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How to get/not get a job on ProZ.com (outsourcer description of own methodology)
Thread poster: Edward Potter
Edward Potter
Edward Potter  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:02
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Mar 31, 2004

Hello everyone,

I just wanted give my comments about how I select translators through Proz when I post a job.

I have been increasingly using Proz as a source for finding translators. Below I will tell you a little bit about how my mind works when deciding who to pick. These are in no particular order of preference:

1) First of all, price. I usually will give a general price range of what I am willing to pay. The bid has to be somewhere in the ballpark.
... See more
Hello everyone,

I just wanted give my comments about how I select translators through Proz when I post a job.

I have been increasingly using Proz as a source for finding translators. Below I will tell you a little bit about how my mind works when deciding who to pick. These are in no particular order of preference:

1) First of all, price. I usually will give a general price range of what I am willing to pay. The bid has to be somewhere in the ballpark. I personally am a bit flexible, but only a bit.

2) Phone number. If you do not supply a phone number, forget it. I don't care what your qualifications and prices are. I need to be able to contact you directly.

3) Along the same lines, complete information. I will first look at your Proz profile. I am often annoyed by profiles of bidders that say very little or look unprofessional. There are many times when I would have offered the job to someone but did not due to incomplete information.

Also, come on people, I need to know what your NATIVE language is.

4) Resume (C.V.). A downloadable resume from your Proz page is nice. I also like it when you send your resume through e-mail when responding to my job posting.
And, re-emphasizing point 2, I need complete contact information - especially your phone number.

5) Qualifications. I am always conscious that translators may write anything they please on their profiles. I do however have some controls for this. And, if it does not work out I will find someone else next time. I am always looking long-term translators for multiple jobs. If you do a bad job because you lied, believe me, I'll be extremely eager to pay you - so that I'll never have to hear from you again.

6) Kudoz. Kudoz are a very good way to back up what you put on your profile and resume. Once you get over a certain level of kudoz in the field/language I am seeking, I will be more confident in your abilities. Generally 50 - 150 is enough for me, depending on the language, but if you have more, fantastic.

7) Memberships. If you paid to be a member of a translator's association or to be a platinum member of Proz then it shows you are serious enough to invest in yourself as a professional.

8) Certifications. I will take note of whatever certifications or degrees you may have.

9) Overall professionalism. The more professional impression you give, the more likely I'll give you the work. Conversely, I have immediately taken some people out of consideration due to a lack of professional image.

I look at all of these things to some degree and end up making my mind according to the circumstances of the job.

I hope these points will help the translators on Proz bid more effectively.
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Sandra Alboum
Sandra Alboum  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:02
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Amen! Mar 31, 2004

Thanks for the informative email. I agree on everything you have said.

Freelancers who respond to postings on ProZ.com **MUST** understand that they are often competing against 10 or 20 or even 30 other professionals when they are trying to get the job.

For this reason, when I outsource a job and request a resume be sent to my email, I don't want to have to ask you what your native language is, what your experience is, what your rate is, or even ... (once) ... what you
... See more
Thanks for the informative email. I agree on everything you have said.

Freelancers who respond to postings on ProZ.com **MUST** understand that they are often competing against 10 or 20 or even 30 other professionals when they are trying to get the job.

For this reason, when I outsource a job and request a resume be sent to my email, I don't want to have to ask you what your native language is, what your experience is, what your rate is, or even ... (once) ... what your NAME is.

Also, I would like to make a point about rates. Those of us who post have a good idea regarding what we wish to pay for the job. This depends on what we are receiving from the client, how much work we feel will be involved on OUR end (project management), how comfortable we feel in your abilities to complete this job without us having to hire ANOTHER editor to look at it, etc.

Many people price themselves so far out of the ballpark, I wind up deleting their resume because I know that I will never be able to afford them. I don't want to discuss the competition, but today I posted an ad on [...removed...] looking to expand my database of French Canadians. Most responses I got were asking for US$0.15-$0.20/word.

