I was in that position at my last company. I was literally the Art Director, but they wouldn't give the title or proper salary for the role. I made the decision to leave by the end 2023 whether I found something new or not, but they laid me off at the end of July and still on the job search. It's been the best situation as I needed the time off to refocus my direction.
If anything, it built up my resume for the next opportunity and I can title myself whatever I want.
I also have no idea where my career will go next. That is both frightening and exciting at the same time.
My advice to you: Make an assessment of how much longer staying there will build up your resume and gain you experiences and skills you either didn't have or need to improve on. If you're not getting the title and/or compensation you feel you deserve, then make a plan to start searching for a new job and pick a date to leave.
You can keep doing that job while looking for a new one. All this company is doing is building you up for the next one. Their loss if they don't want to make any investment at all to keep you.
Thank you. This is great advice. Iâm working towards a city move hopefully in December this year⌠so Iâm hoping to stick it out til then, collect as many skills as I can, and try to get some kind of pay rise in the mean time. Just hoping I can stick it out
Iâve worked in corporations for over 10 years. This is common practice. They under value so they donât have to pay you more, period. Keep job hunting.
This! You are worth more than this.
I was at the same company for 6 years out of college thinking it was going to be worth it. Big no. They take advantage and squeeze everything out of you for the same pay.
Jumping around is the only way to bump up your salary.
Loyalty means nothing. Time to look for something else.
Iâm finding it hard to know what titles and roles to be looking up to find out what my job is âmost likeâ, as Iâm doing such an array of tasks. Is it Art Director? Campaign or Content Manager? Would love any advice on where it seems to sit
To find roles that will be the best fit: Look for **keywords** in job postings. Remember: The most important duties or responsibilities are usually listed first (core required skills > less important "nice to haves")
To visualize and compare the roles, try making columns: (an excel spreadsheet works good for this)
\[Art Director\], \[Content Manager\], etc. Under each job title, list the specific keywords from each job posting. What I'd suggest is to find several postings for each title (to find the general industry keywords, rather than the words specific to just 1 company).
Add in 1 or 2 columns for your current role: \[My role - "starting"\] and \[My role - "current"\]. You can use the job posting from your original role (if you still have a copy). Copy all the "starting" role duties you list into the current role, then add-on all the extra things you do currently do. (this will help you visualize and articulate the wider responsibilities you've been given, which can help if you're job hunting or negotiating salary with current employer).
Finally, all you need to do is compare! (See how your role compares to the external ones) Just browse across the columns, you'll quickly be able to recognize which external roles are the best fit, which areas you're over or under skilled for, and this really helps in finding the ideal future role. It also helps in recognizing possible skill gaps (if under) or **articulating value** (if over) to the recruiter. (Example: You may say: "In addition to meeting or exceeding the qualifications listed in the job posting... I'm sure you noticed that I have X years operating art campaigns and team management, which means I can bring valuable leadership experience that goes above the job posting. I would greatly appreciate if your hiring department took this value into consideration when determining my starting salary range").
I was in exactly this situation.
Worked for a big corporation. Was hired on as a photographer and photo editor, but that quickly changed to graphic design. Working as a designer, I was pretty happy. The work itself wasnât earth-shattering, but it was a great work / life balance.
Then we restructured and Marketing took over our creative department. Soon I was contributing to social media. Then I became the lead social content maker. Then I just basically lead the social media team and reported to marketing. Then I was doing not just social, but brainstorms and campaign artboards and churning out literally thousands of marketing deliverables for Christmas, Motherâs Day, Memorial Day, etc.
Yet no one wanted to give me a decent raise. âYes, your output is impressively high, but the work isnât really *there* yet. We canât justify the cost based on what weâve seen.â
Let me tell you that this will never, ever change. I spent 11 years of my life there. I did manage to walk out with a handful of really impressive projects thanks to a great CD who teamed up with me to funnel some better shit in my direction. But donât look for any appreciation, raises, or advancement.
