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Unique Job – Salary Range Advice
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I have not seen your reel but by the description of all you do, the fact you’re really doing the work of an entire art department and Art Director, I would say you are easily doing the work and carrying the responsibilities of someone in the 50 and up range. But that is only part of the formula. Cost of living and the prevailing wages for comparable work where you live have a lot to do with it. 40-45 is median income now, I think I read somewhere. You would have to ask for more if you lived in SanFrancisco, than if you lived in East Bug-Tussle, regardless of skill level. The amount you make is often a function of how effective you are at asking for it. I respect brother Grinner a lot for his devil-may-care risk-taking ability; he gambles when he swings for the fences, and sometimes he comes up a big winner, and when he connects, he deserves every dime of what he can get. Not all of us are as ballsy.
So, who are you? And do you have a lot of other people’s stability riding on your judgement? That makes a difference. You can’t bluff my man Grinner in a salary negotiation, because he has a history of being able and WILLING to walk away and somehow land on his feet, and he’s comfortable living like that. Heck, he seems to THRIVE on it. That makes him a powerful negotiator; I wouldn’t be able to bargain him down past a rate he felt was fair. We’d both know it.
(Sorry to mention you in 3rd person grinman, but I thought you were a shining example of Rule number 2.) -
Joshua –
Please send me a resume: – I MAY have some ideas for helping you get ahead and escape the slow corporate mentality. -
Specific salary for someone of your talent based on a 40-50 hour week: $60-75K. There you have it!!
Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media -
Just a thought – and possibly a situation that you’re in since you’ve gotten into so many areas in the last few years, is that there might not be performance reviews, and nothing is going to happen until you bring up money / benefits issues. That’s close to the situation that I’ve been in – 3 1/2 years with a production company, and there have been pay increases along the way along with huge changes in duties, but never an official review. You learn that if you don’t stand up and say that it’s time for a raise, it isn’t going to happen. One filmmaker put it this way: Don’t ask, don’t get. That’s one that can be applied just about anywhere.
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1. You sound a little pissed-off. Get rid of that emotion before you do the sit-down.
2. The word is “definitely,” not “defiantly.” Unless that’s a Freudian slip (see #1 above).
3. You have already noticed that anything you write here is visible to anyone who can type your name into Google. Don’t assume that your bosses have read this thread, but don’t assume they haven’t.
It sounds as though you are preparing well for this project, and that you and your supervisor are on the same page, which is great. You are correct to look for a different definition of a job, and as it were, apply for THAT job instead of trying to get a raise for your current job.
Keep us informed, unless you really shouldn’t. (See #3 above.) Good luck.
Bob C
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Just Thought I would post a quick update, since everyone took the time to give me loads of good advice.
It’s now been almost a month and a half, I turned my proposal (without any numbers of course) into my boss 11 days ago and am waiting to hear back on it. Today I will ask my supervisor if I can follow up/inquire about the progress. It’s really unfortunate that this takes so long, but then again my boss is very busy and he manages a technical staff (with the exception of myself).
Ok wow, scratch everything! I just got an e-mail while writing this and it looks like I have a ‘job proposal follow’ up at 1pm! I’m suddenly very nervous. I should start preparing some thoughts and try to calm myself before the meeting.
Thanks again for all the help and I’ll be sure to post another update.
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Good luck Josh. Assume your boss has read this entire thread.
Mike Cohen
Medical Education / Multimedia Producer
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If there’s no security guard waiting by the bosses’ door, with an empty cardboard box, chances are he’ll be okay. Go get ’em!
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Ok – So this will probably be the last post on this thread ha. I’ve been browsing over CC for a long time now and will start to post around as I’ve been interested in many of the other topics, wanting to somewhat bury this thread, and after having received so much help from this post.
The update – without getting into details and telling a super long story, here is the conclusion: I went in for the meeting with my boss and we spoke for almost two hours. I receive what additional compensation they were able to offer me and my boss explained to me the whole process and told me a lot about how the business worked. I learned quite a lot and came out of the meeting with a really good understanding of what I need to do. He mentioned that there are other things that he is trying to do for me and while the compensation increase I received was very good, it was percent-based and resulted in a not-so-adequate raise overall (compared to fair-market value) since my base compensation is so low. I do feel it’s in my best interest to stick around and see how the future plans pan that my boss talked about pan out.
I really like working here and have to hold on just a bit longer. He mentioned that there may be a lot of personnel moving-around going on soon and more recently I’ve heard that I may be transferred to Marketing. Currently I work in some obscure division under the Tech. Communications group. Several other co-workers have suggested that the move to marketing (more specifically working under the new head of marketing) would be a smart move. I would have a new poss so I’m afraid that I’ll just be transferred over and have to start all over with the compensation negotiation. There may be a job posting put up that I would have to request transfer into in which case the new posting could have a (assuming-ly) higher pay-grade. That would be the best case scenario… unless the posting is specifically put up aimed at me and the compensation is just based (again) on what I’m making now but a bit higher. Anywho, we’ll see what happens. I may or may not post another update in this thread but I do plan to contribute/post around CC.
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I’m a bit conflicted, Josh, because it’s been fun reading your thread. But I agree that you should stop posting about it. It may not be in your best interest to discuss job negotiations in a real-name, wide-open forum.
The “real name” policy here is both good and bad. On the one hand, it keeps some people honest, but it also leads others to engage in self-promotion. See the “Oh, I’m SOOO busy” post. I believe each and every one of them.
Meanwhile – good luck to you Josh, and I hope to see your posts often, perhaps in other contexts. In fact you should post a ton so you bury this thread dep in the Google results.
Bob C
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