posted 05 November 2002 07:09            

Now, I'd just like to confirm something if that's OK. I called an agent, and he asked me to send in my resume. I did, and called him after a week to see if he'd seen it. He had, and he told me that if anything came along that might suit me they'd give me a call (although he has other translators and he knows I'm currently employed, so we'll just see how things pan out).

posted 05 November 2002 08:32            

I wouldn't bother if I were you. It won't make any difference whatsoever. You've made the initial approach, you've made the phone call. If you send a note, you may even make the agent think you're fishing for work, or that you have nothing better to do than send out messages. Not the impression you want to give.

No, best to sit tight and say nothing. Don't be too disheartened if you don't hear from the agent - that's how it works. When your CV lands on the right desk at the right time, that's when the work will start coming in. Especially with your language combination!

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posted 05 November 2002 09:04            

quote:

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Originally posted by Apollo:
No, best to sit tight and say nothing. Don't be too disheartened if you don't hear from the agent - that's how it works. When your CV lands on the right desk at the right time, that's when the work will start coming in. Especially with your language combination!

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Thanks Apollo - very encouraging. I suppose I should be thankful that I've got my in-house work to keep me going.

Indeed, there was an interesting tid-bit in a local translation industry magazine that told of the people at the other end of the spectrum. It polled translation agencies for the things that most turn them off some freelance translators: one of the answers was "people who start calling as soon as they're registered, clamouring for work because their 'livelihoods depended on it'.

posted 05 November 2002 15:05            

quote:

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It polled translation agencies for the things that most turn them off some freelance translators: one of the answers was "people who start calling as soon as they're registered, clamouring for work because their 'livelihoods depended on it'.

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Yes!! Absolutely right. It's a complete pain when people pester you for work after submitting their details. PMs will call when they need to, they don't need any extra hassle. What some people seem not to understand is that "registering" doesn't automatically entitle translators to work. As has been noted elsewhere, an agency may have 2000 translators on its books and use 15 of them regularly...

If I remember rightly, Alex's book covers this, and I know there was a thread on this here somewhere...

The other no-no is to call when you know PMs are likely to be busy. One woman called me at 8 pm on a Friday night, so I politely asked her to call me back during office hours (hint!) and said I'd be happy to talk to her then. She then went on to ask me lots of questions about how to be a freelancer.... So I told her to send me her CV and rather bluntly said I didn't want to be in the office, I wanted to be at home in front of the telly.

Then when her CV arrived I binned it. Easy. I decided I didn't want to work with someone who had such little regard for my views but was full of her own.

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No, you're right. I'll sit tight, and if & when they do offer me a job, I'll show them what they've been missing out on!

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That's exactly the right attitude! You'll go a long way... FWIW it might be worth sending your CV to lots of agencies - the more people who've got your CV, the greater the chances of someone with some work for you seeing it.

posted 05 November 2002 15:54            

People send me CVs and work requests all the time, and I'm not even an agency - I'm just an individual freelancer, and what surplus work I do receive always gets referred out to close translator colleagues; I NEVER subcontract. So, I can't even begin to imagine the volume of CVs and work requests that real, well-known agencies get on a daily basis. I used to reply to each email, politely explaining that I'm not an agency and am therefore not in a position to give them work, but I just don't have time for that any more - I have to delete them all without responding. I feel kind of bad, but then, if people did proper research before their CV blitz (and aren't successful translators supposed to be good at research?!), they'd know better and they wouldn't be wasting their time.

Good luck, Gareth, you are on the right track.

posted 07 November 2002 08:20            

quote:

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Originally posted by Apollo:
FWIW it might be worth sending your CV to lots of agencies - the more people who've got your CV, the greater the chances of someone with some work for you seeing it.

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Right. I finally got around to picking up Alex's e-book, so I might look into some of those UK-based agencies.