While I’m out chumming the waters for new clients (is anyone else wondering where the clients went?), I thought I’d share some of the catch phrases in job listings that usually mean you’re not getting paid. If you’re a newbie or if you’ve been around a while, it never hurts to see them for what they are – dung.
Work from home! Gee, there’s a benefit they can afford to give you, especially since you’re already working from home. This usually comes coupled with
A great job for students and stay-at-home moms! Both basically mean you’ll work like a pack mule and get a few grains (if any) at the end of the day.
An easy job for the right person. This little phrase is usually an out for the “employer” because if you realize it’s too much work for too little pay, they’ll claim you’re not the right person. Then the attacks on your character usually begin.
We’re a startup… I know a lot of you have worked successfully with startup operations. Consider yourself lucky. Each and every one I’ve been involved with has either folded, not paid, decided that pay was an option, or all of the above. And more often than not, this phrase comes attached to
….so there isn’t any pay at the moment, but once we get up and running, we promise to pay. Really? You promise? My kids promise to clean their rooms, yet do they? The road to Hell is paved with broken promises. Let this be someone else’s tar-and-chip.
Get free exposure! Wow! What a deal! While they rake in the ad revenue, you get to work your butt off and they promise to post it on their website for FREE! How lucky can you get? Please. Put up your own website, blog, or online sample page. Work free for yourself – not anyone else. Except maybe your mother.
We’ll pay you a share of ad revenue. One step above the free exposure offer, they’ll tack on the promise of some remuneration. Let’s just say this little blog here, complete with ad revenue, has earned me a whopping 62 cents over the last two years. Assuming someone may actually promote that site and make some headway, your “share” of ad revenue may be more – say around $2. Per year. Right. That’s worth it, isn’t it?
Our budget is limited. Much more honest, but no less insulting. My budget is limited, too. Do you think anyone cares? They’re telling you up front your work is being devalued at the outset. Next!
Payment will be a share of royalties. Oh great. This one is worse than ad revenue. At least with ads you stand a real chance of collecting a dollar. Royalties? On a book that may never make it to print? The math here is easy – one fraction of zero equals… uh huh. Even we English majors can figure that one out.
What phrases have you seen?
Those are all cringe-worthy!
I saw an ad today for a "commission-based" writing project asking interested parties to submit 500-700 word for review–if accepted, the author would be notified and offered the opportunity to accept or deny the offer. But before a writer can just start submitting articles for review, they have to submit a sample 500-700 word article . . . "if the article is accepted, the author will be contacted and informed of their acceptance to the program . . . no payment for the initial sample article will be paid to the author and all sample articles upon submission are considered the property of Content Collaborative." Why would you have to send a sample article to be "accepted" into a program where they can accept or reject anything you write anyway? Wanna bet no writer ever gets a "non-sample" article accepted?
Oh yeah, I hate all of those!
In regards to the ad revenue, though, Lori, all I see is one little ad that appears on your main page about halfway down. It's not on post pages, and it's very small and very far down. That might have something to do with it. Ads tend to be more successful when they are above the fold.
Now, I'm not making big money from my blogs, but I do get on average about 75 cents to a dollar per day. Still wouldn't be enough to justify working for a share of someone's ad revenue, but it's worthwhile for my own blogs, something I would be doing anyway.
I also have the Google search bar, Katharine. I used to have a number of ads, but there was next-to-no ad revenue, so I reduced. It's there if folks want to click, but I'm not going to waste time and space on something paying so little.
Oh gawd, Amie. That's just messed up! They've turned that phrasing to the point you can't remember if you're getting paid to be accepted or to be rejected!
In my experience the search bar doesn't work. It takes too much commitment from readers — they have to search for something, and then they have to click on an ad. Too many clicks required.
When I first started it took me about a year to reach the $100 minimum for payout. I know it's not a lot, but I figured, hey, a hundred bucks a year for something I'll do anyway? Sure! It paid for my website hosting for the year, after all.
Tack on "Google pays" to "work at home" and apparently you got magic. My mother thought she could make some money on the side when she saw those ads. She'd smack me in the face in my youth when I thought maybe there was something to those kinds of offers.
Let's not forget an oldie, but goodie that has sadly conned me in the past: "give us a break on this project…'cause there's lots more work coming down the pike later." This means 1 of 2 things:
a. You WILL get LOTS of work – and be offered pennies for it.
b. OR you'll do one job and never hear from them again.
That's so true, Sheri. Once you establish you'll work for low rates once, they'll expect you to again–no matter what you say.
Very thorough list, Lori. Have you been doing this writing thing long? 😉 I've found that jobs ads describing the opportunity as "fun" or "something you can do in your spare time," and those that state "we are a great group of people to work for" are usually low paying for some reason.
How'd you guess, Krista? 😉
I'm betting B, Sheri. And yes, I've heard that one waaaaaay too often. Jen knows – she and I have been around the same block (along with Katharine and Devon).
Thanks for the advice, Katharine! I'll look into your site and make some adjustments. I don't mind an extra $100. An extra $2? Not exactly worth worrying about. LOL
Yes, A Hole Guru, anything "allowing" you to work from home is usually a euphamism for "but payment? Ha!"
another one I see often (I write about the arts) is that the compensation is: swag, review copies of books and CDs (you get to keep them!), concert tickets, and the chance to interview famous people.