JUMP:: Mentoring Program for Young Emerging Artists

JUMP is a national mentoring program for artists aged 18–30, who are in the first five years of their professional practice.

JUMP artists are supported to undertake a one on one mentorship with a leading professional of their choice, focused on a funded creative project.

JUMP artists also access online profiling and professional development opportunities, and significantly expand their national network during the 10-month mentorship period.

JUMP is serious about championing our nation’s next generation of arts industry leaders, and ensuring that geography and cultural diversity are no barrier to identifying and promoting artistic excellence.

Supported artforms include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts, Community Arts, Dance, Hybrid/ Interdisciplinary Arts, Literature, Music, Theatre, or Visual Arts.

JUMP is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, managed nationally by Youth Arts Queensland, and delivered in collaboration with state delivery partners, all profiled via the links below.

Applications for the 2011 JUMP program are currently open, closing 22 October 2010.

Refer an Artist

Do you know a young and emerging artist just poised for an opportunity like JUMP?

Or an established professional artist who’d be an ideal mentor?

Dob then on the Jump website

Author: Abby Holmes for The Graphic Design School The Graphic Design School offers vocational training graphic design courses. Delivery is online, affordable and open to students all over the world to study in the comfort of their own home.

Recruiters – Do you need them to land a job?

What’s the job of a recruiter?

A recruiter is basically the middle man between you and an employer. There are many recruiters that deal specifically with design and advertising agencies. They’re in close contact with a number of employers, so they’re often the first to know about freelance and permanent jobs that are coming up. They also know exactly what’s going on at a large number of agencies; who’s hiring, who’s firing etc.

When a job brief comes through from an employer, a recruiter kind of does the ‘screening process’ for the employer, sending them what they consider to be the top candidates for an interview.

Recruitment agencies also have a wide network of contacts. So even if an agency doesn’t have many jobs on the books when you meet them, they may be able to get you in front of potential employers with a lot more ease than you could if you had to contact them yourself.

Should you get a job through a recruiter, they will also negotiate your salary and day rate, as well as all the details regarding your contract.

Whose side are the recruiters on? Image used with kind permission of Pogo. www.wemakepogo.com

Do I need to use a recruitment agency?

You may be looking for your first job. Or even a new job. Where do you start? It’s rare that you’ll find design jobs advertised. The advertising and design industry just doesn’t work that way. The industry is quite small, so often if an agency needs someone, they’ll ask people in the agency if they know anyone. Or they’ll go through recruiters.

This is not to say that you can’t get a job without using a recruiter. Many people ‘cold call’ agencies, asking if they can come in and show their folio. It’s a foot in the door. An agency will often say, ‘You can come and see us, but we don’t have any jobs’. Don’t worry about this. If they really like you, they might be able to find you some freelance, or maybe even a full time gig. Or if there’s really no work going, they’ll keep you in mind when a job does come up. After ‘cold calling’ a number of agencies and going into show my folio, I was offered two jobs in two weeks, just weeks later.

Throughout my career, I have used recruiters on a few occasions. A recruiter once found me a job interstate, which would have been very difficult for me to do on my own. And when I decided to go freelance in 2007, I found recruiters very useful in finding jobs, as they are the first people to get contacted when freelance work comes up. However, the majority of jobs I have found on my own. Once you’re in the industry, you build up a network of contacts, so you often find out jobs through word of mouth. And if mates in the industry know you’re looking, they’ll think of you when a job comes up. As soon as friends knew I was freelancing, I would be recommended if work came up at their agency.

Things to consider when working with a recruiter.

The most important thing to remember is – never rely solely on a recruiter to find you work. Going in and showing your folio to a recruiter and then sitting back waiting for the calls to come flooding in is not the way to go. You could be waiting a long, long time for that call. A recruiter may see your folio, but have no jobs at that moment. Then when a job comes in, they may call the person they’ve just seen and forget to call you. Or it could be a long time until the right job comes up. Maybe you slip their mind. Maybe they didn’t like your folio. They could have left the agency. Who knows? Perhaps you do get a call, but the job is totally unsuitable. Put yourself in control of your destiny. Don’t leave it in the hands of someone else.

Why? Because no one cares about your career like you do. Don’t think for a minute that anyone else but you truly has your best interests at heart. It sounds harsh to say, but it’s the truth.

A recruiter can help you get the job you want, but maybe they won’t. You need to be out there actively ‘cold calling’ agencies, working up your folio, showing your folio to as many people as possible and utilising all your contacts to get that dream job.

A recruiter is not a designer.