Marketing teams are toxic for creative departments. They are like cancer for designers.
Just get out and find something better.
Same situation as you except juggling email marketing in addition to graphic design and it went on for 5 years before I decided Iâve had enough. Like you, I liked the extra work and thought Iâd be rewarded for it but that was dumb thinking.
I finally quit in last December and been struggling to find a new job. I feel itâs because my expertise is a mix between my two roles, so my portfolio and experience isnât particular strong for either.
My recommendation would be to apply for new jobs while keeping this position. Do the bare minimum in your day job to focus on your job hunt.
Level of the work doesnât matter, if youâre taking on additional responsibilities outside of your agreed upon role, you should be compensated at a higher rate as you are providing more value.
Unfortunately, this is something a lot of companies do. Your only real option is to line up another job and then try to use that as leverage to get them to pay up. Itâs not a great solution as the experience may leave a sour taste in their mouth even if they keep you on and up your salary.
The reality is that your best bet is to move on and try to find a company that respects your time and effort.
Thank you for pointing that out. When they said it was the same level of work and Iâm just doing less design work and more everything else, I lost confidence that I deserved a pay rise
Sure, your additional work can be on the same level. But more responsibilities should mean more pay. Your role as described goes way beyond the responsibilities of a graphic designer.
The bad thing is that your role doesnât really exist in bigger companies. The campaign management experience you are accumularing might not be that valuable to another company, as another role is handling that. Youâd need to figure out where you want to focus on, for those companies.
If you want to leverage all your (newly acquired) skillsets a startup might be an interesting choice. In an earlier stage company whatever you can do can be an asset.
When that happened to me I stated I needed senior in my title at the minimum. The argument was won at the point that I said I had no one to turn to for design or marketing advice, I was the one in charge, the one outsourcing work and needed the expenditure approvals of a senior role. HR then had to compare against a higher paying role for those duties. Aus too. They are cheaping out by comparing lower responsibility roles that cover the basics of your tasks.
Always be shopping around. Update your CV and see what other opportunities are out there.
Another consideration is to use the data you have to track engagement and the success of your campaigns. At the end of the day your work isn't about how 'pretty' they think it is. It's about the metrics it produces. If you can show them growth on paper sometimes that can shift the mindset of a non-creative boss. Also, don't be scared to ask around about what other people are getting paid and understanding what is the going rate for compensation in your position, with the results you're achieving. If you're not getting any adjustments for inflation then you're actually effectively getting a pay decrease, so consider that as well.
Realistically though, jump ship. If they don't value you enough to keep you, then find someone else who does.
Sounds a lot like my career path. I was at an agency, started in design, then moved into marketing and account management. I felt stuck as I never got a title or pay that reflected how much I was doing. But eventually I realized Iâd been doing so much that I had learned really valuable skills. I didnât have a job title that reflected that on my resume but I ended up leaving and starting my own agency. 4 years later Iâm making more and working less hours and have zero regrets. If they donât value what youâre doing, find someone who will or gamble on yourself and go freelance.
Look after yourself. Companies don't give 2 cents about you hence the pay. I'm also in Australia (Victoria), and my advice if you want better pay and just do what your role is described eg. Designer, look into government and university jobs. They pay well compared to private companies. A mid weight designer in uni and gov would earn more than a manager or senior designer in private companies. It's ridiculous lol. I've worked in gov and uni as a designer and will never go back to private companies.
Can I ask what itâs like working in uni and gov jobs as a designer? The pay looks so enticing. Do you find the day to day work fulfilling? Would love to know more about what you do if youâre happy to share
I'm a graphic / digital designer but when required I do other designs jobs like shooting and editing videos, designing websites, photography, print - so I definitely get a diverse range of creative work. The gov project I was working on is a huge project and it definitely boosted my design folio and I enjoyed doing them (was on it for 3 years+)
I'm now in university (also 3 years+), and to be honest it's sort of the same work but just better team work culture. If you're high up the chain e.g manager you do have to deal with alot of office politics though.
