Author: Fakhri Azzouz

A basic lesson to start working for the local market, individual clients included

When I first started working as a freelance translator I focused mainly on translation job boards such as Proz and applied for translation agencies directly.

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The document you have created is valuable. You have poured days of hard work to create the final document. Each detail counts.
You are aware that if you cannot hire the right translator your work will be jeopardized. Meantime, it’s the first time you need to hire a freelance translator or a translation agency. (or you have done so in the past but the results were poor)
So how do you know if the person you are entrusting has the skills, expertise, and ethics to do what is expected?

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I- Build trust with your picture

Create a business photo and review it for free at photofeeler. Upload many photos and pick up the top rated one. The photo you upload in photofeeler you will be rated and commented by humans, not an algorithm.

 

You can take a photo by yourself or with the help of a friend, it should be in a good lighting condition, smiling and preferably in a professional setting and outfit, check out this full tutorial to help you take a picture by yourself.

Personally, I think that spending some extra money to be photographed by a professional is worth it as it is an essential piece for your CV and online profiles. Besides, you will be using it for a couple of years. Note that professional photographers know how you have to pose in front of a camera, besides they will do some photo editing and photoshop to have a superior result.

 

II- Avoid verbosity and be concise

(HR coordinator will take less than 30 second to read your CV), to highlight key skills that your client is interested in use bold or underline or a different color (that defines your brand). Do not hesitate to delete information that is not relevant to the job you are applying for.

 

III- Gather as much information as possible

Your resume should not be generic but it should be targeted to that specific gig or job opening. Read the job description thoroughly and do a further search about the company goals and values to have a better idea about the outsources. When dealing with individual clients Google search them and check their linkedin profile.

Be sure that you understand the key requirements for that job and that you meet them. If your skills and experience do not match with the needs of the client do not apply. You will be wasting your time and theirs.

In-depth search helps you tailor your CV, cover letter and then have a successful the interview.

IV- Resume title also known as headline or tagline

In the resume title use keywords and skills derived from the job description, you are applying for. As a matter of fact, for each job you apply for craft e a specific and well-targeted headline.

 

V- Use bullet points

 

To cite your skills, experience, projects, clients, te number of pages and software you use. For CAT tools, subtitling tools, transcription tools add the version of the software you use: Transcribe! 8.64, aegisub 3.22 etc. Be specific and quantify your work experience and achievements as this is more impactful and memorable than being general.

For example, instead of “I use SDL Trados effectively” write I used SDL Trados to translate more than 25 medical projects with a total number of words equal to 150k, for the NAME of client or agency.

 

VI- Create many versions of your CV each for a specific job application

 

Each of them will focus on a specific skills or language combination. If the client needs an IT translator from English to Arabic you will write a CV that focuses on that language pair and translation field. Write the corresponding work experience in this field first and use proper word styling (eg bold) to help the HR manager scan easier.

 

VII- Choose a meaningful name for your CV

 

It is important to rename your CV properly e.g “Language pair + translator + specialty when seen as an attachment or downloaded by your client he will find it easier and you will look more professional, conscientious and detail oriented.

 

If you don’t pay enough attention to your CV name you can appear to be unprofessional and careless. See the difference yourself in these two examples, “CV Translator 2016 edited” or “Full-time IT freelance Translator English to French”. In the second example, you provided the client the essential information without even opening the file.

 

VIII- Write a list of keywords that sums up your specialties and a detailed work history

 

The dedicated section named specialties to write keywords of your translation work history and a detailed specialty and skills.

In fact, translation agencies crawl your CV and create a database then when needed they will search it to find the right freelancer. Consequently, the simple task of including a section for these keywords will increase dramatically your chances of being discovered and hired.

 

IX- Create a portfolio to send each time with your CV or send a link to it

 

– Create a portfolio on your website it is not very complicated as there are many free WordPress plugins that will help you accomplish the task.

– You can also create a portfolio that shows your expertise and send it with your CV.  Add your contact info and your site logo to your portfolio and save it as a PDF.

This is in depth article that will guide you to create an effective translation portfolio.  

 

X- Contact info

– Phone number
– Skype
– Viber
– Professional email address, I mean here not Gmail or yahoo. To have one you should buy a domain name and website hosting. For example, if your domain name is financetranslator.com your email can be John@financetranslator.com or contact@financetranslator.com in short whatever you choose + @financetranslator.com.

Please note that even if your website is not built yet you can set up a professional email address and use it.
– Your website: you can start with a free website using WordPress or Weebly (but you can’t have a customizable email address)

– Linkedin profile

– A facebook page when you will share what you read about your industry. You may also get some gigs from it.

 

XI- Information to include

– Don’t forget to add other services you offer like: transcription, media monitoring, voice-over, desktop publishing, proofreading, training etc

– Where you live now and where you lived before. This is a credential of your language expertise so write it down.  

– Your interests to show who you are. It is preferable that your personal interests are aligned with your work. You may have a passion for reading, writing, some countries’ cultures and your specialties.

– References’ email addresses, phone numbers, and relationship.

– Add a link to your Proz profile is an intelligent option if you have WWA (willing to work again) reviews from past clients.

– Use the icons of skype, Proz, Linkedin, facebook etc to make your resume more attractive.

 

XII- Do not include these irrelevant information

 

– Your age 
– Your marital status

– Number of your children

Bonus 

To create a visually attractive CV check out Canva or simply use MS Word templates click file → new → type resume in the search bar and choose a template

If you have some extra ideas or a comment feel free to leave a reply below.

I am rethinking my strategy as a linguist to reach more clients and increase my income. I am going to:

     1  – Subscribe again to international freelancing jobs.
     2  – At the local level aim direct clients, agencies, and businesses.

I – At the global level

I have subscribed again to job alerts of freelancing platforms such as ProZ. I receive daily job alerts that I need to check and often wait before I apply. In fact, as I have a free account on this platform, the priority is for paid members. That’s to say I need to wait hours before applying ( unlike paid members that can contact the client immediately).

Consequently, I have used a simple tool to remind me apply in due time to the selected jobs. The tool is Rainlendar, it is a free calendar that you can be always visible on your desktop to remind you of important events and to do tasks.

 

All I have to do is to
     –    check my email for the job alerts
     –    selected the ones that suit my skills
     –    create a to do task with an alarm set when these jobs become available

     – add the link of these jobs so that you visit the application link directly

This a simple but effective technique that will let you apply to appropriate gigs. Besides, you will not miss any.

 

II- At the local level

As I am a scientific translator and I have experience translating research papers I will be visiting universities and institutes, talk to administrators and give them my business card.

This is a bare minimum. If I want to level up my marketing endeavor I can print brochures. Brochures will explain in details all my skills and expertise.

I should not overlook the importance of email marketing as they practically free. I will create an email list of universities and I will email them with my offers.

If you have used other tactics to expand your freelance translation business feel free to write a comment.