Jabberwock Poland Local time: 20:54 Member (2004) English to Polish
It's done... but not promoted at all
Nov 28, 2011
Lisa Simpson wrote:
Perhaps a standard form could be designed that is downloadable from ProZ and we could convince agencies to accept this format? If they then had any further questions or need for clarification they would then be free to email us... or is that just a pipe dream?
This has been done long time ago by ProZ staff... Unfortunately, it is not promoted at all, so practically nobody knows the format exists. More information:
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Lisa Simpson, MCIL United Kingdom Local time: 19:54 Member (2010) Portuguese to English + ...
Strikes me as a terrible waste
Nov 28, 2011
Jabberwock wrote:
This has been done long time ago by ProZ staff... Unfortunately, it is not promoted at all, so practically nobody knows the format exists. More information:
I took a look at the link - it could be something that might be very useful, where on earth is it on the actual site though (which menu?) and, for fear of going off-topic here, does anyone have any ideas on how we could promote this to the agencies?
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Alison High Switzerland Local time: 20:54 Member (2003) French to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
Don't mind me
Nov 28, 2011
No I don't think this is going off topic at all... it is exactly my point. I don't want to have to give my info in a different format for every agency that exists out there.
I dislike filling out forms intensely.
If I can do it once and have it done for everybody, then I'm all for it!
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Jabberwock Poland Local time: 20:54 Member (2004) English to Polish
TPX
Nov 28, 2011
Lisa Simpson wrote:
I took a look at the link - it could be something that might be very useful, where on earth is it on the actual site though (which menu?) and, for fear of going off-topic here, does anyone have any ideas on how we could promote this to the agencies?
It is not available to users - as I understand the documentation, the relevant info could be gathered with API from the profiles themselves. But, naturally, one could fill out the info manually (not preferable, I guess) or an application could be created that would provide a user interface for the form.
As for the agencies, it is obvious that it would take them some effort to integrate the data into their own systems. As they have no particular reason to do so (it's just more work for them), it would require some incentive - ad time, additional promotion at the site, another form of recognition, well, even a badge would be better than nothing...
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Alison High Switzerland Local time: 20:54 Member (2003) French to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
Not necessarily
Nov 29, 2011
It would require work on the in-between stage.... but it must be possible for an API application to output the information (stored in the database) in the output format required by each agency once they'd set up the format (i.e. sequence of information) they want, by dragging the info around the page.... exporting to excel....
I really don't think that is beyond the realm of possibility nowadays.
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Alison High Switzerland Local time: 20:54 Member (2003) French to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
stamps and snailmail
Nov 29, 2011
van driel wrote:
When in the past you sent out cv's by snail mail, you also paid the stamps.
No I didn't, that's before my time, sorry!
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Marina Steinbach United States Local time: 14:54 Member (2011) English to German + ...
The meaning of forms?
Nov 30, 2011
Alison High wrote:
Hi, I find myself having to fill out forms for agencies which ask for the information I have already given them... for the most part anyway. It would appear that they want it in their standardised format and I'm the one, it appears that has to do this monotonous administrative task for them.
When I moved from Germany to the US in December 2011, I applied for jobs as an executive/administrative assistant and had to fill out a lot of application forms online. This was OK for me.
Is it actually OK that they ask me to do this? It most definitely is not one of my favourite jobs.
Well, if you really want the job, then that’s probably the way you do it…
I'm fairly computer-minded, but their standardised in-house formats they want me to enter my details into are so NOT standardised with any other agency (web-based, .xls or .doc, order, layout, you name it) that I doubt a macro or anything similar could do it for me.
Yes, don’t just try to copy and paste your details. That will end in a mess.
They do always leave you a space where you can insert some additional text.
That's right.
So what are your thoughts on the matter?
Just a sec...
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xxxinge van dri Belgium Local time: 20:54 German to Dutch + ...
Strange
Nov 30, 2011
Alison High wrote:
van driel wrote:
When in the past you sent out cv's by snail mail, you also paid the stamps.
No I didn't, that's before my time, sorry!
that young people are not willing to invest time and money in marketing. Does it have to come out of the sky?
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Alison High Switzerland Local time: 20:54 Member (2003) French to English + ...
TOPIC STARTER
Filling out forms for an in-house position/salaried job is not the same thing
Nov 30, 2011
Thanks for your input.
A salaried position, however lasts months or years, so filling out a certain number of forms for that amount of time is more proportional to the time spent on a job.
As freelancers, we need to be constantly contacting agencies and this may lead to just one job that takes a little as a few hours.... so filling out yet another form in yet another format is not so proportional to the time spent on the job.
This means that a significant amount of time is spent entering information we have already provided, just in a different format.... this is what this thread is about... if there's a way of reducing the number of times I have to type exactly the same thing, I for one, want to know about it
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TransAfrique United Kingdom Local time: 19:54 Member (2011) Japanese to English
H.G. Wells would be proud
Nov 30, 2011
[quote]Marina Steinbach wrote:
When I moved from Germany to the US in December 2011
If you're done with your time machine, can I borrow it?
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