[no subject]

[Melissa Hunter-Kilmer <mhunterk -at- BNA -dot- COM>]

Way back when on 20 Nov 1997, Kathy Fisher <KDFisher -at- AOL -dot- COM> wrote:

> I'm interested in what you think about recruiters and headhunters
who ask what your salary or hourly rate was on your last assignment.
Is it a fair and appropriate question?

Many informative posts ensued, notably from Tracy Boyington, John
Posada, and Jim Chevallier.  I read them with great interest -- I'm
not a contractor, and I don't even play one on TV, but one never knows
what one's future might hold.

A contracting friend of mine has told me a great deal about the
industry, in which she has worked for 20 years.  According to her, a
contracting firm (let's call it Cannibal Consulting) gets a call from
a company (Softapps).  Softapps wants a tech writer who can do online
help, and they'll pay up to $60/hour for it.  Cannibal negotiates with
Softapps to get them to pay up to $70/hour.  Cannibal's recruiter then
calls up available tech writers (or interviews new ones) and tries to
figure out how little each one will take.

Sue Q. Online says she'll do it for $40/hour, and Ira Tekriter says
he'll do it for $30/hour.  Neither knows about the other.  Cannibal
tries hard to place both writers, since each will generate a healthy
profit for the company.  But Ira will generate more of one -- for the
same job.

My friend says she's seen people get paid $30/hour while the company
footing the bill pays the consulting firm $100/hour.  A split of
$30-TW, $15-consulting firm is more common, and that's pretty much
what my friend aims for.  But she says it has lost her assignments,
because they go to people who will work for less -- and probably take
more time doing it, because she is very, very good.

Some consulting firms say, "Sue will cost you $60/hour and Ira will
cost you $45/hour."  That's a fair mark-up, IMO.  But some will say
that either one will cost $70/hour (which is what the market will bear
in this case) and get a better mark-up on Ira than on Sue -- in both
cases, a pretty darned large mark-up, one that would make me mad if I
were the techwriter in question *and found it out,* which often
doesn't happen.

Okay, so what's my point?  I don't quite know how one should handle
this situation.  How about this?  "I won't work for less than $X, but
I've been offered jobs in the range of $Y to $Z over the past few
months.  And of course there are many other factors involved.  Let's
talk about the jobs you have available, and then we'll talk about
price."  What do y'all think?

Anybody out there with a consulting firm who could shed some light on
this?

Melissa Hunter-Kilmer
mhunterk -at- bna -dot- com
(standard disclaimer)

	http://www.documentation.com/, or http://www.dejanews.com/