Re: Salary Negotiations & Contractors/Consultants

Subject: Re: Salary Negotiations & Contractors/Consultants
From: "Rebecca P. Rachmany" <purple -at- NETMEDIA -dot- NET -dot- IL>
Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 09:42:44 +0300

Anthony:

> Everyone of these contractor organizations insists on striping me of my
> salary requirements up-front (before I even met with their client). I
> find this depressing.
>

This may be a policy issue. It is not meant as an insult. As a contractor
organization, we have a standard price we charge to our customers. That
means that we have to have a standard price we pay to our freelancers. We
have found that varying from this causes us a lot of problems. For example,
what happens if a freelancer and a customer don't get along? I can switch
freelancers only if the price for each one is the same.

> Have you been more successful in salary negotiations for like work? Is
> there any ways around this?
>

At the beginning of each job, I tell the freelancer about the customer, the
terms of the contract, and the price I can pay. Sometimes a writer says no.
This is perfectly legitimate, and it doesn't preclude them from other jobs.


Also, if you are freelancing for yourself, you are always going to make
more money than if you are going through a contractor. One of my writers
once expressed anger after she found out how much the customer paid as
opposed to how much she got (In this case, we were actually contracting to
a consultant, who was charging another 20% on top of our fee, so the
difference was startling.). We simply explained that if she wanted to take
on all the marketing and collections work that we do, she would be able to
get that rate herself.

As a contracting company, we spend a lot of time and resources on
marketing, customer support, troubleshooting, and quality assurance. If you
are dissatisfied with the contracting company's rates, you can always
freelance on your own. If you have good connections and a good reputation,
you will make a lot more money that way. On the other hand, if freelancing
means you have to spend half of your time doing marketing or bookkeeping,
you are better off just going through the agencies.

> NOTE: What is a satisfying salary negotiation? I was taught that
> salary should be the LAST thing discussed during the interview process.
> That I should only discuss salary after I have throughly scoped-out the
> job and know: how technologically complex the assignment is and how
> complex the interpersonal relationships are.

If you are in a position to say "no", it doesn't make a big difference. You
should not give the final "yes" until you have all the information you
need. I negotiate with customers, just as you negotiate with employers. If
they start changing the requirements on me, I have to change the terms. I
have even had this happen in the middle of a contract. If the relationship
with the customer is good, you can simply tell them up front what the
problem is and try to work out another arrangement. I won't claim this
always works, but it works some of the time.

Rebecca Rachmany
General Manager
TECH-TAV technical and end-user documentation
PO Box 2419 Tel Aviv 61024
info -at- tech-tav -dot- com
http://www.tech-tav.com

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