| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11] > | Blast your CV to 16000 Agencies? Has anyone tried it? Thread poster: Silvia M.
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Silvia M. 
Germany
Local time: 00:42
Member (2011)
English to German
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TOPIC STARTER
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote: Silvia M. wrote:
Hence if if I were to have 16000 emails sent in one go imagine the craziness in my e-mail box that would occur. Let's imagine you send the infamous 16,000 emails and 300 agencies come back to you. If you finally only managed to work for 50 of them on a regular basis, you would be rejecting work all the time from a majority of them, which would finally make them wonder why you got in touch in the first place: are you really in a position to work for them regularly or not? This is just out of my imagination of course, but to me it is already hard work to keep my approx. 20 regular agency customers happy with an in-house team of five people.
Ha, ha, ha that is right. If I were to be polite and reply to each one of them I would not find any time to actually do my work as a translator anymore.
| | | | Karel Kosman
Czech Republic
Local time: 00:42
Czech to English
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| supply and demand | May 29, 2013 |
another option to consider is that, by having more job offers than you can handle, you are free to accept work only from the higher paying ones. This is how I managed to increase my own price. For some special customers I keep my old price, while others I have politely asked not to write me any more because I am too busy with work (or I'll mention my new predicament and ask if they are able to meet my new prices). They update their database not to approach me anymore, while I log this info, in c... See more another option to consider is that, by having more job offers than you can handle, you are free to accept work only from the higher paying ones. This is how I managed to increase my own price. For some special customers I keep my old price, while others I have politely asked not to write me any more because I am too busy with work (or I'll mention my new predicament and ask if they are able to meet my new prices). They update their database not to approach me anymore, while I log this info, in case I need to write back to them and offer my availability again. This is simple supply and demand and how a free market system works. Agencies will not blacklist you and be disgruntled, unless they have grown dependent on you and it hurts their business. For them you can make a special arrangement and give them advanced warning. Many ways you could go about it, but to complain you are getting too many job offers is a luxury many would envy. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | My personal experience | May 30, 2013 |
When I was starting to be freelance translator about 2 years ago, I really did not know how to start and to who I could send my CV. When I found on the Internet Blast your CV to 16.000 agencies I decided to try it out. They were very kind and polite and correct my CV and application letter. Immidiately after the blast, I started to receive hundreds of emails from agencies all around the world. Many of them send documents to fill in or gave me their website to register. Of course, it was so muc... See more When I was starting to be freelance translator about 2 years ago, I really did not know how to start and to who I could send my CV. When I found on the Internet Blast your CV to 16.000 agencies I decided to try it out. They were very kind and polite and correct my CV and application letter. Immidiately after the blast, I started to receive hundreds of emails from agencies all around the world. Many of them send documents to fill in or gave me their website to register. Of course, it was so much that I still have about 100 to do. In that way I could immediately start getting regular work. As I got new specializations and 2 CAT-tools, I thought it was a good idea to approach those agencies again after one year, informing them about my updates as I was refused very often for not having Trados (40% of the agencies). Except for one, all the other were happy to be informed about the changes. It is true that out of 16.000 I might have received only 1000 agencies and that the rest treated me as a spam ... but 1000 agencies is a lot. Anyway it is impossible to personalize emails as when we approach them they are new and of course we do not know anybody who work there. We just pick up their emais from their webpages and if they have a strict spam policies, it is their fault. I also had lots a couple of very bad experiences with translation agencies (big fraud with faked and stolen checks and I was not fully paid) but I am still faithful that there are good translation agencies and for this reason I do not spam them all!
Now if I send 10 application emails a day is already a lot due to the fact that it takes time to look for them.
I would surely reccomend the service to those who are starting or do not know where to find translation work as it can bring immediate work.
