Translation - art & business » Getting established »
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Thinking of becoming a translator
Thread poster: Francesca Hedges
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 20:20
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Loads of good advice available Nov 23, 2014

Gitte Hovedskov, MCIL wrote:
Do a search here on ProZ for Sheila Wilson's contributions. She has repeatedly given excellent advice to newcomers here, and you will probably find that she has already given answers to loads of questions you will be asking yourself about how to get started as a professional translator.

Well, thank you for that vote of confidence, Gitte. I would be very unhappy for z1ppy (I wish we had a proper name) to only take note of my advice, but of course my contributions will be accompanied by many other equally useful ones. There's certainly a lot of useful stuff in these forums for beginners, not just in this one but also in Money Matters etc.

If I were you, I would NOT put together a CV outlining your job experience in chronological order

I do so agree! Those job-seekers' CVs actually put language skills aright at the bottom, just above interests! They're totally unsuited to any freelancer. I specialise in editing CVs and other marketing material and I've lost count of the translators' CVs I've seen that don't mention their source language(s) until the bottom of page 2, and NEVER mention their target language ("Oh well, I thought they'd know I was an English speaker - they know that from my nationality").

If you have a look at the Wiki on CVs here, you'll find some advice for organising your own custom CV (which has no business being called a CV really, but that's what outsourcers ask to see). It's here: http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Creating_an_effective_CV_/_resume . Alternatively, or in addition, discover the very wise marketing words of Marta Stelmaszak in her Business School for Translators at http://wantwords.co.uk/school/. She's also a very interesting presenter at ProZ.com conferences I've attended and her profile here is http://www.proz.com/profile/1302197.
 
Francesca Hedges
Francesca Hedges  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:20
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you Dec 7, 2014

Thanks so much for all your excellent advice. Sorry I am coming back late - things have been manic.

I have taken all your comments on board and will try to follow this up in the new year.

Thank you again.
 
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Thinking of becoming a translator







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