| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: How many new agencies do you contact each month (send your CV)? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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S_Angel (X) 
Italy
Local time: 11:10
German to Italian
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| Great to read about so many successful translators | May 9, 2008 |
Wow, I hope I'll be in your position someday!
(I'm still a student... and rather frightened by what waits for me after my graduation! )
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Brandis wrote:
I have a large Database of over quarter million potential customers, so whenever I have free time I generate a flyer and contact as many possible in the idle time. It is about communication. Best regards, Brandis
I wonder whether this massive sending of CVs is spamming. We receive about 5-6 CVs per week. We do our best to respond and explain the situation (basically, that we very rarely hire anyone and do 99% of work in-house), but they keep coming in.
So the question is: Is sending our unsolicited CVs any good, considering that most companies (us included) choose people in sites like Proz.com, instead of reading and keeping CVs?
[Edited at 2008-05-09 10:36]
| | | | Miranda Joubioux (X)
Local time: 11:10
French to English
I work mainly with direct customers, but am occasionally contacted by agencies through ProZ or through other colleagues who have given them my name because they're too booked up.
I find I often have to refuse the kind of last minute work I'm offered anyway, but when I can, I take it.
Apart from when I started up, I don't think I have ever contacted an agency. It's always been the other way round.
I don't think I would even be tempted to do so. I would be very wary about spendi... See more I work mainly with direct customers, but am occasionally contacted by agencies through ProZ or through other colleagues who have given them my name because they're too booked up.
I find I often have to refuse the kind of last minute work I'm offered anyway, but when I can, I take it.
Apart from when I started up, I don't think I have ever contacted an agency. It's always been the other way round.
I don't think I would even be tempted to do so. I would be very wary about spending time contacting agencies (not necessarily knowing how they work or whether they pay on time), particularly since, as someone mentioned above, they may be considered as spam and many emails are binned with scarcely a look.
I'd rather spend my time more fruitfully. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | impressive list! | May 9, 2008 |
Brandis wrote:
I have a large Database of over quarter million potential customers, so whenever I have free time I generate a flyer and contact as many possible in the idle time. It is about communication. Best regards, Brandis
Strange approach, if you don't mind me saying so. Personally, I would never approach an agency I haven't "carefully" examined (blueboard, referenced through fellow translators etc). Too many sharks out there! Also, as for sending mass mail (more than 100). Isn't that Spam??
But well done on getting 250,000 agency contacts! (I'm not going to ask how or where you got them). I built a database of 3000 agencies that work my pairs/fields, and that took me nearly 3 months of painful work! (and thanks to the blueboard I managed to get a reasonable idea about many of them) Though I have to admit, after contacting the first 1000 and collaborating with probably 50 (I got roughly a 5% success hit (what success rate are other translators getting from there approaches?) or so, on an on and off basis, I never sent the other 2000 names, as I'm already too snowed under.
One question - when you send mass mails, how do you do it? I used bcc (blind recipients) in Hotmail, and have a feeling I may have missed a few opportunities, due to not sending personalised e.mails (one to each recipient). Any one know of a good way of sending group mails (50 or so), as if it looked like you sent just one mail to each one? Maybe one day I'll need to dip into that remaining 2000 crowd!
Warm regards from Palermo! (-;
Matt Holway
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| Not any more... | May 9, 2008 |
Tomás Cano Binder wrote:
I wonder whether this massive sending of CVs is spamming. We receive about 5-6 CVs per week. We do our best to respond and explain the situation (basically, that we very rarely hire anyone and do 99% of work in-house), but they keep coming in.
So the question is: Is sending our unsolicited CVs any good, considering that most companies (us included) choose people in sites like Proz.com, instead of reading and keeping CVs?