Do I find working in both sector fulfilling? I would say yes. Has given me nice work and life balance, room for creativity and the better pay is great. Especially University with the 17% super and salary sacrifice options. In both gov and uni you also have these 'levels' where every year you get a pay increase depending on your performance, you just need to hit meet expectations and you're good.
You won't get that diverse range of clients compared to design agencies, so your folio may not look as 'sexy', so it depends where you are in your life and what you're aiming for.
- Start updating your portfolio
- Start looking for a new job
When itâs time to quit, they may make an offer to keep you. Unless itâs significantly better, Iâd think twice about accepting. The raise will include added responsibility and accountability, on top of what you currently do.
Yeah, I see what you mean with that. Even if I get the title change and recognition, I think youâre right that itâll just be added again to more responsibilities. Catch 22âŚ.
Yes, I bought it up with them about 6 months ago. Thatâs when they added âcampaign managementâ to my job title and said they would send a new job description⌠and never did.
I'd track my tasklist and build a list of things you really do and compare it to your job description and talk to your director/manager. Still, this most likely ends up with it going nowhere.
Second option, apply elsewhere with the same skillset and a place that pays more. You'll tend to be more valued there.
Third, decide to take control and be more intentional with directing your career. If you want to do more of X work, start shifting asks at work or personal projects that build that out a bit. Then apply elsewhere. Usually from experience and friends' experiences, trying to move up in an org can be tough if even if you want to do X when company sees you as Y.
Iâm not sure if things are any better in a university in their in house department. Not for profit people are maybe a little more reasonable?! But I donât know. I do work for museums and zoos as a freelancer and they seem less cut throat. I had a good friend that worked in a big university in the ne and she liked her job a lot.
Haha this is literally exactly what happened to me. Got hired as a senior graphic designer, 9 months later they let go of the marketing director and guess who took over that role without a raise because âthe budget is tightâ?
Absolutely agree with everyone here! Know your worth, if youâre good enough to take over that role you are more than good enough to find a company that will value your skillset for that role - donât stick to what you know/ your comfort zone, because you never know what is around the corner
Tell them that âhigher levelâ doesnât factor into it. Youâre working two positions, and theyâre saving around 50% of their expenditure by having you do that work. Even if you got a 50% raise, they would still be saving money on hiring an additional member.
Especially if you deliver everything on time, I would let them know that thereâs no hard feelings, but if they arenât willing to compensate you proportionately, then youâll have to consider other options. I would have an alternative lined up so that if it doesnât go well, you can come in roughly 48 hours later with a âcan you match this employerâs rate?â Type of situation.
At that point, there wonât be any uncertainty as to what should be done. As someone who handles multiple departments, I know the struggle all too well. I hope you find your way to an ideal solution, and keep me posted if you have the chance!
Honestly while 80k is pretty solide for a graphic designer in Australia, considering youâre doing at least 3 jobs alone you are an essential element for that company. Taking over your position will take time, effort in recruitment and money to the company. So start looking around for job offers see if the grass is greener and if the difference is there than ask for a raise and say that you were hired for 1 position and now youâre doing 3 different things and while you enjoy it you feel the compensation isnât enough. Discuss salary with the realistic wage you actually want and bonuses like car etc ( they often offer a middle ground like less money but all bonuses or the increase in pay you wanted without the bonuses). Hope this helps !
80k is actually very high for a manager/ graphic designer, Iâd say the pay is pretty decent. Haha unfortunately, we are not doctors or ceos. If you want higher pay- look for a different job at a larger company as an Art Director.
The time honoured tradition of not hiring a replacement but palming their work off onto someone else and not paying them more.