Susanna ▲ Collapse
| | | | | So you do get work! | May 30, 2013 |
A hunter-gatherer of CVs is not a customer, if you ask me, and we have plenty of that in our industry. A customer is a company that uses you and only you for your language pair and sends work your way regularly. I am pretty sure one can not have more than 20-25 of these customers without going bananas, unless you work in a language pair that is really rare and each agency only has two or three jobs every year.
From the experiences I read from those who have tried the service, you do... See more A hunter-gatherer of CVs is not a customer, if you ask me, and we have plenty of that in our industry. A customer is a company that uses you and only you for your language pair and sends work your way regularly. I am pretty sure one can not have more than 20-25 of these customers without going bananas, unless you work in a language pair that is really rare and each agency only has two or three jobs every year.
From the experiences I read from those who have tried the service, you do get work: plenty of work filling questionnaires and entering data in a database, and probably --please report on this, folks-- signing a lot of contracts... but very little actual work compared to the number of letters you have sent.
Spammers work the same way: they email millions, and are satisfied if 0.5% of the spammed recipients take any kind of action (other than deleting the emails). ▲ Collapse
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Shai Navé
Israel
Local time: 01:42
English to Hebrew
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| I think that we could sum it up | May 30, 2013 |
I think that we could sum this discussion up as follows:
1) Each country has its own legal definition of Spam. This type of list could fall under that definition or not - this is not really something that we control individually.
2) Assuming that this type of activity doesn't fall under the legal definition of Spam, we have the more pressing and important matter of how each and everyone of us perceive Spam. Some see this type of activity as Spam, others don't. A matter of pref... See more I think that we could sum this discussion up as follows:
1) Each country has its own legal definition of Spam. This type of list could fall under that definition or not - this is not really something that we control individually.
2) Assuming that this type of activity doesn't fall under the legal definition of Spam, we have the more pressing and important matter of how each and everyone of us perceive Spam. Some see this type of activity as Spam, others don't. A matter of preference, but an important one because even if this activity is not legally considered Spam, flooding the mailboxes of uninterested parties is an issue.
3) Now we arrive at the question of value. Much like any other business-related discussion on this forum, there is no one blanket answer. We are all at different stages of our careers, have different approaches to "doing business", have different experience, different perspectives, different business mindset, and so on. Therefore it is virtually impossible to standardize the question of value into a one-size-fits-all category, simply because we are not one of the same, we are most probably serving different market segments, from top to bottom.
I also think that the mixture of negative comments that explain why this service is of no real value together with the positive ones that describe the type of value one gets in return puts things into some context that can enable an individual to make a more educated decision.
And one suggestion to Karel.
Switch to an opt-in model, or at least, once a year send an email to all the entities in your list, inform them that they are on the list and allow them to opt out. I read that you have an unsubscribe link at the bottom of all the emails, and that's great, but it might be easy to miss. Sending a proper remainder once a year would be a more effective way to maintain the quality of your list and avoid flooding people with communications that they don't have any desire to receive.
[Edited at 2013-05-30 05:12 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rosalind Alcock-Stankus (X)
Germany
Local time: 00:42
German to English
| blast cv - it worked wonderfully | May 30, 2013 |
Hi everyone,
Just to let you know that I did this blast last year and yes, there was initial chaos in my inbox for a couple of weeks but I knew what was coming and worked hard to respond to every enquiry I got - mostly. As a result, I have some very nice, interesting, regular customers on a worldwide basis. Of course it's impossible to take on so many clients at once but it doesn't work that way. Many agencies just want to buff up their translator pool in certain language pairs and ... See more Hi everyone,
Just to let you know that I did this blast last year and yes, there was initial chaos in my inbox for a couple of weeks but I knew what was coming and worked hard to respond to every enquiry I got - mostly. As a result, I have some very nice, interesting, regular customers on a worldwide basis. Of course it's impossible to take on so many clients at once but it doesn't work that way. Many agencies just want to buff up their translator pool in certain language pairs and therefore add you to their database for potential future work. I still get enquiries today regarding my blast from agencies who have stored my CV but have not yet acted. Actually, I haven't had to market myself further since last Autumn because either the agencies approach me or, in a lull, I go through my blast folder and approach agencies that have expressed interest, explaining that I was working on other projects but am now available again if they are still interested. I've started recently with two Swiss agencies who replied only last month to the letter and CV that was blasted last Autumn. I guess it's all a question of management and intent. But don't knock it. It worked for me. ▲ Collapse
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Shai Nave wrote:
And one suggestion to Karel.
