Last week I found a design firm’s website by accident and really liked it. So, I called and got the creative director’s email address and emailed him a cover letter and portfolio, and just asked for a portfolio review.
Two hours later I got a message on my home phone from them and a few days later, yesterday, I was there for an interview. It’s a really small company, 4 people at present, but they have a regional/national/international clientel. Anyhow, the interview went really well, as we seem to see eye-to-eye on many things.
They said that they really like my work/design philosophy, and were thinking of expanding by 1 or 2 additional creatives in the next several months because of the workload that they are getting. The role is a little unconventional in that it’s not really your typical designer role. Or, as what one of the principle said, they are looking for someone that they will be able to entrust with maintaining the standard of work, do good work, and not have to worry about managing that person. From what I gathered throughout the whole conversation, they are interested in having someone who is able to a) think strategically b) design strategically and c) have a firm grasp on the craft of design. The job seems like a lot of hard work, but I really like it and I think it has possibilities.
So after chatting with the two partners of the firm for about 1.5 hours, they brought up some details. That this state has a no-fault-hiring-firing policy (because I just relocated here from another state, ForMyInfo) and that they’d be interested in having me work on a contract basis for 60 days and if all goes well the contract would be extended to a full-time position. Ok so that’s fine. But then they basically asked me point blank how much I want.
I basically ask them back “how much are you offering?” and their answer was “we want to know how much you need, and if it’s too high we’ll definitely tell you so.” Overall, it’s very informal, but I wish it were a little bit less so. It’s kinda weird because throughout the conversation it was quite clear that they are interested in bringing me on board (showing me projects that they are currently working on and what I’d be working on, keep saying things like “if/when you were/are working here, then …”), but then at the end there’s no serious/formal job offering.
Anyway, when I got home after the interview I got a nice email from them saying that they’re sriously looking over my portfolio one more time and that we will be in contact soon. Today I guess I’m supposed to get back to them about how much I want, but I am really shaky. I’ve been up since 2 AM this morning agonizing over this because I don’t want to mess up.
Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? I want to just wait for them to contact me, but I already said that I’d get back to them with a number and don’t want to be a flake. At the same time, I realized after I’d opened my mouth that what I said was pretty dumb.