Sounds obvious huh? But think about this. Whenever you go and see a recruiter, they are judging your folio from a designers perspective. Then, based on this, they are putting you forward for jobs they deem you are suitable for and that they consider you have the talent for. Whilst some recruiters have worked in advertising or design, it’s mainly on the account service side. So the vast majority of the time, your folio is being judged by an untrained eye.

There have been countless times I have gone to see a recruiter and they sit there flicking through pages and it’s blatantly obvious that they’ve missed the whole idea or concept of an ad or piece of work. This is frustrating to say the least, as you know that a designer would never miss something like that. Recruiters just don’t ‘get’ your folio like a designer would. So in my mind, they shouldn’t be judging it as if they do. But they do and based on what they ‘see’, will put you forward for the jobs they deem you suitable for. This means you have no control over how you are been represented. Another reason why it’s dangerous to solely rely on recruiters to find you a job.

Does a recruiter see what a designer sees? Image used with kind permission of Irina Vinnik http://vinnik.net

Can I see more than one recruiter?

Yes. But how many all depends on the size of the city where you live. In Melbourne, approximately three to four recruiters is more than enough. In London, I’d say five at a minimum. If you register with too many, you will find that you end up having recruiters applying for the same jobs for you, which can get a little bit tricky. That’s because an employer will often give a brief to a number of recruiters, so every recruiter in town could be touting for the same job. You don’t want your CV to be put forward by two different recruitment agencies, as then there’s a dispute about who gets the fee. It can get very ugly.

Read the contract carefully.

A recruiter has scored you a freelance gig for few weeks. After being there a few weeks, they decide to keep you on indefinitely. Fantastic.

A couple of years ago this happened to a creative team I know. What started off as a great gig eventually meant they were let go to make way for someone they had found without a recruiter. Why? So the agency didn’t keep having to pay the fee to the recruiter on top of the freelance day rate they were paying them.

What they hadn’t done was read the contract closely. The contract stated that as long as the team kept freelancing there, the design agency had to keep paying the recruiter a fee for one year. This seems an awfully long time to keep receiving a fee, relative to what the recruiter has actually done. To add insult to injury, it was the recruiter that contacted the Art Director and in fact the Art Director than found a copywriter to work with. Yet, the recruiter got the ‘finders fee’ for both! After four months of working at this very small agency, the director just couldn’t afford to keep paying the day rate and fee to the recruiter for both the Copywriter and Art Director. So they were ousted for a team the agency found themselves. If I had been in this position, I would have tried to negotiate 3–6 month, rather than a year.

The point is, read the contract carefully. You can have a say about what is being negotiated. After all, it involves you!

It’s all up to you. Image used with kind permission of Victor Oritz. www.iconblast.com

Working with the recruiter to get the best deal for you.

Like an employer, the recruiter is trying to get you at the cheapest fee for their client. You in turn are trying to negotiate the highest salary you can. How do you get the best deal for you?

If you get freelance work, recruiters will ask what your day rate is. Tell them what it is, maybe leaving it open, with a ‘I usually charge round .….’. This tells them that you’re flexible to taking on the work at a slightly lower rate. Sometimes the client won’t pay more than a certain rate, so it’s better to have the gig at a reduced rate than not at all. But do not take work at a rate that is significantly lower than what you’re worth. The recruiter will think they can always secure you at this rate. And if it turns into a long time gig, you will quickly resent the pay you are on.

If you’re currently in a full time job, the recruiter will ask you what you’re on. Generally, people give a slightly higher figure than they’re already on. Then they will ask you what you want to be on — which is something around 15% more than that.

When I moved from my first to my second job, I effectively ended up doubling my salary. How? Basically, I had been in my first job for three years and was underpaid. So the salary I told the recruiter was what I really should have been on at the time. The recruiter was then able to negotiate a salary higher than this again, meaning I could move agencies and start moving up the career ladder.

You must do this with caution though. A couple of years later, a recruiter called me about work and asked what I was currently on. I stated a figure that was quite a bit above what I was being paid. As the recruiter knew the market value of someone in my position, he knew I couldn’t possibly be on that much and was none too happy that I had lied to him. You can exaggerate a little, but don’t push it.

A good tool to have.

So, back to the question of whether to use recruiters or not. Well, as you can see, they can be very useful to find work. They have inside knowledge of the industry, many inside contacts and the ability to negotiate your salary and contract for you. I guess, I like to think of them as one tool to use in any job search. In the end I think the best person you’re ever going to find to help you search for a job — is you.

Let’s begin with the simple part which, if you haven’t already, you’ll need to have in place: Your working rates, both hourly and daily. All freelance designers need to establish their rates, have a good idea of them and be ready to submit them when asked for. We’ll get onto pricing entire jobs below but for now we’ll tackle rates, which you’ll need to have in place before you can quote for jobs anyway.

Your rates are what you charge clients for your time and services. Hourly and daily are the most common, both used and asked after. Some individuals choose to charge their clients by the half hour but in general and for the purposes of this blog I’ll stick to the two rates mentioned above.

When deciding what and how you are going to charge people, there are several factors to consider.

How experienced am I

“The force is with you, young Skywalker. But you are not a Jedi yet.” Image courtesy of Daniel Drisdelle

A fledging junior will charge differently from a middleweight designer, who will charge differently from a freelance creative director. This all comes down to experience. You’ll get better the more experienced a designer you become, and will have to adjust your fees throughout your career to reflect this.

Assuming for now you’re at a junior level, you’ll need to choose rates which aren’t quite as high as those charged by middleweights, but good enough for someone who cares about what they do and considers him or herself a fledging professional. In Great Britain, between £12–15 per hour and £80–100 per day are reasonable rates for a junior graphic designer. Each country will have its own averages. Do your research and place yourself where you feel you belong within the appropriate range of rates.

What’s in my Armoury

Any special arrows in there? Image courtesy of Yo Spiff

If you happen to count certain specialised skills within your quiver of arrows then you may want to think about a range of rates for the different services you offer. In addition to solid typography and layout skills and a decent knowledge of printing processes, (which should all be mandatory), perhaps you’re also a bit of a Flash wizard, Aftereffects Jedi or Processing ninja. Competences in these areas, because so baffling to the majority of people, tend to mean that clients will pay a higher fee for them. Given this, to keep a set of rates for standard graphic design services and another for more specialised abilities is a good idea.

Variable Rates

The Lada, the Mondeo or the Bently sir? Image courtesy of Kristina / Webbelina

There are large and small businesses, rich and poor, and everything in between. A good client list should consist of both small businesses and organisations, where shortfalls in budgets are compensated for by a hefty dose of creative freedom afforded the designer, and larger, more established clients, where typically the work is more corporate in look and feel and designers will have more to rail against, but who usually have more money to spend than their smaller high street brethren.

Bearing this in mind, whilst stopping short of advocating rampant, opportunistic greed I see nothing wrong with keeping your working rates supple to allow for the different types of businesses/organisations who might approach you and ask you to quote for a job. It would seem instinctively wrong to quote a local charity the same fee as you would a blue-chip high street bank for the same job. Given this, it is good to keep a range of fees at your disposal, with a top and a bottom end, to allow for the different types of businesses who may engage your services.

Pricing Jobs. Here’s where the Fun Begins…

With a clear and considered decision made on what rates you are going to charge people, you will be able to quote for jobs with a degree of precision. The same rules regarding striking a balance apply here, and the rates you will have established should form your first consideration when quoting for jobs.

There are several factors to reflect on here, some, most or all of which you should build in to quotes you submit wherever appropriate. The more factors you examine and deem relevant to each particular job the more you’ll protect yourself against unforseen eventualities and maximise your profits. It’s also worth noting here to get as much information about the impending job as possible from the client before returning with an estimate. The more information you have at your disposal the better your judgement will be, and the more accurate your quote.

How Long is this Job Likely to Take?

One of the most basic questions you’ll need to consider and estimate on is how much time the job is going to take up. To give this your best estimate, you’ll need to think about how quickly you can complete the actual task, minus client meetings, traveling times, back-and-forth decisions etc. Start to think about how fast you work, how easily the creative process comes to you and how proficient you are with the software packages you use.

What is my Client Like, and How Much Attention is He Going to Require?

The designer/client relationship is an intriguing process of discovery. Image supplied by Simon Goode

A good client can make all the difference to your mental wellbeing as a graphic designer. They’re people, and people are all different, so all clients will possess varying degrees of certain strengths in areas such as organisation, communication and deferment to your professional judgement. Rarely will a client exhibit strengths in these three broad areas in equal measure. Most will be more adept at one over the others.

All designer-client relationships involve a certain amount of mutual learning and a building up of rapport, which, incidentally, is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job. Before submitting any quotes, you will need to get as good a feel as you can for how much of your time and attention you think your client will need. Having only one or two initial meetings, some emails and telephone calls to go on, it helps to stay tuned in to the microclimate of the budding relationship in its early stages, to best anticipate, then build in, what kind of client he or she is going to be.

