Photographer Opportunities
As at May 2007 we have vacancies in the following areas:
Edinburgh
If there is a vacancy in the area where you live, please apply following the instructions below. If there is not, you can still apply now by sending an email to benfilmore@ehouse.co.uk with your cv attached (Word format please) - you will then be entered into our database and emailed whenever we are next recruiting. Please also keep an eye on this webpage where we post details of all vacancies.
This is a self-employed, freelance role. The pay is per-job completed and you invoice us monthly for the work you have done (we pay within a week). The amount of work available depends on the area you live - typically, centrally based photographers work effectively full time for us, those in remote areas somewhat less (for 'remote' in our business read Cornwall, Newcastle on Tyne, Wales, Scotland, Ireland). For positions in the busy areas, we look for photographers who are available virtually full time for us - in remote areas, we prefer it if you have some other means of support as well.
The workload - and the money - are variable and you need to be comfortable with this. Payment for individual jobs varies between £30 and £90, and a job takes between 40 minutes and 3 hours on site. Some days you will earn little, some days it will be £200. If you are based in a central area, you can expect to earn between £1,800 and £2,500 per month in most months, assuming you make yourself available full time for us, but you will also have to meet some travel costs from this. If you are based further afield, this figure will be significantly less - we will give you an indication depending on where you are. Note that some months are quiet (not many people sell their houses in December) - and there is always volatility from month to month - but overall, this is the level you should expect.
You will work from your own home base, photographing residential and commercial properties and locations in your locality based on detailed briefs. Sometimes we will ask you to travel outside your home base area, and for this we have an appropriate mileage reimbursement system. Most out of area jobs will still be reasonably close (ie within 90 minutes drive), but sometimes you will be asked to go further afield. It is an important requirement of the job that you are willing to travel significant distances like this from time to time.
There are 3 services which you will carry out; still photography (for use in Estate Agents' particulars and in their advertising (for example in Country Life); virtual tours (for use on websites); and floorplans (used in agents' particulars and on their websites). A job can be any combination of 1, 2 or 3 of these elements - frequently it is what we call the 'Full Package' ie all 3.
Photography - for clients the still photography is crucial - it gives the all important first impression to would-be buyers, and it must be excellent. You need to be a good creative property photographer, with a sharp eye for detail and composition and an understanding of what it means to dress a room properly to make it look its best. You also need to have an understanding of how property is bought and sold, so that you can think like our client the estate agent and appreciate what the selling features of a particular property are .
Virtual Tour - we will train you in all aspects of shooting the virtual tour.
Floorplans - you will be given full training in this - you will sketch (freehand) and measure the property using a laser measuring device. When you return home you scan your sketch and email it to our draughtsmen team who transcribe it to a plan. Floorplans are a major part of our business, and if you work in a central area you can expect to be drawing a floorplan on around 75% of the jobs you do. For larger properties, drawing a floorplan can take a significant part of the time you are on site, and it requires care and an eye for detail. Photography is still the central focus of what we do, but if you don't think you'll like doing floorplans, please don't apply.
We provide specialist equipment for the floorplans and virtual tours. You will need to provide a digital SLR camera (Canon D5 or Nikon D2x ideally but we will consider others), wide angle lens and some additional lighting to our specification. [If you don't already own these we can help with a loan if necessary]. You also have to provide the following; a PC ( not Mac - and this is not negotiable - it has to be PC since we have our own program which you have to use which is Windows only) running Windows 2000/XP with broadband, your own car and a mobile telephone. Your car should be reliable and you should feel comfortable driving to jobs which are some distance away - this doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen.
We handle all client liaison centrally and when we have an order in your area we will contact you by telephone/email with the details. We also have a sophisticated online system so that you can see your workload at any time. Most of our work is quick-response and you will be required to provide us with an indication of your availability in advance and then stick to it. Most of our work is shot during normal weekdays, although some is done at weekends (mostly Saturdays) - so being available sometimes at weekends is advantageous.
Training - we provide full training in how to use our equipment, what is required during the shoot, and all other matters. Training takes place in London and a course lasts 2 days followed by a lot of location practice and on-site shadowing of members of our existing photography team. We cover your expenses to attend training, but the time is unpaid.
A photography qualification, such as a Degree or Diploma, is essential unless you can show long practical experience as a photographer. You should also feel comfortable drawing/sketching. If you are an enthusiastic amateur photographer who sees this as a possible break into photography, please do NOT apply - if this is you, I'm afraid you just don't fit our profile and you'll be wasting your (and our) time.
You must be a responsible person, well organized and reliable. On the tough days when it's cold and raining and you're hungry and tired - we still need you to get the good shots! You will also need to be flexible - when an urgent job comes in at the last minute, we need you to be able to respond positively more often than not.
You must be a friendly, agreeable, obliging sort of person, who understands about the importance of human skills - taking the time and making people feel good. Estate Agents are (correctly) very concerned that we treat their vendor clients well - when you leave a job, it's not enough that you have taken some decent shots and drawn an accurate floorplan, the vendor needs to be saying 'what a charming and obliging person'. If you consider yourself artistically talented but perhaps a bit difficult to deal with, you are certainly not for us!
