| User | Thread poster: Sara Senft When to claim membership in an organization |
|---|
Sara Senft 
United States
Local time: 13:31
Spanish to English
+ ...
|
I just mailed my application to a professional organization. That's one of my professional goals for this year. (I've already accomplished it! Yay!)
How soon after applying to an organization can I claim membership? In this case, language professional who applies will be accepted.
I don't know exactly how long the application process takes. I did, however, just send an email to the membership coordinator.
| | | |
Tina Vonhof
Canada
Local time: 11:31
  Member (2006)
Dutch to English
+ ...
|
I think that to be honest you should wait till your membership has been confirmed. If you want to put it in your profile, you could say that you have applied for membership in X organization and then change it once confirmation comes through.
[Edited at 2009-01-07 02:09 GMT]
| | | |
Gisela Greenlee
United States
Local time: 12:31
German to English
+ ...
|
You can claim membership once your application has been confirmed as received and you have been given your user ID and password (if there is an online profile that you have to complete for potential clients to find).
The way you worded it, it sounds like you mailed the application (regular mail) and then emailed the membership coordinator. As someone who has been a membership coordinator (usually a volunteer position), let me just tell you how annoying it is to receive an email asking how quickly membership can be confirmed when the potential member just mailed in their application. It's time-consuming enough to work in a volunteer position without having those types of inquiries added on top.
| | | |
Lawyer-Linguist
Portugal
Local time: 18:31
Member (2004)
Dutch to English
+ ...
|
Sara Senft wrote:
How soon after applying to an organization can I claim membership? In this case, language professional who applies will be accepted.
|
|
Do you mean any language professional who applies is automatically accepted? How do they screen applicants to ensure they are in fact 'language professionals'? If there is no proper screening process, I'd be rather wary of considering this a 'professional organisation'.
As regards your question, you should wait until you are formally notified that you've been accepted as a member, even if it is a foregone conclusion that you will be placed on the register of members.
| | | |
Samuel Murray
South Africa
Local time: 20:31
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| | When you receive confirmation | Jan 7 |
Sara Senft wrote:
I just mailed my application to a professional organization. ... In this case, [any] language professional who applies will be accepted. |
|
Many translators' professional associations have a level of membership that requires little more than signing a code of ethics. Still, I'd wait until I receive confirmation (and usually a membership card of sorts) before claiming membership.
| | | |
Sara Senft
United States
Local time: 13:31
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | | That's what I figured | Jan 10 |
Thank you, Samuel.
Tina's post made perfect sense. You have good points as well.
Looking back, I it seemed most logical to wait until I receive confirmation of some kind.
Samuel Murray wrote:
Sara Senft wrote:
I just mailed my application to a professional organization. ... In this case, [any] language professional who applies will be accepted. |
|
Many translators' professional associations have a level of membership that requires little more than signing a code of ethics. Still, I'd wait until I receive confirmation (and usually a membership card of sorts) before claiming membership. |
|
| | | |
Track this topic 