[Edited at 2008-05-09 10:36]
When I started freelancing, I sent out about 400 (no joke) CVs to agencies I picked from the Blue Board and the Internet, and I got added to a lot of databases that way. Some of these have proved to be great sources of work, while I've never heard from others again! Now I'm in the same position as most of the others, where I get about 1-2 requests for my CV per week. Unless I hear of a new (to me) agency which specialises in one of my favourite subjects, I don't send my CV unsolicited anymore.
| | | | Dawn Montague
United States
Local time: 05:10
German to English
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| For the beginners | May 9, 2008 |
Just so someone coming into the field doesn't get the wrong idea - when I started, I was very agressive and often sent out several hundred CVs a month to potential clients. But that didn't last very long. Also, I NEVER sent out a group email. I looked at an agency's website, for example, to see if they were even soliciting CVs and whether they had an online form. Now I counsel anyone I am mentoring to check out their creditworthiness in several forums as well. All of that takes time, and once yo... See more Just so someone coming into the field doesn't get the wrong idea - when I started, I was very agressive and often sent out several hundred CVs a month to potential clients. But that didn't last very long. Also, I NEVER sent out a group email. I looked at an agency's website, for example, to see if they were even soliciting CVs and whether they had an online form. Now I counsel anyone I am mentoring to check out their creditworthiness in several forums as well. All of that takes time, and once you have work, the time to send out CVs goes down drastically.
That said, if you are good and you are persistent, eventually the clients will contact you. Now they contact me and I have to turn most of them down. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | 0-4 per month | May 9, 2008 |
I haven't sent unsollicited CVs since 2001, but I reply now and again to the Jobs board offers to maintain my application skills.
When I started out internationaly in 2000, I sent 43 individualised cold letters to French agencies (I feel that neat hardcopies are less likely to go directly to the bin, electronic or otherwise) and got within the next month 2 ongoing customers that kept me busy about full time. So about the same rate as Matt, 5%, in paper form.
One of them is sti... See more I haven't sent unsollicited CVs since 2001, but I reply now and again to the Jobs board offers to maintain my application skills.
When I started out internationaly in 2000, I sent 43 individualised cold letters to French agencies (I feel that neat hardcopies are less likely to go directly to the bin, electronic or otherwise) and got within the next month 2 ongoing customers that kept me busy about full time. So about the same rate as Matt, 5%, in paper form.
One of them is still a good customer who bears my rate increases, but the other filed for bankruptcy 1.5 years after I started collaborating.
Word of mouth and then Proz.com did the rest.
I don't think I will ever send unsollicited emails again, I did a batch of a few dozens in 2001, after the bankruptcy that left me financially uneasy for 2-3 months, but it didn't lead to any tangible results. I would rather spend more time and money and write postal letters.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anuja Trehan
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:40
Spanish to English
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| Yes..they contact me | May 9, 2008 |
Yes I am also happy to say that they contact me..its been many years that I am in the freelance industry so mst often the client ends up contacting me...thank God..
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| Feel no fear at all | May 9, 2008 |
S_Angel wrote: Wow, I hope I'll be in your position someday! (I'm still a student... and rather frightened by what waits for me after my graduation! )
In my opinion you don't have to worry at all. The arrival of CAT tools has made translation and localisation something cost-effective, and as a result companies that never had the budget to sustain localisation and translation over the years are now translating a lot. As long as you try to offer your best, are ready to work hard when it's needed, respond quickly to requests and emails, are willing to learn new things and pay attention to detail, you will always have work one way or the other.
| | | | Brandis (X)
Local time: 11:10
English to German
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| who says anything about spamming... | May 9, 2008 |
Tomás Cano Binder wrote: Brandis wrote:
I have a large Database of over quarter million potential customers, so whenever I have free time I generate a flyer and contact as many possible in the idle time. It is about communication. Best regards, Brandis I wonder whether this massive sending of CVs is spamming. We receive about 5-6 CVs per week. We do our best to respond and explain the situation (basically, that we very rarely hire anyone and do 99% of work in-house), but they keep coming in. So the question is: Is sending our unsolicited CVs any good, considering that most companies (us included) choose people in sites like Proz.com, instead of reading and keeping CVs? [Edited at 2008-05-09 10:36]
| | | | | Letters by post | May 9, 2008 |
Philippe Etienne wrote:
When I started out internationaly in 2000, I sent 43 individualised cold letters to French agencies (I feel that neat hardcopies are less likely to go directly to the bin, electronic or otherwise) and got within the next month 2 ongoing customers that kept me busy about full time. So about the same rate as Matt, 5%, in paper form.
I had never thought about that, but you might be right indeed! I must admit that a short letter nicely printed in a reasonably good paper, with a good style, would be more attractive to me than the emails I get. Please don't tell anyone or I'll start getting letters on paper! 
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