Sean Leong - Public blog » Economy http://seanleong.com Interactive Multimedia, Macs, Art, Politics, Caricatures Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:11:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 … and out… and back in… Ah, the joys of freelancing! http://seanleong.com/2009/05/the_joys_of_freelancing/ http://seanleong.com/2009/05/the_joys_of_freelancing/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 18:50:43 +0000 admin http://seanleong.com/?p=67 So the gig I had with Rapp Collins (The Collaboratory) didn’t last the expected 2-3 months.

I shan’t say what happened, that wouldn’t be too professional; but I can say with all honesty that it was just a matter of bad luck for me. My “boss” Lindsay was super about it, the short duration [...]]]> So the gig I had with Rapp Collins (The Collaboratory) didn’t last the expected 2-3 months.

I shan’t say what happened, that wouldn’t be too professional; but I can say with all honesty that it was just a matter of bad luck for me. My “boss” Lindsay was super about it, the short duration of my stint was something beyond her control as well. In the short time I was there, I met some really great, smart people, and I just wish circumstances were different it was a terrific project, and *I* would have learnt a lot there. It was a  business decision which had to be made, so even though I was upset for myself, I totally understood why there really was no choice for the company.

I really should have updated this blog when I ended that contract, but I was back to the job boards and combing through my recruiter contacts immediately to find the next opportunity. I heard from one of my recruiters that there was not that much Project Management work out there – and what there was was mostly contract work.

Here’s the general idea about what’s happening in our market, and why it’s so hard for a freelancer to feel comforted and confident about finding good (or sometimes, *any*) work:

  • Advertisers are still skittish about putting money into marketing dollars with consumer confidence so low
  • Agencies are also in cost cutting mode, so they work with minimal staffing
  • If an Agency makes a bid on an RFP, they need to show the Advertisers they can do the same job for less than their competitors
  • The Agency bid is budgeted with the appropriate resources at “market” prices
  • Sales has to figure out where the budget can be trimmed, while Production needs resources from the market
  • Freelancers/contractors are called in to interview for the *possible* positions needed to be filled
  • Agencies get “pick of the litter” for exceptionally talented professionals right now, there are so many of us competing for the same jobs
  • Of the qualified candidates, we’re asked how low we can go with our rate, and they really push LOW
  • The Agency bid is recalculated with the new figures and sent to the Prospective Client
  • The Advertiser can go one of several ways:
  1. Decide to delay the project altogether
  2. Decide to cancel the marketing initiative altogether
  3. Decide to change the RFP if all the bids are too high
  4. Decide to go with another vendor
  5. Decide to go with the Agency the Freelancer interviewed for
  • So *at last* after weeks or months since the original interview with the agency, the Freelancers on the short list are asked if they are free to begin work…

So, I’ve been asked to come in to start a project with a pharma ad agency in Parsippany. I interviewed with them a couple of months ago and thought that was a dead lead. Funny how that happens. Ah the joys of freelancing!

Hope everyone is able to find work, or keep the job they already have. These are really tough times.

Rant over and out.

]]> http://seanleong.com/2009/05/the_joys_of_freelancing/feed/ 0 Hello World! State of the State http://seanleong.com/2009/03/hello-world/ http://seanleong.com/2009/03/hello-world/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:13:33 +0000 admin http:/?p=1 As I sit here writing, I’ve spent another whole week in my job search. Obama has his hands full fighting politics as usual, I feel he’s a good man, who’s trying his best to do what’s best for the country, but the Republicans seem to be Hell-bent on trying to demonize him into some [...]]]> As I sit here writing, I’ve spent another whole week in my job search. Obama has his hands full fighting politics as usual, I feel he’s a good man, who’s trying his best to do what’s best for the country, but the Republicans seem to be Hell-bent on trying to demonize him into some Socialist monster. That’s not to say I totally agree with all his decisions, but really, what the Republicans want is their Dogmatic ideology in place and damned be those of us that are suffering. I think the worst thing he’s done so far is select Geitner as Treasury Secretary – he seems like a bit of a fox in the hen house at times, having worked the system before and during the start of the crisis. His solution was also so opaque and lacking in any great detail that it just seemed like another George Bush dodge.

Timothy Geitner

And why is Obama so afraid of the Socialist label? I don’t think he is Socialist, sometimes he’s barely Liberal, and he’s hardly Progressive, but he does mean well. I wish him well in his overhaul of the Health care issue – he really does need to clamp down on the issue early with some hard political decisions now, everyone is suffering. Even with the Federal Government picking up 65% of COBRA, it’s *still* a lot of money, and certainly a large enough chunk of change for those of us that have been downsized in this economy. Can’t he and Congress repeal that obnoxious clause in the last Republican PHARMA LOVE FEST they called the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, that said the government couldn’t negotiate bulk pricing for the drugs in the plan? What kind of help is that?

No wonder Conservatives HATE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT – THEY are the ones who made it so bureaucratic and unwieldy these last 8 years. I still stand with my theory that the Conservatives’ secret agenda was to deliberately GROW the government, but make it so unresponsive, bureaucratic, wasteful, inefficient and inhuman, that the populists in all of us would be reviled by it, feeding right into their hands with the need for “government to get out of the way of (big) business”. And then we’re back into the hands of the big bankers and pharmaceuticals and big oil making decisions for us. Does anyone realize that the term “military industrial complex” came from that great conservative President, Eisenhower? He was forward thinking enough to see the dangers of where the Cold War was leading this country, as far as civil liberties and responsive government, too bad none of his fellow Republicans had his foresight on this matter.

Despite what Rush Limp-BORG says, nationalization of the banking system is not the awful thing he claims it is. The Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s (more Republican shenanigans) was painful, but saved by nationalizing the S&Ls and then quickly liquidating them and setting up the Resolution Trust Corporation to deal with the toxic assets of that time by getting the private sector to buy them up again. Of course the current crisis is much worse and it’s effects are rippling across the world, but the World Bank has used this type of strategy the world over to save banking systems (the leading proponent of which has been the largest shareholder, the U.S.) – why oh why can’t we forego the politics this time and use this on our own problems? Why do we preach it to EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD except our own? (Answer: politics)

Enough ranting, I had hoped to put up a few pictures, but maybe on my next post…

]]> http://seanleong.com/2009/03/hello-world/feed/ 0