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Subject:Re: Contract rates From:Caroline Leopold <caroline -dot- leopold -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Margaret Cekis <Margaret -dot- Cekis -at- comcast -dot- net> Date:Thu, 30 May 2013 23:30:49 -0400
Whenever I was recruited for contract work, it was $40 an hour. It almost
was like a magic number in that so many agencies/recruiters quoted that
number. In my line of work, there is freelance work available for more, so
I went with that.
For me, as a freelancer, when I earn about $70 an hour, I get $60,000 a
year. That salary is beyond my wildest dreams. Of course, I don't get paid
for 40 hours, but on a good month, I'll get paid for 20-30 per week. The
work has been mostly remote.
I know that I am an outlier in the tech writing community in that my work
is technical, but not computer documentation -- rather government legalese.
I only wanted to share my experience, having gained a great deal from being
on this wonderful list. If any of you want to go into proposal writing, I
know there is a huge demand for people who understand IT. Proposal writing
is a crazy business sometimes, but it's what I know and have been doing it
for 15 years.
Caroline
On Thu, May 30, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Margaret Cekis <Margaret -dot- Cekis -at- comcast -dot- net
> wrote:
> Beelia said, "... what interests me most about contract work, and what I
> really don't know since I haven't done it in a long time, is the percentage
> paid to contract agencies. In the early 90s (I was in SoCal in aerospace)
> it
> was about 15%; but now I think it must be much, much more. And back then,
> that 14-15% included benefits. Similarly, does anyone know about what the
> recruiter's fee is? There are so many popping up now, it must be
> considerable.
> _________________________________________________
> Bee:
> Agency/recruiter fees range from about 15% to whatever the traffic will
> bear. The good agencies will tell you what their cut is. In the last
> several
> years, I think a lot of agencies were forced to downsize, and some former
> recruiters have set themselves up as single-person companies and try to
> undercut the bigger agencies. Ten or 15 years ago, companies that hired
> temporary or contract professional employees like programmers and writers,
> had a few favorite firms they gave all their job Reqs to. No other agencies
> tried to fill those jobs, and. I seldom got calls from agencies outside my
> own metro area. Public entities like federal agencies and state DOT
> departments had to publicly post openings, and many more agents and
> recruiters went after those jobs.
>
> Now, with nationwide internet job boards that copy each others' jobs, every
> free agent and one-man shop in the country is chasing everything. It's not
> unusual for me to get 10 emails or calls as soon as AT&T or another large
> company puts out a job Req, and the recruiters are from all over the US and
> India! The (total) rate offered for the job is set by the company. Say,
> $60/hour. The job offers I received range from $20 to $50/hour, with the
> greedy little guys offering the stingiest hourly rates. Another trend is
> that the big agencies are getting bigger, and smaller firms are merging to
> survive and compete. Randstad, Allegis, Robert Half, and several others
> have
> become conglomerates. One plus is the large conglomerates are more likely
> to
> provide a range of benefits. Before you sign with an agency, at least check
> them out online first.
> Margaret Cekis, Johns Creek GA
>
>
--
Caroline Leopold
Grants Consultant & Medical Writer http://www.leopoldwriting.com
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