Please realize that there is a big difference between pricing for an agency and pricing for a direct client. Remember that the agency has to take a cut in the middle -- large or small, there's a cut involved because the agency people have to eat -- and when you bid $0.16/word, the agency would have to turn around and charge the client $0.20/word or more in order to make it worth its while. This is unrealistic, and would make an agency more likely to pick someone offering a more comfortable price in order to turn around and offer the direct client a reasonable rate and have a better chance of landing the job.

I know pricing is a sticky subject here, and I would be the last person to indicate to people what they should charge, but please do keep in mind the fine difference of bidding for an agency and bidding for a direct client.

Thanks!
Sandra
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Claudia Iglesias
Claudia Iglesias  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 11:02
Member (2002)
Spanish to French
+ ...
Interesting message Mar 31, 2004

Thanks, Edward.

Something puzzles me a bit, although I always give my phone number in my signature.
Just two clients have phoned to me, one from Spain and the other one from Great Britain, all the others have dealed by e-mail with me.

2) Phone number. If you do not supply a phone number, forget it. I don't care what your qualifications and prices are. I need t... See more
Thanks, Edward.

Something puzzles me a bit, although I always give my phone number in my signature.
Just two clients have phoned to me, one from Spain and the other one from Great Britain, all the others have dealed by e-mail with me.

2) Phone number. If you do not supply a phone number, forget it. I don't care what your qualifications and prices are. I need to be able to contact you directly.

I'm very easy to reach by e-mail, and when somebody makes a long distance call just to agree on the price I'd prefer him or her just to put these cents in the price better than giving them to the phone company.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I just wanted to make my comments. Maybe phone calls haven't the same prices everywhere.

Trying to be easier to understand:
The client who called me from GB wanted to explain that they couldn't pay for the one hour job they were asking for. They explained that the client was a very good one but that they couldn't charge him for such a short job. They were very correct and told me that they would understand whether I didn't accept to work without being paid, but during all the conversation I was thinking about the price of the call, I'm sure that we weren't far from the price that I would have asked.

[Edited at 2004-03-31 11:32]
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Henry Dotterer
Henry Dotterer
Local time: 10:02
SITE FOUNDER
Thanks for this information Mar 31, 2004

Thanks for this informative posting, Edward. Those who like to meet clients via the site should read this carefully.

 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 16:02
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
Phone number should appear automatically Mar 31, 2004

At least if the box is checked, but I don't know if this can be trusted, since to my experience the email address does not appear on the bidding message though the box was checked. I have complained about this bug already last year to Ralf.
Otherwise I agree with Edward, usually there is a price limit when doing outsourcing, but to my experience, for jobs Finnish to English it is not possible to find any translator on short notice even for 0.12 euro/word, even though I have seen others off
... See more
At least if the box is checked, but I don't know if this can be trusted, since to my experience the email address does not appear on the bidding message though the box was checked. I have complained about this bug already last year to Ralf.
Otherwise I agree with Edward, usually there is a price limit when doing outsourcing, but to my experience, for jobs Finnish to English it is not possible to find any translator on short notice even for 0.12 euro/word, even though I have seen others offering 0,04 usd/word and getting lots of biddings. Strange world!
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Mats Wiman
Mats Wiman  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 15:02
Member (2000)
German to Swedish
+ ...
In memoriam
Splendid contribution Edward! Mar 31, 2004


Edward Potter wrote:
2) Phone number. If you do not supply a phone number, forget it. I don't care what your qualifications and prices are. I need to be able to contact you directly.
3) Along the same lines, complete information. I will first look at your Proz profile. I am often annoyed by profiles of bidders that say very little or look unprofessional. There are many times when I would have offered the job to someone but did not due to incomplete information.
I agree completely and this goes in the other direction as well: An outsourcer not bothering to offer name, address, eMail AND phone number does not recommend itself either.