Switch to an opt-in model, or at least, once a year send an email to all the entities in your list, inform them that they are on the list and allow them to opt out. I read that you have an unsubscribe link at the bottom of all the emails, and that's great, but it might be easy to miss. Sending a proper remainder once a year would be a more effective way to maintain the quality of your list and avoid flooding people with communications that they don't have any desire to receive.
Yes, please! This would be the only sensible way to go. Even if it meant a couple thousands less email addresses ("Blast to 14,000 companies"), those who did not exercise their right to opt-out cannot really complain, can they?
If this was done, I would take back my words about this "service" being spam, and would probably stop using the quotes in "service".
| | | | Karel Kosman
Czech Republic
Local time: 00:42
Czech to English
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| more nonsense from Tomas | May 30, 2013 |
you just don't stop, for example:
A customer is a company that uses you and only you for your language pair and sends work your way regularly.
In 20 years I have never worked for an agency with which I was their exclusive translator. Some have tried, but I knew they had other "exclusive" translators and that their main intent was to make myself exclusive to them in exchange for more steady work but lower prices. Logically, an agency will always ... See more you just don't stop, for example:
A customer is a company that uses you and only you for your language pair and sends work your way regularly.
In 20 years I have never worked for an agency with which I was their exclusive translator. Some have tried, but I knew they had other "exclusive" translators and that their main intent was to make myself exclusive to them in exchange for more steady work but lower prices. Logically, an agency will always want to have backup options, because if they cannot deliver immediately, as per their customer requirements, the customers can go elsewhere and then probably never come back. Otherwise, I've had some direct customers and, yes, they would always refer to me only, I'd always provide, but at a schedule that could fit into my already arranged obligations, and such customers are definitely gold. Especially since direct customers (not intermediating agencies) tend to pay more and the relationship is very pleasant, with not massively urgent deadlines etc.
From the experiences I read from those who have tried the service, you do get work: plenty of work filling questionnaires and entering data in a database, and probably --please report on this, folks-- signing a lot of contracts... but very little actual work compared to the number of letters you have sent.
If you approached all these agencies manually yourself you'd still have to fill in all these forms - you'd just spend much more time on it. You are ignoring the testimonies of those who have used my service and continue to make your false claims. They DO get a lot of work, so stop making up nonsense.
And concerning your last publication, no, I will not switch to opt-in and I really do not need your praise. If I switch to opt-in most people simply do not bother with these things. The details and unsubscribe link are clearly explained and visible at the bottom of each email. They have two opportunities a month to notice this, and I will not "bombard" them with more emails then necessary, reminding them they can unsubscribe (often the cover letters are quite short, so there is no major scrolling down in the email). But to distinguish myself from, at least what I'd like to call, the real spam, I have started putting "TA:" (short for "translator application") at the start of each subject. People might start noticing this pattern, open the email and unsubscribe if they like. Or learn what it means and differentiate it from the actual spam (giving my emails greater consideration and more success for the applying translator), which doesn't even come from real translators. ▲ Collapse
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| Sorry to hear that | May 30, 2013 |
Karel Kosman wrote:
In 20 years I have never worked for an agency with which I was their exclusive translator. Some have tried, but I knew they had other "exclusive" translators and that their main intent was to make myself exclusive to them in exchange for more steady work but lower prices.
