| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Would you start working on a job before the client's confirmation? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Would you start working on a job before the client's confirmation?".
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It depends ! If the job comes from a new client, I will wait for the PO or for some sort of green light to go ahead. If the job comes from one of my “regulars”, the fact that they are sending the source text is the confirmation and I’ll start ASAP!
| | | | Marjolein Snippe 
Netherlands
Local time: 06:48
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
| Not normally | Apr 10, 2014 |
Only very occasionally, when the job is from a regular client and I know they would appreciate receiving the translation ASAP. Or when I have a very quiet day and I might as well get started. For new clients I always wait for confirmation (learned that the hard way!)
| | | | EvaVer (X)
Local time: 06:48
Czech to French
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Marjolein Snippe wrote:
Only very occasionally, when the job is from a regular client and I know they would appreciate receiving the translation ASAP. Or when I have a very quiet day and I might as well get started. For new clients I always wait for confirmation (learned that the hard way!)
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Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 06:48
Member (2006)
German to English
I normally have enought work to do and I always wait for the confirmation before I waste my time doing something that may not happen, even for my regular customers.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 06:48
Spanish to English
+ ...
Not usually, but it depends. Last week a regular client asked me for an estimate for the translation of one of their manuals (one of their customers was thinking of ordering the translation from my client), so I quoted them the same rate that I have been charging them for the past... decade or so. As I wasn't busy at the time, I translated the first 100 words or so just to have it ready in case they confirmed. Which they didn't - no doubt they'll have it done more cheaply by the usual infinite m... See more Not usually, but it depends. Last week a regular client asked me for an estimate for the translation of one of their manuals (one of their customers was thinking of ordering the translation from my client), so I quoted them the same rate that I have been charging them for the past... decade or so. As I wasn't busy at the time, I translated the first 100 words or so just to have it ready in case they confirmed. Which they didn't - no doubt they'll have it done more cheaply by the usual infinite monkey googler gang... ▲ Collapse
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I have on occasion started a project without confirmation when:
- It was an established customer
- I was reasonably confident that the confirmation would eventually arrive
- Not starting could create a potential scheduling conflict
- Starting early would allow me to fit in an extra job
Whenever I do this, I am aware that I am doing so at my own risk and that there is a potential gain associated with that risk - fitting in the extra job.
Un... See more I have on occasion started a project without confirmation when:
- It was an established customer
- I was reasonably confident that the confirmation would eventually arrive
- Not starting could create a potential scheduling conflict
- Starting early would allow me to fit in an extra job
Whenever I do this, I am aware that I am doing so at my own risk and that there is a potential gain associated with that risk - fitting in the extra job.
Under no circumstances will I deliver a project without a PO of some sort. ▲ Collapse
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I don't always wait for the PO, but I do wait for some kind of go-ahead or green light, at least before starting work seriously. At least one client sends me a 'work order' after delivery with the target word count. But they send a 'go ahead' if they want me to do the job.
Many of my regulars send me a text and ask if I can do it, when etc. and then make an offer to the end client before confirming, or they send a rushed job to several translators.
So I need to know whe... See more I don't always wait for the PO, but I do wait for some kind of go-ahead or green light, at least before starting work seriously. At least one client sends me a 'work order' after delivery with the target word count. But they send a 'go ahead' if they want me to do the job.
Many of my regulars send me a text and ask if I can do it, when etc. and then make an offer to the end client before confirming, or they send a rushed job to several translators.
So I need to know whether the job is going to materialise!
If it is a routine job, then by the time I have checked the source through, it may be half translated mentally, but I don't start setting it up in Trados or typing before it is confirmed. ▲ Collapse
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Diana Obermeyer
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:48
Member (2013)
German to English
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| Difference between direct clients and agencies | Apr 10, 2014 |
Teresa Borges wrote:
It depends ! If the job comes from a new client, I will wait for the PO or for some sort of green light to go ahead. If the job comes from one of my “regulars”, the fact that they are sending the source text is the confirmation and I’ll start ASAP!
A lot of my work comes from direct clients - and many of them don't have a person dedicated to answering e-mails and monitoring responses. The regular ones don't shop around for other translators, unless I explicitly state that I can't manage to accommodate their request, even though I will happily put in the odd night-shift for a good client. It's simply an email stating that they have a text for me. If I were to confirm that I agree to translate that text and wait for a response, a day or two could easily pass. It's not necessary. I know that a firm order exists.
With some of them, I have even less formal arrangements - we share a folder that they simply drop any files into whenever they are ready for translation, I drop the translation whenever it is completed and we keep a separate shared document to keep track of the total word count from invoice to invoice.
It just depends on the existing work arrangement.
An agency and a potential new client, on the other hand, will contact several translators, so the offer and acceptance take place at a different step of the process. For both, an explicit confirmation for each individual assignment is necessary.
| | | | Tim Drayton
Cyprus
Local time: 07:48
Turkish to English
+ ...
Normally, no, but once or twice I have received requests for jobs that need to be turned round on very tight deadlines, and I have just had a feeling "in my bones" that I will be given the go-ahead, so have started work without awaiting confirmation just to give myself a head start.
| | | | macimovic
Netherlands
Local time: 06:48
English to Serbian
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Even when a job comes from a long-term client, I wait for confirmation since it's happened that the project got canceled before it started.
[Edited at 2014-04-10 11:46 GMT]
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 06:48
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
If the job offer comes from a new client - mainly an agency - then I will wait for the confirmation, since they might have assigned the project to a colleague, or have sent that email to several translators.
When my regular clients send me a project, I start right away, simply because I know that they have sent it to me only.
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Rolf Kern
Switzerland
Local time: 06:48
English to German
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In memoriam
It depends. When I have nothing else to do and there is a certain probability, that I will get the job, I might start right away.
Rolf
| | | | Jeff Whittaker
United States
Local time: 00:48
Spanish to English
+ ...
| I would not start working on the translation... | Apr 10, 2014 |
...but I may start researching articles about the company/topic of the translation, printing the document, looking up some terminology, designing tables (if applicable), familiarizing myself with the document, etc., so that once confirmation is received, I can reply with any questions.
[Edited at 2014-04-10 18:36 GMT]
| | | | Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 06:48
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
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SITE LOCALIZER | without PO - no way | Apr 10, 2014 |
It happened many, many times. I started and had trust - then get not paid at all. No one will pay for your good heart. And no one cares.
So if the client is lazy to send a down payment or the PO, then should I sacrifize my free time instead of spending it with...reading a good book, hiking, spending time with my family etc.
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