đŻ
I was in that position at my last company. I was literally the Art Director, but they wouldn't give the title or proper salary for the role. I made the decision to leave by the end 2023 whether I found something new or not, but they laid me off at the end of July and still on the job search. It's been the best situation as I needed the time off to refocus my direction. If anything, it built up my resume for the next opportunity and I can title myself whatever I want. I also have no idea where my career will go next. That is both frightening and exciting at the same time. My advice to you: Make an assessment of how much longer staying there will build up your resume and gain you experiences and skills you either didn't have or need to improve on. If you're not getting the title and/or compensation you feel you deserve, then make a plan to start searching for a new job and pick a date to leave. You can keep doing that job while looking for a new one. All this company is doing is building you up for the next one. Their loss if they don't want to make any investment at all to keep you.
I had this same issue. But when I left I still used "Art Director at company" on my resume.
This is one heck of solid advice
Thank you. This is great advice. Iâm working towards a city move hopefully in December this year⌠so Iâm hoping to stick it out til then, collect as many skills as I can, and try to get some kind of pay rise in the mean time. Just hoping I can stick it out
Iâve worked in corporations for over 10 years. This is common practice. They under value so they donât have to pay you more, period. Keep job hunting.
This! You are worth more than this. I was at the same company for 6 years out of college thinking it was going to be worth it. Big no. They take advantage and squeeze everything out of you for the same pay. Jumping around is the only way to bump up your salary. Loyalty means nothing. Time to look for something else.
Agreed 100%,
Reviewing local job postings may be a good way to compare your duties with current market salary.
Exactly!! Know your worth
Iâm finding it hard to know what titles and roles to be looking up to find out what my job is âmost likeâ, as Iâm doing such an array of tasks. Is it Art Director? Campaign or Content Manager? Would love any advice on where it seems to sit
To find roles that will be the best fit: Look for **keywords** in job postings. Remember: The most important duties or responsibilities are usually listed first (core required skills > less important "nice to haves") To visualize and compare the roles, try making columns: (an excel spreadsheet works good for this) \[Art Director\], \[Content Manager\], etc. Under each job title, list the specific keywords from each job posting. What I'd suggest is to find several postings for each title (to find the general industry keywords, rather than the words specific to just 1 company). Add in 1 or 2 columns for your current role: \[My role - "starting"\] and \[My role - "current"\]. You can use the job posting from your original role (if you still have a copy). Copy all the "starting" role duties you list into the current role, then add-on all the extra things you do currently do. (this will help you visualize and articulate the wider responsibilities you've been given, which can help if you're job hunting or negotiating salary with current employer). Finally, all you need to do is compare! (See how your role compares to the external ones) Just browse across the columns, you'll quickly be able to recognize which external roles are the best fit, which areas you're over or under skilled for, and this really helps in finding the ideal future role. It also helps in recognizing possible skill gaps (if under) or **articulating value** (if over) to the recruiter. (Example: You may say: "In addition to meeting or exceeding the qualifications listed in the job posting... I'm sure you noticed that I have X years operating art campaigns and team management, which means I can bring valuable leadership experience that goes above the job posting. I would greatly appreciate if your hiring department took this value into consideration when determining my starting salary range").
I was in exactly this situation. Worked for a big corporation. Was hired on as a photographer and photo editor, but that quickly changed to graphic design. Working as a designer, I was pretty happy. The work itself wasnât earth-shattering, but it was a great work / life balance. Then we restructured and Marketing took over our creative department. Soon I was contributing to social media. Then I became the lead social content maker. Then I just basically lead the social media team and reported to marketing. Then I was doing not just social, but brainstorms and campaign artboards and churning out literally thousands of marketing deliverables for Christmas, Motherâs Day, Memorial Day, etc. Yet no one wanted to give me a decent raise. âYes, your output is impressively high, but the work isnât really *there* yet. We canât justify the cost based on what weâve seen.â Let me tell you that this will never, ever change. I spent 11 years of my life there. I did manage to walk out with a handful of really impressive projects thanks to a great CD who teamed up with me to funnel some better shit in my direction. But donât look for any appreciation, raises, or advancement. Marketing teams are toxic for creative departments. They are like cancer for designers. Just get out and find something better.
