Pages in topic:   [1 2] >
What's the best way of submitting CV details when quoting on a job?
Thread poster: Ricardo Galarza
Ricardo Galarza
Ricardo Galarza
Uruguay
Local time: 04:19
English to Spanish
+ ...
Aug 9, 2008

Dear colleagues:

As most of you know, one can't attach a CV when bidding on a job through ProZ.com. So it just occured to me to open up a discussion on what is the best (or rather, the most effective) way to send our professional background to job posters:

1) To paste relevant parts of one's resume on the bid message.

2) To paste the entire CV on the bid message (provided that it's not too long, of course).

3) Other options. (Please, be speci
... See more
Dear colleagues:

As most of you know, one can't attach a CV when bidding on a job through ProZ.com. So it just occured to me to open up a discussion on what is the best (or rather, the most effective) way to send our professional background to job posters:

1) To paste relevant parts of one's resume on the bid message.

2) To paste the entire CV on the bid message (provided that it's not too long, of course).

3) Other options. (Please, be specific.)

I'd say, 1; but would love to know your thoughts and habits on this one.

Regards.

[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2008-08-09 17:01]
Collapse


 
Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:19
Spanish to English
+ ...
I have moved this to Proz.com job systems Aug 9, 2008



 
Wolfgang Jörissen
Wolfgang Jörissen  Identity Verified
Belize
Dutch to German
+ ...
Include a direct link Aug 9, 2008

... to the CV stored in your profile. That is what I used to do sometimes.

 
Valentina Parisi
Valentina Parisi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 08:19
English to Italian
+ ...
link to profile Aug 9, 2008

I always add the link to my profile for full details (CV included).

 
Gina Ferlisi
Gina Ferlisi
Local time: 08:19
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Download CV from profile page Aug 9, 2008

I always tell the job poster to download my Cv from my profile page and also send them the link.

 
Amy Duncan (X)
Amy Duncan (X)  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 04:19
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Website Aug 9, 2008

I put the URL to my website.


Amy


 
Viktoria Gimbe
Viktoria Gimbe  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 03:19
English to French
+ ...
Bidding? Aug 9, 2008

It may not be entirely relevant, but here goes.

There is no bidding on ProZ. It is called a quote. When people use the word bid, they assume that they are bidding on an auction. Not exactly the kind of mentality it takes to succeed in freelance translation... And not at all what it takes to keep rates at a semi-normal level.


 
Ralf Lemster
Ralf Lemster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:19
English to German
+ ...
Forum title edited Aug 9, 2008

Well spotted, Viktoria.

There is no bidding on ProZ. It is called a quote.

Correct; I edited the forum title - this will also make it easier to find the topic when searching.

Best regards,
Ralf


 
yam2u
yam2u  Identity Verified
United States
Member
English to Malay
+ ...
Exactly, Viktoria! Aug 9, 2008

One bids to buy. To sell, one quotes.

Wrt the question raised, adding the link to one's profile or website should do it. Otherwise, option #1) To paste relevant parts of one's resume on the bid message.

Though if a job poster is looking for the lowest price (and I suspect most are), going to all that trouble would be futile.

Which is why I like those job posters who actually state upfront wh
... See more
One bids to buy. To sell, one quotes.

Wrt the question raised, adding the link to one's profile or website should do it. Otherwise, option #1) To paste relevant parts of one's resume on the bid message.

Though if a job poster is looking for the lowest price (and I suspect most are), going to all that trouble would be futile.

Which is why I like those job posters who actually state upfront what they are prepared to pay, however ridiculous the amounts are. They save a lot of us from wasting our time.

-may-

Viktoria Gimbe wrote:

It may not be entirely relevant, but here goes.

There is no bidding on ProZ. It is called a quote. When people use the word bid, they assume that they are bidding on an auction.




[Edited at 2008-08-09 17:27]
Collapse


 
Αlban SHPΑTΑ
Αlban SHPΑTΑ  Identity Verified
United States
Member (2008)
English to Albanian
+ ...
Link to CV at my website Aug 9, 2008



 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 08:19
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Offtopic: yes, but... Aug 9, 2008

Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
There is no bidding on ProZ. It is called a quote. When people use the word bid, they assume that they are bidding on an auction.


I might have agreed with you, if the ProZ.com bid/quote system worked like this: a job poster specifies a quoting deadline, and ProZ.com holds back all quotes until that deadline, and then gives all quotes to the job poster all at the same time.

But it doesn't work like that, does it? It is often a first-come-first served situation, and quick responses are essential for getting the job. Have you not had e-mails from such job posters saying "sorry, we've already given the job to someone" even if the quoting deadline is not yet reached? There is a sense of urgency in the ProZ.com bid/quote system that doesn't occur in normal tendering processes where all applicants are judged on an equal basis when the quoting deadline is reached.

As to answer the OP's question, a good idea might be to prepare a document from which you can easily copy and paste. I have such a file on my web site for search engine purposes -- whenever I encounter a new directory or search engine I want to submit my site to, I visit seo.html on my site, which is a plaintext version of all the information usually required by such directories. Just copy and paste, and you're done.


 
Ricardo Galarza
Ricardo Galarza
Uruguay
Local time: 04:19
English to Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
That was unnecessary Aug 9, 2008

Viktoria Gimbe wrote:

It may not be entirely relevant, but here goes.

There is no bidding on ProZ. It is called a quote. When people use the word bid, they assume that they are bidding on an auction. Not exactly the kind of mentality it takes to succeed in freelance translation... And not at all what it takes to keep rates at a semi-normal level.


This was the last place I expected to get a semantic reprimand, much less with this type of low blows, outright saying that I don't have the mentality to succeed. I don’t know what you think gives you the right to humiliate people like that; but, certainly, nothing would.

