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| User | Thread poster: Anne R Is that ok to contact outsourcers? |
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Anne R
Italy
Local time: 12:14
 Member (Jan 2012)
English to French
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Hello,
As a new proz paying member I find it all a bit difficult to know what's on and what's not. And as translator trying to establish herself fulltime, I am of course trying to identify translations agencies and outsourcers to send my CV to and make myself know. So I did a search through the BlueBoard yesterday and have identified quite a few agencies I could contact, but have also noticed that some of the people who have put job postings in the past are themselves translators and proz members, who I guess look for other translators when they are asked to quote for a job that they cannot do themselves, be it because they have too much work or because it is not their language pair.
As much as I think contacting an agency identified in the Blue Board is fine to promote myself for potential future work, I am not sure whether it is ok to contact those other proz members who are also outsourcers, so I would like to have a bit of feedback on that before I start doing something that may not be acceptable. I would really appreciate feedback either from outsourcers or from other more experience translators/proz members here on this matter.
Thank you in advance.
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Anne R
Italy
Local time: 12:14
Member (Jan 2012)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER | | 57 viewers no answer | Jan 28 |
Please please please, do view ans do comment, it is hard to post something and wonder whether it is ok, but then noticing that 57 members have viewed and have not commented is also a bit like "whoops, have I written something wrong" kind of feeling..
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Irene Acler 
Italy
Local time: 12:14
Member (2011)
Spanish to Italian
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Hi Anne,
I think you can contact other proz members if they are outsourcers. This means they could need a translator for a particular project or a particular language pair, and maybe you could be the right candidate!
Irene
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:14
Member (2011)
Hebrew to English
| | Patience is a virtue :-) | Jan 28 |
Personally I see no problem with contacting/sending your details to agencies you found on the BB (but check the rules first, I'm not 100% sure).
...However, many would agree that this is a method with a low success rate.
In addition, some people take exception with what they perceive as you "spamming" them.
I would advise caution with translators who are also outsourcers for the simple reason that they may be a one-man (or woman) operation and might not have the staff to deal with unsolicited mail....but it's impossible to generalize, some might welcome having another translator in their files/databases.
From what I've seen/heard this method isn't the most popular way of marketing yourself, some selective campaigning might be better than just blanketing a ton of agencies though.
Depends on a lot of things.
Wait to see what others say..........maybe the feedback from a few outsources might illuminate things..........
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Lucia Leszinsky
Argentina
 Member (2008)
SITE STAFF | | Unauthorized solicitation is not allowed | Jan 28 |
Hello all,
Please note that, as site rule #3 states, unauthorized solicitation, sent via the forums, profile messages or elsewhere, is not allowed, http://www.proz.com/siterules/general/3#3 . Site members are encouraged to apply a set of winning strategies to attract clients' attention instead.
Check this forum post I just made in a different thread with a few details on how to achieve this:
http://www.proz.com/post/1882375#1882375
Hope this helps.
Lucia
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Alex Lago
Spain
Local time: 12:14
Member (2009)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| | I had never understood rule 3 like that | Jan 28 |
Rule 3 states:
Advertisements are prohibited. Paid advertising is available from ProZ.com in designated areas of the site. Unauthorized solicitation, sent via the forums, profile messages or elsewhere, is not allowed. Discussion of sites offering competing services is also prohibited, due to past abuse.
As these are sire rules I interpret this to mean I cannot solicit within the Proz website, however I see nothing here prohibiting me from using the relevant data from the Blue Board to contact the agencies directly via their websites or via e-mail.
Not that I use the data for that anyway as I think it would have a very low rate of success, but I see nothing wrong in Anne doing it if she wants to.
Have I been interpreting this wrong?
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nordiste
France
Local time: 12:14
Member (2005)
English to French
+ ...
| | Agencies like to hear from new translators - freelancers not necessarily | Jan 28 |
Agencies usually have a website where you can copy and paste your CV or fill a contact form. I am not sure if this is a very successfull approach, but it is perfectly ok to do so if you have found a promising agency on the BB...
I would be more cautious with freelancers acting as outsourcers. Nobody like unsollicited mail and it will be even less successfull than with agencies.
Sometimes a freelancer need help for a specific project (other language pair, nobody available in their usual network, too short deadline...) but chances are it was only once and it will not happen again. So it does not make sense to send them your CV.
It is much better to partipate to powwows to contact other translators, although this is not the first reason for powwows. These can result in interresting collaboration (it happened to me sometimes).
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 12:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| | Don't harm ProZ.com | Jan 28 |
Anne Rabier wrote:
I did a search through the BlueBoard yesterday and have identified quite a few agencies I could contact, but have also noticed that some of the people who have put job postings in the past are themselves translators and Proz.com members, who I guess look for other translators when they are asked to quote for a job that they cannot do themselves. |
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It is good that you ask such a question, because there is a lot of confusion about it.
People continue to use a site like ProZ.com if they feel that their privacy will be respected. If a client reveals his identity (and the fact that he is a client) in a manner which does not specifically imply that he is inviting solicitations, then his activity should be treated not as an invitation to freelancers but simply as his participation in this site.
For example, if a client posts a comment on the forums (and he doesn't do so in cognito), then that does not automatically mean that he'll be happy if anyone contacts him for a job. Or, if a person had one job to outsource and asks for translators for that one job, then that doesn't automatically mean that he'll be happy to continue receiving mails from other translators about other jobs that they might want to help him with.
