Help with my profile and CV Thread poster: Paz González
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Good morning to everybody,
I would like to invite you to check my profile and my CV. My profile is 100% completed but I am not sure if it looks really well for a client. It is supposed that it is localized but I would like to know your opinion about it. Also, it is very important for me if you could help me with my CV, I have the feeling that something it is not right with it, I have shortened from 5 pages to 2, but I am still not happy with it.
I really appreciate you... See more Good morning to everybody,
I would like to invite you to check my profile and my CV. My profile is 100% completed but I am not sure if it looks really well for a client. It is supposed that it is localized but I would like to know your opinion about it. Also, it is very important for me if you could help me with my CV, I have the feeling that something it is not right with it, I have shortened from 5 pages to 2, but I am still not happy with it.
I really appreciate your help and your comments.
Have a good day!
Paz González ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alex Aruj 
United States
Local time: 06:45
Spanish to English
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| Available to help | Jun 15, 2013 |
Hi Paz,
I was actually going to polish mine today.
Could we exchange your English version for my Spanish one? I will have mine tonight or tomorrow.
Regards,
Alex
| | | | | Happy to help you | Jun 15, 2013 |
Hi Alex,
It is a great idea, I will be happy to help you with the Spanish version of your CV. Let me know when you finish it.
Regards,
Paz G.
| | | | | First and most important... hide it! | Jun 15, 2013 |
Unfortunately CVs are being hijacked by spammers and scammers, so it is best not to publish it openly in your profile here. Just indicate that you will offer it upon request.
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Sergio Altuna (X)
Spain
Local time: 15:45
English to Spanish
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| agree totally | Jun 15, 2013 |
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Unfortunately CVs are being hijacked by spammers and scammers, so it is best not to publish it openly in your profile here. Just indicate that you will offer it upon request.
I would definitely follow Tomás´advice. Be very careful if you decide to post your CV.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 14:45
Member (2007)
English
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| The counter-argument: limit risk, then accept it | Jun 15, 2013 |
Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:
Unfortunately CVs are being hijacked by spammers and scammers, so it is best not to publish it openly in your profile here. Just indicate that you will offer it upon request.
I would say that we need to be very careful to keep our contact details off the web, so on-line versions of our CVs shouldn't contain our email address, telephone number(s) etc. These really aren't necessary anyway as someone reading a CV here can contact the owner via the much safer ProZ message.
Take your CV off the site entirely? To my mind that puts you right down to the bottom of the list, below any translators who have CVs that interest the potential client. Time is money, and decisions need to be taken asap - that's a given. Why would anyone make the effort to contact a translator and wait for their response, when someone else has an adequate profile and an adequate CV, to be viewed in a couple of clicks? It may be that the other translator would have been even better, but for a busy PM "Good enough, let's get this done" is often going to win over "Maybe better, let's wait a while".
Risk is part and parcel of being a freelancer. We're all prepared to accept some level of risk, or we'd never turn our backs on cosy, safer salaried jobs. The hijacking risk is a risk I'm personally prepared to take. I'm sure I'll be very upset if it does happen to me - it's a very nasty thing to do - but I'm still prepared to risk it as I know that each time I've searched for a translator, I've normally discounted those who haven't published a CV. If I do it, PMs and direct clients probably do it, too.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 14:45
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Comments on profile and CV | Jun 15, 2013 |
Your CV is definitely too long - I don't think potential clients are going to be interested in every job you've ever done. And I wouldn't advise listing references on it, certainly not with their email addresses etc. You're setting them up to be spammed by total strangers selling viagra etc., as well as contact from any and every potential client who might look at your CV and wonder how good you are. BTW, there's a glaring typo, and it comes up as three PDF pages, not two.
Your prof... See more Your CV is definitely too long - I don't think potential clients are going to be interested in every job you've ever done. And I wouldn't advise listing references on it, certainly not with their email addresses etc. You're setting them up to be spammed by total strangers selling viagra etc., as well as contact from any and every potential client who might look at your CV and wonder how good you are. BTW, there's a glaring typo, and it comes up as three PDF pages, not two.
Your profile looks good to me. Profiles can always be improved, of course, but it's a lot better than most. The only thing that jumps out at me is that your selected specialisations are all highly technical fields, but then you say in the "About Me" section that you also specialise in tourism and children's literature. That's maybe confusing the message for clients a little, and I wonder whether it wouldn't be a good idea to keep those away from your profile. But that's just a thought. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | A couple of things | Jun 15, 2013 |
I would add a few more sample translations, especially from your other areas of specialization. Also, it might be best to not list every specialization in the About Me section, since if someone scrolled down that far they probably already read the list at the top.
And yeah, I'd go for a one-page CV if at all possible. Other than those small things and what others have said, looks good to me though.
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Dear Tomás, Sergio, Sheila and Orrin,
Thank you so much for your comments, they are really helpful. I am going to work in my profile this weekend again, and I will try to improve it according to your experience and advice.