I won’t get into the language issue of “bid” vs. “quote”, because apparently you don’t know the meaning of them, and also because if prozians agreed on using the term “quote” instead, I abide by it and with no resistance whatsoever. You could have just say: “Listen, we don’t use that word here; we prefer ‘quote’”, and I had even thanked you for the advice. But I didn’t ask you what your thoughts were on my type mentality, whether unsuccessful or otherwise.

As for the use of the word “bidding”, I apologize if I offended anyone here with it, but I don’t think is that big a deal. I didn’t make it up either; I do think words are important and try not to use those that may hurt people (not to mention the kind of statement you just made). So much so that before posting, I took a look around the forum, precisely to see how people referred to it. I found that many called it “bid”, and so did I. And guess what? There are, at least, 2,100 topics at this forum with the word “bid”, “bidder” or “bidding” on it, all related to jobs.

Semantically speaking, what we do is indeed more bidding than quoting. I’m not saying that it should be used instead; the use agreed upon is to be respected. I’m just pointing it out because you said that bidding is assumed to be only for an auction. Take a look at the dictionary and you’ll find out that what we do is bidding and not quoting. Perhaps, you’re so successful that are able to quote, but for the rest of us, unsuccessful mortals, I would say it’s the former.

So I wasn’t committing a crime by using the term, to receive that kind of treatment. I think it was totally uncalled for. And if you edited my post, Ralf, you’d probably have to stay up all night getting rid of the other 2,100+ with the word on them.

Better yet, please pull mine down, or if I can have it removed in any way, please be so kind to tell how, and I’ll take it off in a second. I don’t really want it anymore. If this is the kind of reply I’m going to get (I’m talking about the last three answers), I don’t really want it there. I thank Amy, Gina and Wolfgang very much for their prompt, helpful and certainly supportive responses, I really appreciate that, guys. But I don’t deserve more attacks and nonsense of this nature.


 
Viktoria Gimbe
Viktoria Gimbe  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 03:19
English to French
+ ...
Off topic, take two Aug 9, 2008

Are you suggesting that submitting a quote in order to obtain a translation contract is rightly called bidding? What do you call a person who offers to buy something at X price, then? An offerer?

Since when is it mandatory that all quotes for something be examined with the same quoting deadline? Where is the definition of quoting that suggests that?

Mind you, a quote is a document that specifies not only the rate you charge but also the other specifics of
... See more
Are you suggesting that submitting a quote in order to obtain a translation contract is rightly called bidding? What do you call a person who offers to buy something at X price, then? An offerer?

Since when is it mandatory that all quotes for something be examined with the same quoting deadline? Where is the definition of quoting that suggests that?

Mind you, a quote is a document that specifies not only the rate you charge but also the other specifics of a project, such as the deadline, the process, etc. Does a bid function that way? No. It is solely an amount you offer to pay or to accept, nothing more. I don't offer words on a dozen-a-dime basis - I would sooner be cleaning toilet bowls for a living than freelance if I had to bid on jobs.

Meanwhile, I only ever bid on ebay...

All this to say that there is much more to the term bid than you seem to want to admit. And if this term is abused this way, before long, we should not be surprised if we are asked to pay to have the privilege of working, as opposed to getting paid for it.

And now, back to our feature topic!

[Edited at 2008-08-09 20:41]
Collapse


 
Andrew Levine
Andrew Levine  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:19
Member (2007)
French to English
+ ...
Bid vs. quote Aug 10, 2008

Does a bid function that way? No.


Viktoria, I think you are confusing "bid" in the sense of "bidding on an auction" with "bidding on a contract." They are two different meanings for the same word.

A bid from a prospective buyer in an auction can be a simple value and nothing more. However, in the context of business-to-business relations, a bid from a supplier (i.e. a tender) includes all the details of their offer, including the terms under which they intend to execute the offer. Sometimes a bid includes an entire contract offered by the bidder. It is not simply a number.

So it is entirely appropriate to use the word "bid" when offering terms to a client in response to a proposal.

[Edited at 2008-08-10 00:14]


 
Ralf Lemster
Ralf Lemster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 08:19
English to German
+ ...
Back to topic, please Aug 10, 2008

Ricardo,

So I wasn’t committing a crime by using the term, to receive that kind of treatment. I think it was totally uncalled for. And if you edited my post, Ralf, you’d probably have to stay up all night getting rid of the other 2,100+ with the word on them.


First of all, I did not edit your post (moderators cannot do that), but the title, as indicated in the forum FAQ:


9. Why did my subject line change?

ProZ.com moderators and staff may edit subject lines that are not sufficiently descriptive of the content of a post. (This is stated in the posting and reply forms, and also in the forum rules.)

Why is this done? For one, subject lines are shown on the ProZ.com front page. Misleading or incomplete subject lines keep people from efficiently finding topics of interest to them. Subject lines also become part of the summaries mailed out to those tracking topics, and they provide help in finding old threads. For these reasons, it is important that subject lines be formulated to convey, as much as possible, the content of a thread.


Your posting deals with the best way of providing profile information when submitting a quote (I'm using established ProZ.com terminology here) - the purpose of editing the title is to facilitate finding the discussion: "bidding habits" would not have done that.

Can we please get back to topic, everyone? Thanks.

Best regards,
Ralf


 
Pages in topic:   [1 2] >


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

What's the best way of submitting CV details when quoting on a job?






TM-Town
Manage your TMs and Terms ... and boost your translation business

Are you ready for something fresh in the industry? TM-Town is a unique new site for you -- the freelance translator -- to store, manage and share translation memories (TMs) and glossaries...and potentially meet new clients on the basis of your prior work.

More info »
Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »