Recently in Freelancing Category

Over here at Aquent we value the amazing Talent we represent and we also recognize that they in fact are the true experts in their fields (SME, if you must) and are far more connected than we can ever hope to be.

So during the past few months we've been developing a referral system that "pays it forward" and hopefully gets everyone more jobs and some extra money to boot!

A couple weeks ago we started offering cash to Aquent Talent based on a point system. We have two different avenues for folks, one is to refer other awesome Talent to us and the other is to refer potential job openings to us. (This last one pays big and fast!)
 
I was excited about this new referral program (we call it Aquent Rewards) and started shouting about it from the rooftops. But I started to notice a trend: People often responded to enthusiastic pitch with a,  "Yeah, that's nice and all, but I really just want a job of my own. I'm not really in the mood to send you names or job openings."

Fair enough. And I do get it. As a company, we want to find an exciting job for every one of our Talent as well!

All this got me thinking about how the referral program impacts people in a way other than the cash that they get. Then I started thinking about karma.

Wikipedia tells me that Karma means a "deed" or "act", or more broadly, names the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction that governs all life. If Karma can make things right and good for people like Earl J. Hickey, why can't it work for other folks?

Let me lay it out for you:
 
How exactly would this good job karma thing work?

Case study #1 (talent referral)
You have a friend/acquaintance that is an incredible Online Marketer
You login to your My Aquent  account and submit your friend/aquaintence to us
We call* your referral
 If we place that person, you start accruing good job karma points (and Aquent referral points = $)
 
Case study #2 (business referral)
You are sitting at work, working.
You overhear that the online marketing team (or interactive, marketing, graphic design,) needs someone and they are thinking of hiring.
You login to you're My Aquent  account and submit any information you know about the job and hiring manager's name.
We call* that hiring manager and help them fill that job.
If we fill that job you rack up FAT good job karma points (and Aquent business referral points =$$$)
 
Karma Bonus:
If you send us a business referral and the talent referral that can fill that job, you go straight to nirvana and collect a large sum of Aquent referral bonus points = $$$$$$$$$
 


So let's go back to the initial problem; "Yeah, but I just want a job of my own"

By you building your good job karma and others building up their good job karma, there's a good chance that you will get to work at that job of your dreams - the job someone else recommended.

And heck, the fact that you get points (and cash) for recommending people doesn't hurt, does it?

God do I hate resumes.

Distilling your entire career into one page? 
Maybe two pages if you have over 5 years experience? 
12++ pages if you're a C++ Developer?
Creating a first impression on paper?
Engaging an audience of one from a sea of other resumes?

You have a 30 second window to convince the reader to spend another 30 seconds reading more.  And don't get me started on cover letters.

The problem is there are no silver bullets, golden rules or magic tricks.  Anyone that tells you they exist is selling you something.  Your resume is ultimately only as good as the pair of eyes reading it.

The biggest favor you can do for yourself is abandon the old rules, start fresh and create a document you're proud of.  That way you're at least assured to please your most important critic, yourself.

Let's tackle this practically speaking.  You're more likely re-writing an existing resume than you are writing a resume for the first time, right?  Wrong.  

Every time you think it's worth your time to write a new resume, WRITE A NEW RESUME.  Don't slap a bandage on the old one.  If you add a new paragraph every time you complete a new position your resume is going to sound iterative.  Like a collection of snapshots.  Unrelated, unstrategic, where's that next resume again...?

If it's time to update your resume, it's time to re-evaluate your goals, reflect on how you've evolved and apply all of that to your resume.  BTW, if you haven't grown in your last role? 

That might explain why you're looking for a new job.*

From there, redefine the purpose of your resume.

Your resume is NOT about the work you've done.  
It's about the work you want someone to hire you TO DO.

Your resume is a marketing piece; your annual report, your homepage, an iPhone app all about you.

You need to aim this tool at the right audience and orient it to meet their needs.  You know what this means?  You're not just writing a resume.  You're writing multiple resumes.