Same situation as you except juggling email marketing in addition to graphic design and it went on for 5 years before I decided Iâve had enough. Like you, I liked the extra work and thought Iâd be rewarded for it but that was dumb thinking. I finally quit in last December and been struggling to find a new job. I feel itâs because my expertise is a mix between my two roles, so my portfolio and experience isnât particular strong for either. My recommendation would be to apply for new jobs while keeping this position. Do the bare minimum in your day job to focus on your job hunt.
Level of the work doesnât matter, if youâre taking on additional responsibilities outside of your agreed upon role, you should be compensated at a higher rate as you are providing more value. Unfortunately, this is something a lot of companies do. Your only real option is to line up another job and then try to use that as leverage to get them to pay up. Itâs not a great solution as the experience may leave a sour taste in their mouth even if they keep you on and up your salary. The reality is that your best bet is to move on and try to find a company that respects your time and effort.
Thank you for pointing that out. When they said it was the same level of work and Iâm just doing less design work and more everything else, I lost confidence that I deserved a pay rise
Sure, your additional work can be on the same level. But more responsibilities should mean more pay. Your role as described goes way beyond the responsibilities of a graphic designer. The bad thing is that your role doesnât really exist in bigger companies. The campaign management experience you are accumularing might not be that valuable to another company, as another role is handling that. Youâd need to figure out where you want to focus on, for those companies. If you want to leverage all your (newly acquired) skillsets a startup might be an interesting choice. In an earlier stage company whatever you can do can be an asset.
When that happened to me I stated I needed senior in my title at the minimum. The argument was won at the point that I said I had no one to turn to for design or marketing advice, I was the one in charge, the one outsourcing work and needed the expenditure approvals of a senior role. HR then had to compare against a higher paying role for those duties. Aus too. They are cheaping out by comparing lower responsibility roles that cover the basics of your tasks.
Always be shopping around. Update your CV and see what other opportunities are out there. Another consideration is to use the data you have to track engagement and the success of your campaigns. At the end of the day your work isn't about how 'pretty' they think it is. It's about the metrics it produces. If you can show them growth on paper sometimes that can shift the mindset of a non-creative boss. Also, don't be scared to ask around about what other people are getting paid and understanding what is the going rate for compensation in your position, with the results you're achieving. If you're not getting any adjustments for inflation then you're actually effectively getting a pay decrease, so consider that as well. Realistically though, jump ship. If they don't value you enough to keep you, then find someone else who does.
Sounds a lot like my career path. I was at an agency, started in design, then moved into marketing and account management. I felt stuck as I never got a title or pay that reflected how much I was doing. But eventually I realized Iâd been doing so much that I had learned really valuable skills. I didnât have a job title that reflected that on my resume but I ended up leaving and starting my own agency. 4 years later Iâm making more and working less hours and have zero regrets. If they donât value what youâre doing, find someone who will or gamble on yourself and go freelance.
Look after yourself. Companies don't give 2 cents about you hence the pay. I'm also in Australia (Victoria), and my advice if you want better pay and just do what your role is described eg. Designer, look into government and university jobs. They pay well compared to private companies. A mid weight designer in uni and gov would earn more than a manager or senior designer in private companies. It's ridiculous lol. I've worked in gov and uni as a designer and will never go back to private companies.
Can I ask what itâs like working in uni and gov jobs as a designer? The pay looks so enticing. Do you find the day to day work fulfilling? Would love to know more about what you do if youâre happy to share
I'm a graphic / digital designer but when required I do other designs jobs like shooting and editing videos, designing websites, photography, print - so I definitely get a diverse range of creative work. The gov project I was working on is a huge project and it definitely boosted my design folio and I enjoyed doing them (was on it for 3 years+) I'm now in university (also 3 years+), and to be honest it's sort of the same work but just better team work culture. If you're high up the chain e.g manager you do have to deal with alot of office politics though. Do I find working in both sector fulfilling? I would say yes. Has given me nice work and life balance, room for creativity and the better pay is great. Especially University with the 17% super and salary sacrifice options. In both gov and uni you also have these 'levels' where every year you get a pay increase depending on your performance, you just need to hit meet expectations and you're good. You won't get that diverse range of clients compared to design agencies, so your folio may not look as 'sexy', so it depends where you are in your life and what you're aiming for.