That's tough luck... Maybe you should relaunch your service with your CV to find better customers.
| | | | Karel Kosman
Czech Republic
Local time: 00:42
Czech to English
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| how many customers | May 30, 2013 |
oh yes Tomas, just mentioning that in all this time I've never had 20-25 customers sending me regular work, but it has always been only a few, like 1-5, with some occasional exceptions. Now I have about 5, with one of them sending almost all the work. But I've gleaned out many previous ones once I was able to afford to increase my price. Do you ever turn down work from your regular customers? How could you not? If you have more than one, or some personal affair which interrupts your work, or for... See more oh yes Tomas, just mentioning that in all this time I've never had 20-25 customers sending me regular work, but it has always been only a few, like 1-5, with some occasional exceptions. Now I have about 5, with one of them sending almost all the work. But I've gleaned out many previous ones once I was able to afford to increase my price. Do you ever turn down work from your regular customers? How could you not? If you have more than one, or some personal affair which interrupts your work, or for capacity reasons, I am sure you have to turn down work occasionally. And when you do, do your customers sit sad and wait until you are free again? How can you really say you are their only supplier? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:42
Hebrew to English
Samuel Murray wrote: Ty Kendall wrote:
blast
noun
A destructive or damaging influence
Need I say more? I suggest you get yourself a better dictionary, Mr Native Speaker (-:.
Being a native speaker I am fully aware that "blast" is one of those pesky words which has more than one sense/meaning. I chose "one" which reflected my personal opinion of this service (poetic licence).
Beyond its dictionary meanings, it's hard to deny that the connotations of "blast" are overwhelmingly on the negative side (at the very least it usually implies a lack of care and prudence).
| | | | Nuno Rosalino
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:42
Member (2012)
English to Portuguese
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| Cherry picking... | May 30, 2013 |
Ty Kendall wrote: Samuel Murray wrote: Ty Kendall wrote:
blast
noun
A destructive or damaging influence
Need I say more? I suggest you get yourself a better dictionary, Mr Native Speaker (-:. Being a native speaker I am fully aware that "blast" is one of those pesky words which has more than one sense/meaning. I chose "one" which reflected my personal opinion of this service (poetic licence). Beyond its dictionary meanings, it's hard to deny that the connotations of "blast" are overwhelmingly on the negative side (at the very least it usually implies a lack of care and prudence).
... is always a blast, wouldn't you say?;-)
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Karel Kosman
Czech Republic
Local time: 00:42
Czech to English
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| the word blast | May 30, 2013 |
now that I've read this discussion I could consider rewording it, even though I like it. It just popped in my head, perhaps because the number 16,000 is so high. So I can see how it all appears very spammy and express my understanding. I have liked how, during correspondence with customers, the term has been used somewhat affectionately, like "Can't wait for the blast to begin", so if I have to change that for marketing purposes, I could. It never occurred to me before as a problem.
... See more now that I've read this discussion I could consider rewording it, even though I like it. It just popped in my head, perhaps because the number 16,000 is so high. So I can see how it all appears very spammy and express my understanding. I have liked how, during correspondence with customers, the term has been used somewhat affectionately, like "Can't wait for the blast to begin", so if I have to change that for marketing purposes, I could. It never occurred to me before as a problem.
To Tomas, sorry, I have no need to use the service again. I used it twice so far, the second time after I almost doubled it with a certain purchase. I don't think I'll need to use it again and so far things are going nicely. But thanks for your concern. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Karel Kosman
Czech Republic
Local time: 00:42
Czech to English
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| cherry picking | May 30, 2013 |
yes, that certainly can be a blast, now in the positive sense of the word. More if it leads to cherry wine or whatever, or pie. I hear they have excellent cherry tasting beer in Belgium.
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:42
Hebrew to English
| Yes but pretty much the ONLY positive sense of the word... | May 30, 2013 |
Karel Kosman wrote:
yes, that certainly can be a blast, now in the positive sense of the word. More if it leads to cherry wine or whatever, or pie. I hear they have excellent cherry tasting beer in Belgium.
And even then, that's when it's being used a noun, not a verb.
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