Most job searches include a variety of roles.  If yours does not, see above.*

Do you want to create a blanket resume that encompasses all of your experience or do you want to create a line of sight right through your career that leads the reader to the conclusion, This person solves my problem!  If you carpet bomb with your resume you're going to get the sloppy results that follow.

One final thought.  Tie everything to revenue that you possibly can.  In this economy, more than ever, you want to help the employer see how you've enabled your previous employers to either generate or save money whenever possible.  These numbers are often available to you; most folks just don't think to collect the data.  

If you're a designer and you brought projects in ahead of a deadline with fewer revisions, how much money did that save your client?  
If you're a copywriter, how did enrollments increase after your brochure was shipped?  
If you're a project manager, how did your procedural adroitness impact the bottom line?

If you can insulate your already impressive experience and skills with some impressive numbers you make a critical double impression.  First, look at the money you saved/generated for your last employer, wow!  Second, this candidate was savvy enough to think to include this information, now that's impressive...

Lastly:

I assume you have references available upon request, if not.*

No one cares what you did in high school, no one cares about your hobbies and interests, no one wants to see a picture of you on your resume.

That's why they have Facebook.  

That's a whole other story.

I was planning on blogging about our annual AIGA | Aquent Survey of Design Salaries (which is a bit of a misnomer, as it includes Web Developers and Copywriters), but I don't know if I'm late already.

See that's the problem with Twitter, I'm doing a million other things and getting ready to write about the survey and I see that's it's already been tweeted a hundred times. Now I know how those document copying monks must have felt about Gutenberg.

But maybe I'm just being stubborn. The point is to make sure everyone knows about it, right? Not to be the first person to tell everyone about it.

A warning before you try to print this whole doc up from the AIGA site: it's 48 pages long.

Might want to read it as a PDF.

Be the first to tell your friends!

Aquent partnered with Monster to uncover the key to "attracting, keeping and developing Web talent in an uncertain economy" and we presented our findings in an AMA webcast today (I've embedded the slides below for your viewing convenience).

It would seem that, while others in the creative class may be struggling, the web folk are feeling fairly confident. 72% of our respondents said they would rate their current position as moderately to highly secure. 52% feel that they would have a good or excellent chance of finding another web position were they to look (a belief that is semi-bolstered by the fact that 37% of our client respondents said they plan on hiring web talent in 2009). And 51% saw their compensation increase over the last twelve months.

This level of confidence amongst the web-enabled is understandable. From the standpoint of companies looking for web talent, it also makes these folks "available." Indeed, 43% percent of the people we asked said that they will actively seek another position within the next 12 months, while an additional 35% said they would make a move if the right opportunity presented itself. In other words, 78% of working web talent are "out there."

I'm not a math guy, but all signs point to this being a good time to be looking for web talent (and a good time to actually be a talented web professional). If you are in the hiring game, you might want to consider the following to lure the interactive moths to your particular flame: web folk are looking for stable positions, flexible schedules, and access to professional development. If you've got that on offer, then get busy offering!

As mentioned, the slides:

As the scope of the current economic downturn expands and evolves, marketers are responding with pragmatism rather than panic. The pragmatic view, as revealed by research conducted by The Dihedral Group (TDG) on behalf of Aquent and the American Marketing Association, is driven by three factors: new technologies; the availability of highly-skilled contractors; and the understanding that organizations must plan for the recession's inevitable end.

Last spring, Aquent and the AMA enlisted TDG to conduct a survey asking marketers about salaries, hiring plans, and their outlook on the future. We turned the results of that survey into a marketing salaries calculator. Since the initial survey asked a lot about plans for 2008, we sponsored a follow up survey to find out what had happened in the intervening six months. Of course, we found that some plans had changed (only about a third of anticipated interactive marketing hires had been completed, for example), but we also found that, despite the severity of the current economic crisis, marketers seem to responding with a forward-looking level-headedness.

1. Guess what? Technology has changed marketing!

Everybody knows that email, the web, and the rise of social media have changed and are continuing to change the practice of marketing, so naturally these are changing the way marketers respond to a downturn in the economy. Specifically, whether companies are faring well or are struggling right now, online marketing plays a key role in their plans to weather the current storm.