“We could do it like that or…”

Visually arresting Dragon poster by Australian designer and The Graphic Design School graduate Reide Iredale

Another thing to consider and worth discussing here is the question of design options. To explain, you might be asked to quote on the design and printing of a corporate brochure and see an opportunity within the brief to do something outstanding.

As well as supplying a quote for a standard design job, you might also offer your client a range of delicious design and printing options, gently informing them that, whist perfectly acceptable to pursue the 4-colour, purely typographical “route A”, isn’t the target audience much more likely to be wowed if we pursue “route B” and spend a little more money on commissioning that designer who did the incredible dragon illustration for our intro pages?

All in the Research

Take a leaf from the scouts’ book and “Be Prepared” when pricing jobs. Image used with permission of Steve Borgerding

How much research will need to be done on this job? A local estate agent in need of a logotype and stationery, who comes to you with a rush of A4 printouts of rivals’ work and instructs you to “make it like these” should require less research than a Qatari newspaper contracting you to translate the Gotham typeface into Arabic script, retaining the characteristics of the roman whist simultaneously adapting the face to suit the cultural sensibilities of its readers. Try to estimate how much research will be involved in each job and build this in to your pricing.

Client Involvement & Collaboration

Luckily, Harmony Medical was a client local to Hotson Studio and traveling costs were kept to a minimum.

This ties in to the ‘what is my client like?’ topic discussed above. Try to establish how many meetings will be necessary throughout the design process. Will these meetings involve traveling costs for you in train fares or petrol? Perhaps you’ll bag a Spanish client who’ll insist you fly out for a meeting with him in Madrid (it happens). Does your client have a computer with design software in his office and would he prefer you to work from there alongside him?

Even if the client agrees to visit you at home home or the studio, client meetings can eat away at time like nothing else. If traveling is required of you, the costs involved can hit the pocket hard.

Anything You can’t Handle Alone?

Some jobs will almost certainly involve you subcontracting parts of them out to professionals from the affiliated trades. Illustration, photography, copywriting, translation and motion graphics are typically, and frequently, subcontracted out to others. In this scenario, before submitting a quote to your client you will need to gather your own and work it/them into yours. When doing this, as a rule a 10–15% markup on subcontracted costs is viewed by the profession as acceptable.

Printing commission

Some printers, usually after the development of an ongoing relationship, allow their customers to build in some commission to the quotes they generate. Here, after supplying your printer with a job specification and requesting a quote, then receiving one back, you would ask the printer to re-quote building in an extra cost of between 5–10%. This would be your commission. You would supply your client with the amended printer’s quote and on being paid their fees the printer would pass on your commission to you.

Creative Generosity

On a case-by-case basis, you might decide to offer a discount of between 10–15% for the first job undertaken for a new client, as a gesture of goodwill and in the hope that your generosity at this stage might incentivise him to keep feeding you work in the future. Make a judgement on how likely you feel it is that the relationship will be long-term, generating prospects of further design work for you.

If you can get away with it…

Lastly, and if you feel you can get away with it, add a little extra in to cover yourself, because even with the best planning and pricing in the world, you can never predict for certain what is going to happen to timeframes and budgets. One ex-client of mine springs to mind who, throughout initial meetings, was the very embodiment of good organisation and courtesy, yet who, once the job was underway, revealed itself to be exasperatingly disorganised and at times discourteous. I wasted a lot of hours as a result of their disorganisation, but the job had already been quoted, agreed on and fixed. Their having a limited budget for my services made it difficult for me to add in additional costs retrospectively.

In Sum…

Whilst seemingly a lot to take in, by studying the factors outlined above and bringing to bear as many as you feel relevant to each job you are asked to price, you’ll find yourself more in pocket and more prepared for unexpected hiccups than you would if you simply went through the motions. Fixing your hourly and daily rates is a good and necessary first step. From there, question every part of each potential job you can think of to assess what it’s going to cost you, in time and money, and work out your best estimate. Quoting is sometimes seen as a mildly dull aspect of the freelance graphic designer’s lot, but by viewing yourself less like a sales clerk in a partitioned deskspace and more like a tactical commander on the battlefield, you’ll be well prepared and less likely to fall behind with bills. One final piece of advice from copywriter and blogger Holly Knowlman, who herself is passing on advice that she had heard: “If it’s a crap job and you hate the client … quote them a fortune. It’s much better than turning them down.”

Cool and unflappable, because she has all the bases covered in her estimates. Image used with permission of Laura Vancane