Running a
small translation office I am bombarded with requests from would be translators
looking for work. It is perhaps a sad reflection of the times that I get ten
times as many such requests as I have jobs coming in, and often these people
find me through advertising channels
which I end up having to pay for (e.g. Google
AdWords, linkedIn etc.).
So here i
have compiled a list of tips for those applying for work based on my experience
looking at such prospective applications.
1: Make
sure the application is in good English. You are a translator offering language
services, and even if English is not your
mother tongue, it tends to leave a bad impression if it has errors strewn all
over it. Also take care of punctuation and presentation, part of your work involves
presenting a document in an acceptable format and if you get this wrong.....well...
2. Don’t
make overhyped and overambitious claims. Nobody is perfect, I certainly am not,
and when I looked at one translator who claimed to offer “perfection” it was
hilarious to see how many errors he made in his pitch letter. Bidirectional
translators do exist but my experience is that people are best at translating
into their mother tongue. So even if you
are bidirectional, I would play this down at first. And don’t try to claim you
can take any amount of work on at any notice, this is also completely unrealistic
and leads to mistrust from the off.
3: Don’t
forget to mention your language combination, preferably in the subject of the
email. . This is THE most important information when filing applications, and you
would be amazed at how invisible this information is in many translator’s
applications.
4:
Differentiate yourself. Don’t try and say you do everything under the sun at a
low price in the hope of catching as much work as possible. I want to be safe
with someone who I hire and I would rather have someone who knows a lot about
comparatively little. Once you establish a working relationship you might be
asked to go beyond those limits and do other work, but offer yourself as a
specialist first.
5: Don’t
send paper CVs in. It takes time (and therefore money) to file this
information, and if a company has a mask on a website for entering your details
into a database, use it. You will be more respected for it too. If you have to
send an electronic CV in, make sure its
easy to copy and paste information from it. Don’t send references or
certificates unless asked.
6: Be
straight to the point. There are a lot of people looking for work. The information
people need is what is your language combination? what is your specialty? What is
your education and experience background? What translation tools do you use? And
How much do you cost? Remember, no claims of unerring reliability or total perfection
which merely distract and annoy whoever is trying to assess your application.
7: Tell the
office how you heard of them. This is very well respected because it provides
information about what marketing measures used by the translation company are
successful. If you got to the company’s website by clicking on a Google ad, you
already cost that company advertising costs, so a little feedback in the way of
information helps to soothe those pains. As I said, ten times as many people
click on those ads looking for work rather than looking for a service, so the
costs do mount up.
8: Don’t
expect an immediate response. Many applications are filed away for a rainy day...i.e.
when someone looks for work to be done in a certain language combination.
Sometimes people will only get back to you after years.
9: Try to remember
that when you are a freelancer, the company you apply to will see you as a
service provider, even if you do not see yourself that way. You have to pitch
yourself to people that way. You won’t be seeing people 8 hours a day, so a CV
need not include information about clubs, organisations and activities. Stick
to the information that is important. You are expected to be reliable, punctual
and offer material of sufficient quality
(95-98% and not 100% perfection), so there really is no point even mentioning
whether you have any of these qualities.
Dr. Julian P. Keogh
http://www.pharmacad-services.eu
info@pharmacad-services.eu
Dr. Julian P. Keogh
http://www.pharmacad-services.eu
info@pharmacad-services.eu