Also, come on people, I need to know what your NATIVE language is.
Indeed a valuable piece of info

6) Kudoz. Kudoz are a very good way to back up what you put on your profile and resume. Once you get over a certain level of kudoz in the field/language I am seeking, I will be more confident in your abilities. Generally 50 - 150 is enough for me, depending on the language, but if you have more, fantastic.
Agree indeed. My only worry: Is it detrimental in your view to have very many KudoZ points (I have 13790)?. In my most active period I sometimes got the question: "Do you translate at all?"

7) Memberships. If you paid to be a member of a translator's association or to be a platinum member of Proz then it shows you are serious enough to invest in yourself as a professional.
Yours is a very sensible if not the only interpretation of most memberships (except the German BDÜ)

8) Certifications. I will take note of whatever certifications or degrees you may have.
Reasonable but does not necessarily guaranteeing competence in a particular field.


9) Overall professionalism. The more professional impression you give, the more likely I'll give you the work. Conversely, I have immediately taken some people out of consideration due to a lack of professional image.
To be reflected upon by many colleagues.

I look at all of these things to some degree and end up making my mind according to the circumstances of the job.
So true wit the stress on ALL. Outsourcers looking only at the price shouln't be outsourcers (if I were the president of the (nonexistent) International Organisation of Language Outsourcers)

I hope these points will help the translators on Proz bid more effectively.

Very much so! Thank you very much!

Mats J C Wiman
Übersetzer/Translator/Traducteur/Traductor > swe
http://www.MatsWiman.com
http://www.Deutsch-Schwedisch.com
http://www.proz.com/pro/1749
(Proz.com moderator, deu>swe, Swedish)
Träsk 201
SE-872 97 Skog
Schweden/Sweden/Suède/Suecia
Tel:+46-612-54112 Fax:+46-612-54181 Mobile:+46-70-5769797

[Edited at 2004-03-31 07:38]


 
Joeri Van Liefferinge
Joeri Van Liefferinge  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 15:02
English to Dutch
+ ...
Price: in both directions! Mar 31, 2004

Edward Potter wrote:
1) First of all, price. I usually will give a general price range of what I am willing to pay. The bid has to be somewhere in the ballpark. I personally am a bit flexible, but only a bit.


And that works in both directions: I will never outsource a job to anyone who offers a price that I consider too low for a professional translator. (Let's not help ruin our own industry.)


 
Jesús Marín Mateos
Jesús Marín Mateos  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:02
English to Spanish
+ ...
Excellent but real for all postings?????? Mar 31, 2004

Dear Edward,
Many thanks for the information with which I agree but there are two things that I would like to add.
I work with 2 agencies with whom I have never talked and we have only communicated through e-mail. The first time they contacted me (e-mail) they said they do not accept phone calles and even invoices have to be through e-mail.
Secondly you miss the point that many job posters, at least I feel it this way, choose from the first couple of bidders, when I say first c
... See more
Dear Edward,
Many thanks for the information with which I agree but there are two things that I would like to add.
I work with 2 agencies with whom I have never talked and we have only communicated through e-mail. The first time they contacted me (e-mail) they said they do not accept phone calles and even invoices have to be through e-mail.
Secondly you miss the point that many job posters, at least I feel it this way, choose from the first couple of bidders, when I say first couple of bidders it can be 3 or 4 no more. Please correct me if I am wrong....you have work to do and can't read/assesss 70 bids can you?
Many thanks.
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sylvie malich (X)
sylvie malich (X)
Germany
Local time: 15:02
German to English
CV download gliche Mar 31, 2004

Edward Potter wrote:

...
4) Resume (C.V.). A downloadable resume from your Proz page is nice. I also like it when you send your resume through e-mail when responding to my job posting.
And, re-emphasizing point 2, I need complete contact information - especially your phone number.