In fact, one could even say that the fact that an agency or outsourcer has a BB entry does not give anyone the right to contact them for work (but... if such an agency has a web site, then they can be contacted because their own web site invites it, right?).
To summarise:
You may offer your services directly to any outsourcer listed in the "translation company" directory. You may offer your services to outsourcers listed in the Blue Board if they have a web site that invites it (whether literally or implied). You may *not* offer your services to anyone else on ProZ.com unless they specifically indicate that they want such offers.
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Anne R
Italy
Local time: 12:14
Member (Jan 2012)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER |
Lucia Leszinsky wrote:
Hello all,
Please note that, as site rule #3 states, unauthorized solicitation, sent via the forums, profile messages or elsewhere, is not allowed, http://www.proz.com/siterules/general/3#3 . Site members are encouraged to apply a set of winning strategies to attract clients' attention instead.
Check this forum post I just made in a different thread with a few details on how to achieve this:
http://www.proz.com/post/1882375#1882375
Hope this helps.
Lucia |
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Anne R
Italy
Local time: 12:14
Member (Jan 2012)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER |
First of all thank you all for replying and thank you to Lucia and Samuel. It is indeed confusing, and yes I have looked at the rules but they are a lot of them to get to understand, so a direct answer is good as well. I really appreciate the feedback because I want to make sure I am not doing anything wrong and most of all unappreciated.
I guess the second part of my question has been answered, in so far as it is not ok to contact individual outsourcers, and that was the most important for me to know.
As regards the translations companies listed in the BlueBoard, to me the Blue Board is very useful to identify those agencies are most appreciated in terms of courtesy, paiement and general work relations, but as Samuel and Nordiste mention, I would definitely not contact them through proz but rather, having looked at their website and seen whether they offer the possibility for translators to register with them in some way, as I would do by looking through the yellow pages for translation agencies or other directories.
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Anne R
Italy
Local time: 12:14
Member (Jan 2012)
English to French
TOPIC STARTER |
Sorry, something went wrong, I had written a thank you note but somehow I have not mastered the art of quoting and not loosing my own answer in the process, hence the Thank you with a quote of Lucia's answer on its own.
I want to thank you all for taking the time to answer and thank you to Lucia and Samuel for making it clearer, that, as I guessed, contacting individual outsourcers would be wrong and 'out of rule'.
As regards the BlueBoard and listed agencies, I find it useful as a beginner to have an idea of the feedback sent by fellow translators on the agencies in term of courtesy, payment and professionality, but I definitely understand that I still have to do research from there onto their website to check whether they are working in my field of translation and whether they are welcoming registration through their own website.
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Katalin Horvath McClure
United States
Local time: 06:14
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
| | The Application function is there | Jan 28 |
There is a specific area here on ProZ that you can access from the menu bar going to: Jobs & directories -- Job postings -- Applications.
http://www.proz.com/blueboard/?sp_mode=applications
"Blue Board outsourcers accepting applications
Here you will find a list of outsourcers that are looking for applications from translators and/or interpreters. Only the outsourcers you qualify to apply for are shown."
On my list I can see outsourcers who are freelancers themselves, they have an individual profile at ProZ.
Katalin
[Edited at 2012-01-28 21:05 GMT]
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 12:14
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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Anne Rabier wrote:
.. noticing that 57 members have viewed and have not commented is also a bit like "whoops, have I written something wrong" kind of feeling..
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Not at all. Why shouldn't you contact any of the outsourcers, agencies or other you find on proz, or indeed any other site? Our information is in the public domain, or at least available to all those visiting.
And don't take it personally if they don't all get back to you - for example, my main email address that figures on proz is one that I use only for kudoz etc, so if I get any work-related offers or enquiries through it, I might not see them for weeks if I'm busy doing other stuff. The worst case scenario is that some people may treat your overtures as spam ....but so what?
My advice is to be patient, don't be shy, just persevere and things should come your way eventually.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 12:14
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
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neilmac wrote:
Why shouldn't you contact any of the outsourcers, agencies or other you find on Proz.com, or indeed any other site? Our information is in the public domain, or at least available to all those visiting. |
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I see Anne is in Italy, and Neil (or Mac) is in Spain, which are both EU countries.
EU spam laws typically prohibit businesses from contacting private individuals (without invitation) by e-mail to offer them something to buy (be it a service or a product). In some EU countries, this applies also to businesses contacting businesses (though it usually does not apply to non-automated phone or postal solicitations).
The fact that someone's e-mail address is known (i.e. in the public domain) (plus the fact that they might be a candidate for purchasing your service) does not by itself automatically give you the right to contact them with your services.
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 03:14
 Member
English to German
+ ...
| | From a personal perspective | Jan 29 |
I don't mind being contacted by colleagues who know me from the KudoZ forum and who send me a note, such as: "Hey, I noticed that you have been working on projects for this manufacturer / machine / technology for quite a while. I used to be an engineer at [company name], and I am highly familiar with [this stuff]. In case you ever want to outsource such a project or if you want to go on vacation - I might be the perfect specialist."
I like such emails and more than once they have resulted in collaboration.
I you offer a language pair that is not within the outsourcer's scope of services, you will most certainly end up on their list as well. Their black list, that is. Helpful hints how they can expand their business are simply not welcome.
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