ve wondered I am so slow to receive one.

Thanks in Advance,

Jennifer Thorpe

Hi Jennifer,

Welcome to the community. Since you are just starting off, keep a few things in mind. You can only do one shop at a time to start with, so if you request a bunch of shops at once, probably most of them will be declined to give you only one. Until you build up your reputation rank, you may need to complete several lower-paying or "less fun" shops first, so try applying for things like that. Also, I don't think requests are processed at all during weekends and during the week it may even take a few days, so be patient. Good luck!

Dora @ Aug 20, 2017 3:18:44 PM

Hello, I am thrilled to be a part of this new and exciting journey in my life. In the past I have seen T.V. shows that display a group of people around a table having food and conversation.Then, talking about their experience. I have always said " I want to do that". So, I am ready to do that!. Wish me luck on my new venture!

Dora

Welcome and good luck Dora! I hope you're having as much fun as I am :)

Thanks Heather for sharing some great advice and insight!

Hey MSers

Dora, OK welcome aboard and let the fun begin!!! I wish you all the luck you may need. But what table should we sit at, and what are we eating?

Jennifer, as a starter, and as HeatherAnnie eluded to, you will need to build your reputation as a reliable Independent Contractor (IC) and one that is done, you will receive all the assignments that you dream about. First I would suggest to take it slow, ask for one assignment, do your VERY best, write a WOWing report, be on time and then repeat that a couple more time and the schedulers will take notice, and start sending you assignments without asking. Remember you also need time to write (fill in) the report. So make sure you do not overwhelm yourself, this is what I am referring to. After you get the hang of things, then you can expand your horizons.

Also, remember that sometimes the shop requirements may be such that you do or don't meet them. Age group, Gender group, has an account at a certain bank, drives a luxury car, and if you were born on a weekday vs. a weekend all come into play. So if you ask for an assignment that requires a couple, and in your extended profile you stated that you were single, well you will be excluded. If the shop is an age verification where you go in to an establishment and buy liquor and see if the cashier asked for your ID to verify your age. Well if you are, or even look, older than the age group needed, you will not have a successful assignment.

The 3rd aspect of assignment scheduling is the complexity of the assignment. As a starter, for example, you will be passed over to a more accomplished IC when it comes to video, or route shop assignments. These are complex, and need strict adherence to the guidelines, and as an untested new IC, you may not have all that the scheduler will look for, so they will go for the tired and true ICs.

So, this is all so grim. I know, but remember we are all humble enough to remember the days when we all were "starting out" and look what happened, now I can self assign all the assignments that I care for. And one day you will be doing that too, believe me you will get there. It just takes your excellent attention to details, and great on time reports, and being helpful to the schedulers.

Now you go get them Girl, or Lady!!!

Oh I can't leave Meghan out, Thanks you too for being part of this forum, and sharing your insights. I hope to meet you in person at some MS conference.

Hi everyone,

I agree with everything you said, and would like to add one more thing to keep in mind - Badges!

When you submit your request for a shop, you can count on the fact that several more shoppers will do the same, and the schedulers will see at a glance which shopper has experience in those type of shops, which shopper has a good reputation rank, who has made other contributions, etc. So as you start doing more shops and engaging in the whole experience, your chances of getting your requests approved will also increase - and schedulers will always give a chance to new and inexperienced shoppers, but it is up to you to be active and do a good job on your reports.

As Wassim said, there are things that editors and schedulers will take note of - the quality of your reports, your reliability, and someting that will make you really stand out - good grammar. Having your reports well written and grammatically correct can bring you the Grammarian badge, which will tell schedulers that you are a person that does a damn good job and actually saves the editors time and effort durng the review of your shop.

Good luck in your shopping!

Very Helpful information. Thank You.

C

You're welcome!