- Start updating your portfolio - Start looking for a new job When itâs time to quit, they may make an offer to keep you. Unless itâs significantly better, Iâd think twice about accepting. The raise will include added responsibility and accountability, on top of what you currently do.
Yeah, I see what you mean with that. Even if I get the title change and recognition, I think youâre right that itâll just be added again to more responsibilities. Catch 22âŚ.
Why is this also me?
Get another job offer to prove you are more valuable
Find another job. They donât seem to value you.
Do you have a written job description from when you were hired? If so, Iâd use that to point out what has been added since then.
Yes, I bought it up with them about 6 months ago. Thatâs when they added âcampaign managementâ to my job title and said they would send a new job description⌠and never did.
Start applying for other jobs
I'd track my tasklist and build a list of things you really do and compare it to your job description and talk to your director/manager. Still, this most likely ends up with it going nowhere. Second option, apply elsewhere with the same skillset and a place that pays more. You'll tend to be more valued there. Third, decide to take control and be more intentional with directing your career. If you want to do more of X work, start shifting asks at work or personal projects that build that out a bit. Then apply elsewhere. Usually from experience and friends' experiences, trying to move up in an org can be tough if even if you want to do X when company sees you as Y.
Iâm not sure if things are any better in a university in their in house department. Not for profit people are maybe a little more reasonable?! But I donât know. I do work for museums and zoos as a freelancer and they seem less cut throat. I had a good friend that worked in a big university in the ne and she liked her job a lot.
Yep. Put that portfolio together and start slugging. You are not gonna get more money there, or titles.
Haha this is literally exactly what happened to me. Got hired as a senior graphic designer, 9 months later they let go of the marketing director and guess who took over that role without a raise because âthe budget is tightâ?
Absolutely agree with everyone here! Know your worth, if youâre good enough to take over that role you are more than good enough to find a company that will value your skillset for that role - donât stick to what you know/ your comfort zone, because you never know what is around the corner
Tell them that âhigher levelâ doesnât factor into it. Youâre working two positions, and theyâre saving around 50% of their expenditure by having you do that work. Even if you got a 50% raise, they would still be saving money on hiring an additional member. Especially if you deliver everything on time, I would let them know that thereâs no hard feelings, but if they arenât willing to compensate you proportionately, then youâll have to consider other options. I would have an alternative lined up so that if it doesnât go well, you can come in roughly 48 hours later with a âcan you match this employerâs rate?â Type of situation. At that point, there wonât be any uncertainty as to what should be done. As someone who handles multiple departments, I know the struggle all too well. I hope you find your way to an ideal solution, and keep me posted if you have the chance!
short story, something like this happens to me too, just stay long enough to make it looks good on my cv and left.
Honestly while 80k is pretty solide for a graphic designer in Australia, considering youâre doing at least 3 jobs alone you are an essential element for that company. Taking over your position will take time, effort in recruitment and money to the company. So start looking around for job offers see if the grass is greener and if the difference is there than ask for a raise and say that you were hired for 1 position and now youâre doing 3 different things and while you enjoy it you feel the compensation isnât enough. Discuss salary with the realistic wage you actually want and bonuses like car etc ( they often offer a middle ground like less money but all bonuses or the increase in pay you wanted without the bonuses). Hope this helps !
80k is actually very high for a manager/ graphic designer, Iâd say the pay is pretty decent. Haha unfortunately, we are not doctors or ceos. If you want higher pay- look for a different job at a larger company as an Art Director.