by Leo Wiles
04 June 2014
I love your list and am often trawling for jobs on it but find it frustrating when job-posters don’t put a rate on or a salary range (for full-time jobs). Can’t you do something about this? T
As you know, we offer a fast, easy, cost-effective service for job-posters to tap into over 5,000 freelance creatives just like you – and the post a job form does request they include the rate of pay (in AUD). If they still don’t divulge how many cookies are in the jar, the hard-working Rach follows them up with an email to inform them that they will receive a better response rate if they do show their hand, so to speak. Also, because it saves everyone’s time.
At that point some do offer the information. Others don’t, explaining that like most recruitment sites, salary is dependent on experience. Or, because their publication offers different rates for different sections – or they want to negotiate with freelancers depending on experience / the story. Also because we offer content roles, the rate may be determined by the eventual package required – ie, do they just need a blog or do they want the whole social media swag? Did they want a breakout? Does the story require one interview or an entire panel of experts?
So even though some members have heatedly requested that we make it a mandatory point of being allowed to recruit through Rachel’s List, we’ve agreed (after lengthy and multiple conversations) that when it comes to including this information it’s up to the client.
If you still think this stinks, I understand. Initially a job posting sans salary may seem frustrating, confronting and/or even a warning sign that the rates of pay will be insubstantial. But on the flipside, I see it as a way of honing your negotiation skills.
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Still disagree with your policy of allowing ads without rates. Freelancers are by definition busy people – before we decide whether to reply to an ad we have to know whether it’s worth spending the time on it.
Secondly, there are so many dodgy people out there nowadays, expecting writers to work for free or ridiculously cheap, that we’re rightly suspicious of job ads without an indicative rate.
I agree there are good reasons why providing a precise rate might not be possible, but it’s always possible to give an indicative range. Both freelancers and your clients miss out when no rate is given, because that leads to fewer responses from top-quality, experienced (and therefore busy) writers.
The clients are going to have to reveal their rates at some point; why not upfront when it’ll do them the most good?
Hi Tim. I know from our conversations on Twitter this is one you feel strongly about and I do understand why, being a busy freelancer myself.
The List has been a long-time supporter and champion of freelancers and it’s something Leo and I are dedicated to. Running the List for over 12 years (first on email and now online) I’ve gone to bat for freelancers many times over jobs that didn’t pay market rates. And our priority on the site – which isn’t yet a year old – is still connecting quality freelancers with decent media jobs.
With the exception of the Pitch To Me Call-Outs, it costs $100 to post a role – and our aim in putting a monetary value on postings was that we WOULD attract job-posters serious about paying close to market rates, rather than would-be employers with no scruples and/or budget. (It also allows us to maintain the site and pay for the housekeeping and keep the site free for job-seekers.)
When it comes to the job-posters – well, sure. We get the odd turkey. However, over 70 percent of jobs posted clearly state a rate of pay.
I guess – bottom line – is that Leo and I realise we can’t keep everyone happy even though we try damn hard to do so. And as Leo mentioned in her post above we do request they provide rates and we chase them up about it if they don’t. Ultimately though – like any other recruitment site out there – it’s up to them whether they decide to or not. If we start turning away job-posters who don’t want to provide this info upfront for various reasons, they’ll go elsewhere. And to us, that means we all miss out.
Seriously, Parallax, if you can’t tell the difference between a legitimate job and a dodgy organisation trying to get low-cost copy from their ad, then you have bigger problems.
A “legitimate job” is in the eye of the beholder. I need to know the offered rate in order to decide whether it’s worth my time (in my assessment) to reply to the ad.