A question of 'Proving' yourself and the payoff...

I've seen a lot of banter on this forum about whether or not copywriters should create work for potential clients on spec.

And while I agree that you should probably avoid badly paid jobs with the promise of more, I would wholeheartedly disagree for larger companies and organizations.

Here's why...

Back in February this year, I applied for the position of a copywriter with a big branding agency in the Middle East. Now, I did my homework - they are very well known , so I knew they weren't about to rip me off.

Anyway, I was asked to produce some work on spec - just 200 words on a topic of their choice to gauge my writing style. Now I have to be honest here guys, their standards are incredibly high - think the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal or something like that - very, VERY different to the style of writing I normally have.

However, I consider myself to be a very versatile writer, so I didn't let the spec sheet bother me, nor did I start getting all hot and bothered over whether or not I should be paid to do it - it was ONLY 200 words, and took me half an hour at best...

...but I sent it and was surprised when they agreed to hire me!

Even nicer...they asked me my rate per word...now at the time, I was admittedly worried that if I quoted too high they wouldn't agree...so I said 10cents per word to which they quickly accepted!

The lovely lady I dealt with told me they had fired three copywriters before they hired me because of poor standards of work...so naturally when I took on the project I was worried about my ability to deliver...

...and deliver indeed I did - a weeks worth of work netted me $900

As you can imagine, I was ecstatic

But, I'm not done yet, because it gets even better...

This agency kept me on their books because as the editor who proofread my work said: 'She delivers good, clean copy, which is a miracle in itself'...

and guess what? The agency contacted me again about 6 weeks ago for their next project which I only just completed today...

I asked for double the rate this time, and you know what? Instead of 20cents per word which is what I asked for, they decided to give me 25cents per word instead!

So, I've done a day's worth of work and netted a total of $1,138

And guess what? You guessed it - I will now be head copywriter for their next project in March....

So, what lessons can be learnt from this?

If a client asks for spec work, don't scoff at it. Instead, check them out. If they are reputable, then I suggest you go for it like I did. If I had stressed and worried and gotten annoyed at the 'audacity' of a client to ask for work on spec, I wouldn't have had a great opportunity come to me like this. To me, it's no different to doing work pro bono.

The way I look at it is this: clients don't interview you when they hire you, but they need to be sure the person they hire can write to their exact standards...and as I found out, the fact that they fired three copywriters before me says it all - you don't always know what you're going to get when you hire a copywriter.

Spec work makes it easier for clients to pick the person 'write' for them (sorry, I couldn't resist )...

And as always, use your judgement, if you smell a rat, run a mile!