They are, however, using the technology for different reasons and to different ends. On the one hand, those companies that experienced growth in 2008 are concentrating on using online capabilities to deepen customer insight, analyze their behavior, and continually improve the effectiveness of their digital marketing efforts. On the other hand, the strugglers are increasing their reliance on interactive marketing for increased efficiency and cost-savings.

This is the age-old question ...

You are super keen to find a new job and you decide to register with a recruitment agency. The recruiter you meet with asks you not to register with any other staffing agency, saying something along the lines of "leave it to us ... we'll find you the perfect role".

You feel caught between a rock and a hard place since you really do trust the agent you have met with, but the thought of him or her not finding you a new job is niggling at the back of your mind. You assume that if you would register with several agencies then your chances of finding that new role would increase exponentially.

Believe it or not this is not necessarily the case.

If a recruiter knows that you have sent your résumé all over town, then they are less likely to focus on your job search, and instead will be more proactive finding a role for a candidate who has given them at least a period of exclusivity.

Just food for thought ...

Image courtesy of: allen shore

A record rise in unemployment in the United Kingdom in recent months has been a cause for concern for not only the permanent but also the freelance market with talk of businesses 'tightening their belts' and the cost of contractors coming under the proverbial spotlight.

With this in mind it's time for freelancers working in any market (not just the UK) to really shine and step up.

I recently asked some of my key clients and talent what their top tips are on standing out from the crowd in what is now becoming a highly competitive freelance market.

"It's all about having a good attitude and being professional. Boring I know but it's back to basics," says Joe, Head of Resource Management for an award-winning global digital marketing agency.

"The freelancers that have come in and wowed us have a proactive approach, passion about what they do and how they can help us. They want to work with us and enjoy it and want to come back, even when it's tough for a few weeks, so they work hard for us and we recognise that."

Highly sought after lifestyle and fashion copywriter, Lucy, elaborates on Joe's sentiments ...

"It may sound obvious but I think it's really important to give your absolute all to the client. Dedicate yourself completely to the task at hand when you're on a job. Personal e-mails and phone calls are for lunchtimes or after work".

Lucy continues with some good advice ... "Keep in with your contacts, ask how their children are or how a certain project went. Remembering, and asking, about specific details will get you noticed and you can never go wrong with the personal touch."

With more than ten years experience as a senior freelance copywriter, Aran prides himself on his ability to become absorbed in the assignment and pick things up quickly ...

"You have to become an instant expert. You can ask me anything you like about becoming a McDonald's franchisee, EMC's storage area networks or a local energy-from-waste power station! Get my drift? You need to force yourself to be interested in every brief and its subject."

And Aran's proven ability to secure ongoing freelance work is backed up by his advice that "if you're invited out to lunch or for after-work drinks, go. Cancel your plans and go and bond!."

Mary, a freelance content producer of five years who made herself so in-disposable that she was offered a permanent opportunity says explains that "a sense of humour and a willingness to join in with office banter goes a long way".

Like most clients, Head of Resource Management, Jo, predicts tough times ahead and is adamant it'll be as much about a candidate's attitude and approach as their skill-set to secure contract work.

She concludes: "I think we will start to see a change in the next few months and next year it will be all about being as good as your day rate and being able to prove your value to an agency. It will be more important to have that edge."

In conclusion Jo says, "We spend a lot of time making sure all our freelancers are on-boarded in the best way to get them settled and briefed in. So it's a two way relationship especially when the market is tough."

Whilst it's getting tough out there, as a professional freelancer this is your perfect opportunity to step up to the mark. But in order to do so if you are a freelancer and you want some additional tips on how to really stand out from the crowd, feel free to ask the Aquent Oracle

Image courtesy of: CAGZ

Illustration courtesy of: Steve Dixon

An old compadre over at the web shop known mysteriously as Silverthreaded, pointed me to this post, "Productivity 2.0: How the New Rules of Work Are Changing the Game," on an interesting blog called, "Zen Habits."

The gist is this: It's all about freedom, leveraging technology, and, oddly enough, getting less done while being more focused on and engaged in what you do do.

I'm sure it will make you rethink some of your own work habits. The one rule that got me: Don't multi-task -- multi-project and single-task. In this day and age, it's not about multi-tasking; it's about working on multiple projects simultaneously, but focusing on one task at a time.

Image Courtesy of rejflinger.

Top journo and editorial freelancer, John Pinching shares his thoughts on a career as a freelancer following more than seven successful years working in temporary contracts ...

For the essence of freelancing look no further than the first syllable. If, already, you are struggling with this introduction, the syllable to which I refer is free. This, of course, indicates the sense you will have through not being a slave to any particular system, rather than what you will provide your services for.

There is a common misconception among the vast majority of people, that staying in one job endlessly, however much you may despise it, is somehow the honourable thing to do. Even for the most sceptical atheist there is an almost religious belief that slogging away thanklessly, repeatedly and, often depressingly, at the same company, earns the respect of a higher force - a faceless career God who assesses your CV on judgement day!

This, dear reader, is anachronistic propaganda, which, for many - too many - has been a professional rule to which one must subscribe. Of course it is complete and utter nonsense. The days of completing 40 years at the same establishment is largely a thing of the past. If it's a carriage clock* you aspire to, there are plenty at your local department store. In any case I have always found these items to be less than ornate.

Having addressed a few reasons why escaping 'security' might not be a bad idea, it may be wise to return to the subject of freelancing, or contracting, as it is otherwise known.

For the feint-hearted it is not.

In this profession you will be widely regarded - particularly by your parents - as not having a job at all. Prepare yourself for world-weary glances from your immediate family during 'rest' times. Rest assured, however, that we are in the company of actors and musicians during these enforced holidays - this is the entertainment profession after all!

When you find work it makes it all worthwhile and, because of the nature of freelancing, you will experience an enormous feeling of wellbeing several times a year.

Starting an assignment can be an interesting experience. Indeed, I prefer to file this under 'character building'. We all know what it's like when you start a job - those rather awkward introductions, during which you are forced to assume a fixed grin. Well, you'll have the pleasure of this activity many times. This, I can assure you, is much better than having to maintain non existent 'friendships' for the best part of four decades!

There will also, during these early exchanges, be an assumption that you know exactly how an IT system works and where all the appropriate files are kept. The fact that some regular staff recoil in shock when you don't know these company secrets remains a mystery. I can only advise that you remain philosophical about such behaviour.

Once settled and you have committed one or two of your colleagues names to memory (even if it's just the first letter) you will feel able to embark on your new responsibilities with gusto.

* A typical gift and permanent reminder of a member of staff having completed an inordinate amount of time in the same place.

Blog entry thanks to: John Pinching
Image 1: Photo of top journo and editorial freelancer John Pinching
Image 2 courtesy of: teain.mycup

Another marketing careers webcast related question. Actually, in its entirety, the question went like this: "Given the downturn in the economy, combined with the marketing dept. being the 1st to be cut/reduced, do you expect an increase in project-based opportunities?"

Yes, as a matter of fact, I do believe that marketers will see an increase in project-based opportunities and here's why.

First of all, it appeals to the organizations that hire marketers. Certainly, parsing tasks into clearly defined projects can help with budgeting and cost-control, but even more importantly it represents a more efficient and effective way of actually doing marketing.

"Operationalizing" marketing, as I discussed, involves separating planning from execution. With the advent of increased automation on the execution side, the planning component, a marketing plan for a new product, for example, becomes a discrete input that can be generated by someone who then moves on to do something else.

At the same time, project-based work should appeal to marketers as well. On the one hand, it offers flexibility so that you can focus on doing the things you want to do without getting locked into a particular role or stagnating within a particular organization.

On the other hand, it allows you to consciously construct your career path around targeted learning experiences involving new markets, new companies, and new technologies.

One downside to this trend is job instability, because you have to spend more time thinking about your next gig. The other downside is, paradoxically, missed learning opportunities. In the course of a project-based career, you might get to try a lot of new things, but you may not have the chance to see a plan through to fruition and thus discover what worked best and what doesn't work at all.