How to get accepted on Outlier and Mercor: a UK contributor's guide

The onboarding gate is everything

On both Outlier and Mercor, your onboarding assessment determines which projects you can access and at what rate. Treat it as a job interview, not a formality.

Outlier

Lead with your single strongest domain. The biggest mistake new contributors make is claiming expertise across too many areas, this triggers harder assessments and lower ratings when you can't deliver. For the coding track, expect live coding-style questions; for writing, expect structured reasoning tasks.

Be honest about your level. Overclaiming leads to project mismatches and low quality scores that gate you out of better-paying work.

Mercor

Mercor's onboarding is a video interview assessing genuine expertise. It is selective, many applicants are not accepted. Prepare concrete examples from your domain. Specialists (ML, law, medicine, advanced maths) see the highest rates and most consistent volume.

After acceptance

Your first few submissions set your quality rating. Invest extra care here, early ratings compound into access to higher-paying batches. Don't rush for volume in week one.