Flexibility / Responsiveness - we try hard to balance the demands of our clients with the working pattern requirements of our photographers - but ultimately this is a CUSTOMER SERVICE business. This means that on many days we will be able to provide you with work which is well scheduled, and in conveniently local areas to your base. However, on occasion, we will ask you to travel further and handle an awkward time schedule. We call this 'taking the rough with the smooth'. Photographers who prosper with us are those who are willing to be flexible and responsive and help us with these more difficult situations when they arise.
Your availability - In central areas we can generate enough work to keep you busy virtually all of the time - so you must be able to offer us full time (or close to it) availability. If you do weddings, or occasional other commissions here and there, but are generally always going to be available to us, that's what we are looking for. If you live in a remote area and seek to work part-time with us, the pattern of time you can make available to us needs to fit with our requirements to offer clients a fast service. What is good is if you can generally give us some time at least every other day, even if it is only half a day. What is no good is if you want to work only 2 fixed days per week for us and 3 fixed days elsewhere. Similarly, we are not happy if you take off for weeks at a time to shoot the Mongolian Grand Prix or some such event. If you honestly can offer the sort of flexibility we need, you'll be welcome - but be realistic, if this doesn't work for you, please don't waste anyone's time.
Whether you are full or part-time, the workload will build gradually as we develop confidence in you, you speed up on site, and we start to schedule your jobs more tightly, so you should be prepared for lower earnings in the first couple of months. On the positive side, this job offers freedom to work for yourself and get out and about. It will also give you an opportunity to work with the latest digital camera technology. And we operate a share option scheme so that Photographers can participate in the equity of the company.
Some Straight Talking - Recruitment is very time consuming - in an effort to save everyone's time, here's some straight talking guidance ...
PLEASE ask yourself some serious questions BEFORE you apply - are you really happy working on your own most of the day - are you really happy driving around in the rain, getting stuck in traffic, getting stressed because you're late for an appointment ? - are you really happy with a variable earnings pattern ? - are you really happy working for the money level outlined above ? - Don't misunderstand me, I think this is a good job - nearly half of our photographers have been with us over 4 years, and relatively few leave quickly. The job has a lot going for it, but it's not for everyone, and if it's not really for you, please decide that up front.
You need to be a nice friendly person who gets on with people easily. You need to understand about customer service (ie the customer is always right). Most of our clients are charming and easy to deal with but sometimes you will encounter a difficult one - this is when you need to be able to keep cool and keep smiling! You need to be a detail person - who can read a brief and get it right every time, and can still get it right even at the end of the day when the client has been awkward and the property difficult to capture well. You need to be a perfectionist - our clients are at the top end of the market with high quality/high priced property and they expect excellence. You need to be able to handle stress. And on top of all this you need to be able to take great, creative, property photographs, day in day out. From considerable experience of employing photographers, we have developed a list of LIKES and DON'T LIKES - ie what type of people suit our business and what don't......
We LIKE existing property photographers and architectural photographers. WE LIKE ex-Press photographers (who understand about deadlines, driving all over the place and getting the picture regardless of the situation). We LIKE some ex-Cruise ship photographers (though you'll need to be able to demonstrate a wider repertoire than that). We LIKE fairly young photographers who have some experience but are not yet old hands - but in this case you need to have more toughness than the average young person. We LIKE well mannered, intelligent, reliable, flexible photographers who understand how to act professionally, and who understand the needs of a customer service business (and this bit is ESSENTIAL).
We DON'T LIKE Fashion photographers or Paparazzi photographers (if that's your interest, why would you want to do this?). We DON'T LIKE Established professionals who generally sell their photographic service at £500/day but are finding things a bit quiet right now (because let's face it, as soon as things pick up you'll quit). We DON'T LIKE Events photographers who go off 6 times a year to photograph Golf Tournaments for 10 days at a stretch (because our clients still need servicing during your absence). We DON'T LIKE people working in normal (non-photographic) employment with a steady income who are keen to 'make the jump' into photography (because when you finally have to choose to give up that salary, chances are you won't). We DON'T LIKE Photographers who have only arrived in UK in the last year or so (nothing personal, but if you don't know where Coventry, Clapham and Ipswich are that's a pain and we can find loads of people who do). We DON'T LIKE arty-farty types - genuine creativity, yes, but this is a serious business. We DON'T LIKE people nervous about driving around. We DON'T LIKE people who don't respond to messages on their mobile promptly.
FINALLY - If after reading this you do like the sound of working with us, please follow the guidelines below carefully
Interested ?
To apply, send an up-to-date CV (ONLY in MS Word format please) with a covering note to Ben Filmore. PLEASE USE THE EMAIL benfilmore@ehouse.co.uk and include the following details:
| Personal details | Full name, address, telephone numbers (inc mobile), email address, age, sex. |
| Qualifications | Education/Qualifications (list O/A level grades please). |
| Work History | Include dates please. If you have a website of your work provide a link please |
| Equipment | List of digital camera / lens / lighting equipment |
| Availability | Present situation, when available to start, notice period |
| Salary | Your current salary |
| References | If we offer you a position, we will take up 2 character references - if possible please supply these now, although we will not contact your references without your permission first. |
