contract work

[nca]

I’ve read alot of responses lately with regard to recent lay-offs and some have suggested pursuing “contract work.”

I thought it may be beneficial for anyone who has experience with obtaining work this way to share their methods for making contact with potential employers and marketing yourself as well as the appropriate means of presenting the idea of contract work with employers and how to get paid, etc.

The questions may seem fairly obvious, but I hope they could spawn some further discussion in as far as the type of work that may be marketable to firms as contract based and requirements one may need to even work out of the office or home.

[nca]

Anyone?

[Brittany Brock Birdsong]

I am curious about this too… I think that it really is just about your connections and how you market yourself. I have been told by professionals when you go into the interview process, to show your versatility (same project different methods- Hand graphics and computer). Also emphasizing that you would be willing to work on a contract basis if needed. Since most firms are not hiring full time right now, if you market yourself well as being efficient and productive, they may remember you during crunch time or a deadline where they need some contract help to be able to jump right into the project.

[Eric Shepley]

I was approached by the firm I did the contract work for. They understood my situation and that I was getting ready to relocate, however they really needed some help on a very large project. I didn’t learn of the scenario until I followed up with them after an interview for permanent work. I set up a contract with them like you would any client to specify the amount to be paid and the time frame of the work (fortunately, it continued well past the initial time frame). I believe there a lot of firms that would consider this especially if they’ve been awarded a large project and need help for a short period.

I would say this would be a good topic to bring up when inquiring about employment to see if the firm would be willing to consider contract work.

In my case, had I not made the decision to relocate, I would have had an offer for full time employment. I was told that show my abilities much better than what comes across in my resume and my portfolio.

I say go for it.

[nca]

Who is responsible for drawing up the contract and terms? What, if any, kind of liability would you be expected to carry? Can you work on multiple contracts at the same time or is there typically a clause relegating you to working for only one firm at a time?

Maybe these are stupid questions..

[nca]

This makes me wonder what a person with an LA degree could get as far as rate doing illustration and graphics on contract. I want to say my billing rate at my current part time student position is in the range of $65-75/hr. Schmid- what rate did you start out at if you dont mind sharing (or a clue perhaps) and how did you determine the rate?

[nca]

All pretty sad considering the fact that I was making anywhere from $65-125/hour+ four years ago with my home-based business. Would I still be happy and feel fulfilled as I do today or will in the not -so-distant future? Probably not.

I toyed again with freelance landscape design last fall and got work at a rate of $25/hour. I think right around $25/hour with no overhead is reasonable if not very cheap depending of course on the type of work. Middle of the road illustrators are getting $1500+ for letter size renderings. Not to say I would be looking for that kind of cash, but to get $350-500 for a comparably sized illustration as a entry level designer/illustrator I would say is more fair, if not still quite cheap. Who knows..its all conjecture anyway 😉

-n

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