You are invited to take a look at my profile at any moment and express your opinion again if you feel that you can do it.
Thank you so much for your help and let me know my mistakes.
Kind regards,
Paz G.
| | | | | Here it comes | Jun 15, 2013 |
Hi, Paz.
The most important observation I have to share is that while the information on your 17 years of experience are definitely there to be found by a client or outsourcer, perhaps you may want to give it more exposure, especially in your tag line and user message. You might consider combining it with 'reliability' or 'experience' into '(...) proven by experience'. Or even outright '17 years of experience' or, better, 'rich professional experience'.
The second most ... See more Hi, Paz.
The most important observation I have to share is that while the information on your 17 years of experience are definitely there to be found by a client or outsourcer, perhaps you may want to give it more exposure, especially in your tag line and user message. You might consider combining it with 'reliability' or 'experience' into '(...) proven by experience'. Or even outright '17 years of experience' or, better, 'rich professional experience'.
The second most important thing, connected to the first, is what you offer. After seventeen years of highly professional technical translations for some really significant clients, you have much more to offer than simply following someone's instructions. You're also a proven expert and a true veteran in your field; yours it to do a great job worth of your reputation rather than simply to remain flexible enough to satisfy the subjective tastes of a newbie who should be smart enough to know the value of what he gets from you. (Especially before imposing changes that reflect a superficial terminology or a so-so writing style.)
Finally, I'd give the About me section some polish. Perhaps use some formatting or an image? I'd avoid using 'etc.', especially too close to each other. Instead, I'd give one or two more examples or use phrases like 'such as', 'for example', 'among others'.
Regarding your CV, I'm not sure but I'd think about equivalents of your degrees, such as Master, Bachelor, Doctor, if applicable. The reason I said I'm not sure is that your clients and outsourcers may actually be familiar with the education system in Chile, but I wouldn't count on that. Plus, your education (especially courses) should normally come after your experience, unless you want to convert 'education' into 'credentials' (where you can also mention all certificates that you've been awarded as a result of passing an exam rather than attending a course). I wouldn't stress too much about that, though, as any intelligent PM should take notice of graduation dates, recall the 17 years of experience from your profile and make conclusions accordingly. Oh, and you seem to have listed only post-graduate degrees. By all means include the undergraduate ones as well!
On the presentational side, I think it could be a good idea to put your practice areas in capital letters. A bit of variety in your typography never goes the wrong way. Judicious, tasteful use of caps is a powerful tool (with or without slightly increased letter spacing).
Next, I would drop 'professional' from 'professional English-Spanish translations' (the s is missing in 'Spanish'). Your professionalism should go without saying, and if you need to stress is lest it fail to be noticed, then you're really in an unenviable position. Don't put yourself in one. Rename it so 'significant experience' or 'significant projects'.
Regarding the latter, I think I'd want to arrange them by subjects or fields rather than chronologically. As it is now, the list without doubt proves that you have a long and bountiful track record, but it might benefit from a more thematic structure. This, however, is just a tentative idea. I'd need to see the final result to tell (and I'm not sure I'd be qualified to judge anyway).
For example, you have: 'Translation and proofreading of different texts for a European translation agency' (please fix the article, it should refer to the pronounced sound rather than the written letter), 'Translation and proofreading of different texts for an American translation agency', and finally Canadian. I'd think about turning those into 'agencies from three different continents' (including yours).
Also, this is a minor thing, but unless the last item on the list really is exactly 22,300 words, I'd precede with 'about', since you wrote 'more than' in every other case.
Finally, I'd consider changing 'other employments' to 'previous experience' or 'other experience' (as appropriate).
Hmm... Perhaps one more thing. I generally avoid 'project talk' myself, as I tend to associate it with the growing commoditisation and depersonalisation of our work, in addition to an aesthetical objection. Something to think about. In NLP terms, if you adopt the other side's language, you're playing the game on their terms. 'Reframing' allows you to set some of the terms on your own. While it's true that you need to speak the buyer's language to sell something, since you're a professional getting retained rather than a salesman selling products, I'd save that for engineering and tech lingo. But I may be wrong. You probably know more about that than I do. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Thank you, Lukasz | Jun 16, 2013 |
Hi, Lukasz
I read very carefully your comments and they are very interesting. I really appreciate that you took the time to read my profile and that you indicate point by point which are my mistakes or weaknesses.
Thank you so much for your help.
Regards,
Paz G.
| | | | | Thanks a lot | Jun 16, 2013 |
Dear Tómas, Sergio, Sheila, Orrin and Lukasz,
I want to thank you everyone of you for your time and your advices. I can see that I have a lot of work to do with my profile and my CV. I know that you have a lot of experience and you have been members for a long time so your comments are very helpful for me.
Thanks a lot to all of you.
Have a happy weekend!
Paz G.
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