I don't know about you, but I haven't been able to access anybody's downloadable CV from their ProZ profile for months, getting only an error message. This was reported to support last Christmas. When will this bug be fixed??

sylvie


 
Ivan Eikås Skjøstad
Ivan Eikås Skjøstad  Identity Verified
Norway
Local time: 15:02
Member (2002)
English to Norwegian
+ ...
Thanks Mar 31, 2004

I have updated my profile according to the information provided.

Regarding phone or e-mail. I think this is dependable on both culture and many other factors such as the "time issue", ability to be clear in English over the phone and other things. My personal experience is that most agencies call the first time just to make sure they are dealing with a professional. On the other hand: Many do not call at all, but may call if it is a rush job that need a confirmation of deadline.
... See more
I have updated my profile according to the information provided.

Regarding phone or e-mail. I think this is dependable on both culture and many other factors such as the "time issue", ability to be clear in English over the phone and other things. My personal experience is that most agencies call the first time just to make sure they are dealing with a professional. On the other hand: Many do not call at all, but may call if it is a rush job that need a confirmation of deadline.

Thanks, and have a nice day,
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Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:02
Member (2004)
English to Italian
common sense... Mar 31, 2004

Edward Potter wrote:

to be a platinum member of Proz then it shows you are serious enough to invest in yourself as a professional.



Anybody can spend 120 bucks to be a Platinum member of ProZ. I don't see how being a Platinum member makes you more professional. We all know that people pay the money hoping that they can get jobs. This is the main reason they pay and this is why the site is full of beginners and incompetent people. Belonging to professional associations/organizations, on the other hand, is something else.
Last comment: if you need to stress these points regarding the bidding process, it seems to me that you are dealing with a bunch of incompetent people. What you are saying is just pure common sense and any professional translator would know that.

Giovanni


 
Ralf Lemster
Ralf Lemster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:02
English to German
+ ...
Just downloaded one - without problems Mar 31, 2004

Hi Sylvie,
I don't know about you, but I haven't been able to access anybody's downloadable CV from their ProZ profile for months, getting only an error message. This was reported to support last Christmas. When will this bug be fixed??

sylvie

I just downloaded a CV in RTF format - could open it without any problems whatsoever. Maybe you should try again?

Best regards, Ralf


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 15:02
Spanish to English
+ ...
Note everyone can afford it Mar 31, 2004

[quote]Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL wrote:Anybody can spend 120 bucks to be a Platinum member

I agree with Edward: to be a platinum member of Proz then it shows you are serious enough to invest in yourself as a professional. Giovanni may be wealthy but 120 "bucks"could constitute a sacrifice for some more impecunious translators. We all have to start somewhere...


 
sylvie malich (X)
sylvie malich (X)
Germany
Local time: 15:02
German to English
Hi Ralf Mar 31, 2004

Ralf Lemster wrote:

I just downloaded a CV in RTF format - could open it without any problems whatsoever. Maybe you should try again?

Best regards, Ralf


I have no problem downloading PDF formats.

This is the error message I get:

"XXXX.doc von www.proz.com kann nicht übertragen werden.
Die Internetseite konnte nicht geöffnet werden. Sie ist entweder nicht verfügbar oder konnte nicht gefunden werden. Versuchen Sie es später erneut."

Like I said, this was reported months ago. And if what this forum originator says in point 4. is true, suicidal for my business.

Ralf, can you do me a favor and try to download my CV and tell me what happens?
sylvie


[Edited at 2004-03-31 09:49]


 
Nicole Maina
Nicole Maina  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:02
German to Italian
+ ...
why not the german bdue? Mar 31, 2004

7) Memberships. If you paid to be a member of a translator's association or to be a platinum member of Proz then it shows you are serious enough to invest in yourself as a professional.
Yours is a very sensible if not the only interpretation of most memberships (except the German BDÜ)

I am considering becoming a member of BDUE. Anything I should know?


 
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How to get/not get a job on ProZ.com (outsourcer description of own methodology)







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