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Enthusiast
Most sweatshop agencies?
Still waiting for the Heinz soup response
My small bear paw is making small flowers 🥺🐾
Hi Sharks, I have an offer from Pwc SDC bangalore and they are providing permanent wfh. But they have not given this in writing. can anyone whi is already working at pwc tell us ? Are they gonna cal to office next year or not ? Since i might need to shift location !!! Which will be hectic !! PwC PwC India Pwc AC
Subject Expert
Additional Posts in WFH Freelancers
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A good rule of thumb is to take your last full time salary (or ideal full time salary) and divide by 125. This takes into account the lack of benefits and vacation days and the gaps in work through the year.
Eg. 150,000 / 125 = $1200 per day
That’s your max day rate. Be prepared for a range, so the lower end would be 20% less.
So in this case, your rate would be from $1000-$1200 depending on the agency and length of project.
Your hourly rate is that figure divided by 8.
I've never heard this before but love it. Thank you for sharing!
Community Builder
I’d probably say $100-125/hr range. $1000 day rate
Senior AD in a market like Chicago, I would say would run somewhere in the $80-100/hr or $700-800/ day. If you can get more than, that’s great, but the market rates are pretty depressed right now. 1k/day is mostly ACD territory.
Having said that, if you can ask the recruiter what the rate is, or the range, many times they’ll tell you. Just say “I’m sure you already have a budget for this. Would you mind sharing it?” And that way many times you can easily say a number that will be in that range and not sell yourself short or be too expensive.
So sorry you got laid off, and I’m hoping you were thanked and appreciated for your 10 years of work and loyalty. Sr AD is currently going for $70-$75/hr though that is my company’s current rate band for the role. If there’s a company willing to pay your worth, you can probably go for $85/hr. Sometimes recruiters don’t want to be bothered with negotiating so they will pass on candidates that have a higher rate than their budget - so I recommend something like $x-$x/hr depending on scope. Lets them know you’re willing to negotiate but that the pay should still be fair.
Thank you!!
Let’s hear more numbers on actual hourly rates for senior designers
$100 but flexible :)
Not sure what level of gig you're going for. A day-to-day, get it done senior AD gets about $110-$125/hr in pharma. What's unsaid is that the senior AD will likely have years of experience as an ACD or CD, but still have been hands on.
If you label yourself as a consultant, for pitches and whatnot, add $100/hr to that number. But then you have to go in, look really sharp, play some politics, and have something important to say. And that $225/hr gig will only last a few days, where as the other one can last months.
The one that has most potential is about a month long, day to day senior designer for a large-ish agency in Chicago.
Ask for the highest rate that you would feel comfortable with and work your way down ( not that much). All they can say is nay. Confidence beats all. Go for it!
Enthusiast
Congrats on the ten-year run at a big name agency. Wow. You will be fine.
Appreciate the pep talk! I know Fishbowl can be a lot like Google reviews - people come here either really upset or really excited about their future. Which is fine but it’s easy to get caught up in the doom & gloom. We’ll see what happens.
Things to consider are if you are going to be on a W2 or 1099, if you are working in a large agency or in-house, and how long the contract will be.
I have been freelancing for the last 3 years after leaving a small agency where I was the equivalent of a group creative director or executive creative director. I often work senior designer or art director roles have yet to work at $100 an hour. My highest has been $70 on a 1099 in-house at a large company. I've also been freelance W-2 at large agencies and other in-house roles for $60-65. These were all long term roles of 6 months or longer.
If it's going to be long term you will likely have a smaller rate but it's guaranteed money. Day rate are higher.
Project based billing is another way to go and probably the most lucrative and best situation since you can set based on value provided over hours worked. I've found those to be harder to come by.