| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Do you accept to figure on the website of agencies with your picture? Thread poster: Andrea Halbritter
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Hi!
I got a request today which I never had so far before:
An agency asked me whether I would be willing to send them a picture of me which could be published on their homepage in order to figure there as a member of their team (in case they actually decided to work with me after having had a look at my CV, sample translations etc.).
Did you already have that request? I actually had a look on their website and saw that there already figured about 40 transla... See more Hi!
I got a request today which I never had so far before:
An agency asked me whether I would be willing to send them a picture of me which could be published on their homepage in order to figure there as a member of their team (in case they actually decided to work with me after having had a look at my CV, sample translations etc.).
Did you already have that request? I actually had a look on their website and saw that there already figured about 40 translators with their photograph, first name, language combinations and a resumee of their career and their specializations.
What do you think about that? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Diana Obermeyer 
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:20
Member (2013)
German to English
+ ...
I've seen this a lot and think in most cases it really is a matter of using your image to attract business, quite possibly without any intentions of sending work your way. It could then potentially be harmful for your reputation, as a client may associate the quality of a translation provided by that agency with your name.
There are legitimate cases and I agreed - and am quite happy - for my image to be used by a particular content marketing agency for whom I am the main go-to perso... See more I've seen this a lot and think in most cases it really is a matter of using your image to attract business, quite possibly without any intentions of sending work your way. It could then potentially be harmful for your reputation, as a client may associate the quality of a translation provided by that agency with your name.
There are legitimate cases and I agreed - and am quite happy - for my image to be used by a particular content marketing agency for whom I am the main go-to person for my language combination, both for their multilingual client work and for their internal needs (own website etc.), but that request came after almost two years of enjoyable cooperation.
So, I do think there is a place for publicly standing behind an ongoing cooperation.
However, I don't think that is what this agency is asking of you. I would suggest that "being the face" of an unknown entity is not too different to CV fraud. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | No agency in its right mind ... | Mar 18, 2015 |
... would want a photo of me anywhere within 100 light-years of their website .
Folk here who've met me will understand ...
| | | | | Agree with dianaft | Mar 18, 2015 |
Thanks for your answers!
@ dianaft: You formulate what I was thinking as well: It is a risk to figure on the homepage of a company which you actually do not know.
I'd have no problem figuring on the page of an agency for which I have regularly worked several years and which I know furnishes always very good quality.
In the case I mentionned the translators even do not figure there as freelancers who work for them, but as members of the team. Someone who doe... See more Thanks for your answers!
@ dianaft: You formulate what I was thinking as well: It is a risk to figure on the homepage of a company which you actually do not know.
I'd have no problem figuring on the page of an agency for which I have regularly worked several years and which I know furnishes always very good quality.
In the case I mentionned the translators even do not figure there as freelancers who work for them, but as members of the team. Someone who does not know the industry could even think these translators were employed by that agency... ▲ Collapse
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As a freelancer you are just a 'hired hand', not a fixed member of their team. Use your photo for your own publicity, not for an agency who maybe eventually would send you a job.
Remember, you are a business too, so use your image well!
[Edited at 2015-03-18 21:14 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-03-18 21:15 GMT]
| | | | | What they call their translators | Mar 18, 2015 |
Well for those who speak German on their homepage the translators are called "Mitarbeiter". Normally one understands by "Mitarbeiter" a member of the staff or an employee... Can one still call that serious?
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Andrea Halbritter wrote:
Can one still call that serious?
Yes. As in 'seriously unethical'.
| | | | | Probably not | Mar 18, 2015 |
Sounds nice, but officially: 'Du bist keine Mitarbeiterin'. Do they pay your social security, for example when you are ill?
So I stick to my advice I gave you before, which doesn't mean 'don't work with them!' Built up a good working relationship, by all means, but as a freelancer you are and will stay a tempory hired hand.
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Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Sounds nice, but officially: 'Du bist keine Mitarbeiterin'. Do they pay your social security, for example when you are ill?
So I stick to my advice I gave you before, which doesn't mean 'don't work with them!' Built up a good working relationship, by all means, but as a freelancer you are and will stay a tempory hired hand.
Temporary hired hand? Hired for peanuts?
I much rather am my own man and a professional service provider.
[Edited at 2015-03-18 22:38 GMT]
edited
[Edited at 2015-03-19 02:28 GMT]
| | | | Neirda
China
Local time: 04:20
Chinese to French
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| I don't think so... | Mar 19, 2015 |
Stock photos of attractive, racially balanced and cheerful people in shiny clean offices aren't good enough anymore?
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dianaft wrote:
However, I don't think that is what this agency is asking of you. I would suggest that "being the face" of an unknown entity is not too different to CV fraud.
I entirely agree. It is never a good idea to lend your image to someone you don't even know.
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I agree with my colleagues. You have not even worked for them! They know that you are keen to get work, so they use this fact to make you give them your picture, IMO. Stay away!
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564354352 (X)
Denmark
Local time: 22:20
Danish to English
+ ...
That would change the balance of our working relationship, i.e. I would become 'one of their peeps', which I am not. I run my own business, they run theirs, our relationship is between equals, not between an 'overlord' and a 'minion'.
| | | | | Have been asked once | Mar 19, 2015 |
I said no. The problem was that this agency was in the cosmetics sector and that my other cosmetics clients (my specialty field) would have stopped IMMEDIATELY working with me as soon as they would have discovered my photograph and description.
Accepting this could be seen as a sign that you are entitled to send industrial secrets, texts under embargo or other sensitive information to a competitor.
In general, I am convinced that as a translator some sort of confidentiality and neu... See more I said no. The problem was that this agency was in the cosmetics sector and that my other cosmetics clients (my specialty field) would have stopped IMMEDIATELY working with me as soon as they would have discovered my photograph and description.
Accepting this could be seen as a sign that you are entitled to send industrial secrets, texts under embargo or other sensitive information to a competitor.
In general, I am convinced that as a translator some sort of confidentiality and neutrality is necessary.
[Edited at 2015-03-19 11:51 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 21:20
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Before you've even seen the colour of their money? | Mar 19, 2015 |
I agree with others that they seem to be saying that these are photos of their (as in owned) minions. That makes it a "No way!" But even if it was being made clear that these were business partner photos, you aren't a business partner until you've worked together. They could turn out to be dreadful, peanut-paying bottom-feeders. Once your photo is up there, your reputation depends in part on theirs.
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