Suggestions Part Time Pay ?

You'll get a lot of answers, mine would be not to pay anyone under $15/hr.

 

About 14 years ago I was in college and worked at a brand new start up sign shop. They started me at $8 per hour but then quickly upped it to $12 per hour once they saw I could do the job. I would agree with the above $15/ per hour as a base for someone with not a lot of experience yet.

 

So Texas min. wage is 7.25 an hour.
I don't know why people pay part-timers so little - they should probably get a little more for the inconvenience of requiring 2-3 jobs because they can't get insurance and work a lot more to make ends meet.

That said, 15 for a clueless college grad sounds about right.

I had to look up that you are a full-service sign shop... big difference than most of the vinyl slappers around here.

What kind of artwork are you expecting this designer to do?

Most graphic designers out of school are digital media designers - there is no money in signs. I freelance for sign shops and right off the bat, most do not know how to design in scale, know nothing about codes and research, can't use the equipment, clueless about how a lit sign works, materials, legibility.. the list goes on.

Most sign shops hire a designer from college because - as they claim - experienced sign designers have bad habits. They are looking for someone with software experience - not real world sign experience. After reading that your company let go of the designer and no one can use the equipment, how will you be able to teach a clueless kid the intricacies of sign design fast enough to make it worth your while? Be prepared to go through a few people...

 

Fully agree with Rick, though I’d suggest going for someone with print experience. There’s a fairly large gulf between designing and actually producing signs. You’ll have a hard time teaching someone fresh to the business how things work if you don’t know yourself.

 

Depends on a ton of factors, could be anywhere from $10 - $15. But usually part time with little experience is $12.

 

I think it depends on what your looking for. I would say that someone that has no print experience but a solid design skills and capable to learn the industry software $15-$18 to start.

Why not look at hiring a full time person?

 

McDonald's employees want $15/hour.

 

They can "want" all they want, That's why they are being replaced by Kiosks.

 

If you have access to a college or university, offer a paid intern position.They will get experience and you will get a designer that you may have to help out from time to time, but you also don't have to pay the rate of someone that is experienced.

 

No, they are being replaced by kiosks because competition in the fast food sector and building supply industries is brutal and the margins are very tight when your product only costs a few dollars and there are countless competitors. Any advantage a corporation like McD's, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. can carve out for themselves even if at the expense of workers or our country's social stability are undertaken.

 

Exactly. The driving force for the kiosk is not that the employees want more money, it's that McDonalds doesn't want employees. They have been developing them for years way before the $15/hr push.

 

It's hard for small shops to rely on interns. Pay the money and get an experienced person or expect to spend a good amount of time training a recent grad, it is not fair to expect otherwise. This is part of the reason people complain about the younger bunch, they expect them to just know this business and totally ignore that school just teaches general concepts that are universal across many applications. Being cheap can be very expensive and judging by your other posts, it really doesn't look like the route you are looking at is a smart way to go.

 

McDonalds is a machine and they have been automating tasks for years. Others have latched onto this as proof for their false narrative.

 

Keep in mind that most design school graduates have higher aspirations than designing signs. Designing signs, for the most part, is boring as hell. They're not going to stick around long unless they're paid well, or they're not good enough to find a more interesting job.

Also, most sign companies don't seem to realise that having a really great designer can massively improve their business. I would only hire someone straight out of school to join a design team, not to be a lead designer at a small shop.

 

We live and operate 20 minutes away from a major university with a great graphic design program and the original owner's daughter earned a degree in visual communications there. Going through her old files from the first couple of years and our own experiences with applicants and potential employees trying out for positions here, I'd concur with Rick's observations on several fronts.

I'd add that some of the attitudinal perceptions being projected onto students by their instructors about their monetary value and lack of need to work their way up to good jobs has been a real eye opener for us. Not all, but many have walked into an interview here with minimal work experience of any kind, amateur level portfolios with little practical, real world experience of any kind and are not only condescending but demanding of starting wages in the $20+ per hour range.

For any of our openings we offer a full day, paid shift or more where about 3-4 normal hours worth of simple, easy, knock them out of the park layout work using Illustrator and Photoshop is given with 8 hours to complete. I'm talking about No parking here type signs and other routine layouts many of us can knock out in minutes, not hours. I'd estimate that anywhere from 85-100% of applicants are unable to complete the work in anything close to being presentable to clients with completely illogical use of or lack of knowledge of the tools available in the software meant to make certain tasks simpler and easier to accomplish.

Even some of the really talented designers with multiple years of experience we've hired have little knowledge of the differences and special technical needs signage design demands until they receive training by us or others.

To the OP, I'd recommend that you pretest all applicants at your expense in order to assess both their software, design proficiency and to see how they accept or don't accept any critique of their work. Any employee you hire regardless of hours worked needs to be able to produce work at an acceptable level that your customers will embrace or its not worth having. They also need to be able to operate in an atmosphere where their ego doesn't inject a negative tone or make you hesitate from discussing any deficiencies in the work they are being paid to produce.

We start folks anywhere between $17.50-$21.50 for full time depending on experience and skillsets.

 

Pay as much as you can afford based on your budget/projections. But more importantly take the time to find the best candidate.