| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | How to stop unsolicited applications from freelance translators Thread poster: Andy S
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Andy S
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:03
German to English
TOPIC STARTER | Mulltiple sources | Dec 12, 2012 |
Proz.com is one of three sources of the job that have been quoted so far.
I have not posted a job here for along time - I was wondering, how exactly do these applicants go about finding out whom to apply to? Trawling though past ads here must be laborious and time consuming.
Does proz.com purge ads after a certain length of time, I wonder?
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I have contacted Translationdirectory earlier. They confirmed I am not there. I also contacted Kenax. I was there, and they responded kindly to say they now had removed my name.
I was also told gotranslators operate with these kinds of lists, so will ask them as well.
| | | | | I reply to some of them... | Dec 13, 2012 |
We get them, I think about 20% comes from people who've seen our own website, and 80% comes from people who found us through proz, because we now get 4 times what we got before we became a member here.
But you know what I sometimes do, I have a standard reply saying something like: 'Thanks so much, we get lots of applications, we cannot give work to everyone who emails us, even though we'd be happy if that were the case, and the next time we need a translation for your language p... See more We get them, I think about 20% comes from people who've seen our own website, and 80% comes from people who found us through proz, because we now get 4 times what we got before we became a member here.
But you know what I sometimes do, I have a standard reply saying something like: 'Thanks so much, we get lots of applications, we cannot give work to everyone who emails us, even though we'd be happy if that were the case, and the next time we need a translation for your language pair, we'll consider you. Meanwhile, if you meet a client who needs a translation to or from Chinese, please contact us!'
I do this only when I'm not too busy, the translator's language contains no mistakes and the CV looks good.
I do this because the people who send CV's clearly believe in the use of this, so why not do the same to them... ▲ Collapse
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Well, if you are an agency or generally outsource work, it's a different story. Most freelancers never or only rarely outsource.
Anyone who contacts me directly, and it is clear that the person is serious and makes a professional impression, I will reply to. But there's a lot of junk out there.
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Marvin Sun 
China
Local time: 16:03
English to Chinese
| Two email accounts | Dec 21, 2012 |
I think it’s not fair to say you are harassed by the applications, and you also benefited from them (“A few are welcome as they are in language pairs I might require”). My idea is: If you are using email accounts at your own website domain, you can simply create two email accounts, with one for public, which is supposed to receive external information and translator’s applications, and another to deal with your daily business. When you need to recruit new guys, open the former email acc... See more I think it’s not fair to say you are harassed by the applications, and you also benefited from them (“A few are welcome as they are in language pairs I might require”). My idea is: If you are using email accounts at your own website domain, you can simply create two email accounts, with one for public, which is supposed to receive external information and translator’s applications, and another to deal with your daily business. When you need to recruit new guys, open the former email account and check whether there is any satisfying your needs; when you don’t want new blood, just leave it there intact, it’s legit and understandable if you don’t reply the applications, and I guess no applicant would rely on a single resource to get his/her job.
[Edited at 2012-12-21 07:02 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 10:03
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Where you are on ProZ.com | Dec 21, 2012 |
Andy S wrote: Thomas Deschington wrote:
Speaking of sources - one person who sent me an email said she got my email from Proz. I posted one job here five years ago, so maybe that's why. Proz.com is one of three sources of the job that have been quoted so far. ... I have not posted a job here for along time - I was wondering, how exactly do these applicants go about finding out whom to apply to?
The actual job posts are purged (at least from the public view), but there remains a record of your jobs. According to it, you posted two jobs in March this year, one job in September last year, and three jobs two years before that.
But I think a more likely source of your solicitations via ProZ.com is the fact that you have a Blue Board entry. Some translators use the Blue Board to find potential clients (it is even encouraged by some people in the forums to do so).
Your membership type is "freelancer and outsourcer", and so you are listed on the Connect Platform as a "company" if the "include..." option is selected. However, the Connect Platform is the most user-unfriendly search system that I have ever seen, and I can't imagine anyone using it. Also, you are NOT listed in the Companies and Agencies directory, as far as I can tell.
| | | | Andy S
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:03
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
What appears to be unfair here is that someone somewhere seems to be posting ads for jobs that don't exist, judging by the e-mails I am getting. if so, they are giving translators false hope and leading them to waste their time applying for jobs that don't exist, causing me to waste time also.
if there is a position for a specific job in specific language pairs I will advertise it, but I now state publicly that there are no positions available at present, I have no more use for any... See more What appears to be unfair here is that someone somewhere seems to be posting ads for jobs that don't exist, judging by the e-mails I am getting. if so, they are giving translators false hope and leading them to waste their time applying for jobs that don't exist, causing me to waste time also.
if there is a position for a specific job in specific language pairs I will advertise it, but I now state publicly that there are no positions available at present, I have no more use for any more unsolicited applications at all and that translators are advised not to apply. ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 04:03
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
| Contact details are public info | Dec 24, 2012 |
Andy S wrote:
I would like to stop this flow and have managed to obtain some information as the source.
Three sources have been named but all deny that any reference to my agency was ever posted on their site. The latest applicants mentioned a database of translation agencies which they bought from a well-known translation website, but the site concerned sent me a link to the database and we do not appear to be listed there.
I an wondering whether lists of translation agency e-mails are on sale somewhere, and how I might get myself removed.
Many translation companies are members of various national and other associations and these associations make their member's contact details available.
Basically, anyone that offers their services to the public at large will have to make their contact details public and so those same details will be available to job seekers.
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Radian Yazynin
Local time: 11:03
Member (2004)
English to Russian
+ ...
| One of the candidatures for inclusion into filters | Dec 25, 2012 |
Heinrich Pesch wrote:
Soon I fear mail-providers will add the words "translation" and "translator" their spam filters.
-- that stupid "Dear," which appears at the beginning of such letters...
When someone uses such form of addressing in Russian, separately, without any name, it implies something like "Hey you (you're not right)!"
| | | | | So far so good | Jan 8, 2013 |
I had Kenax remove my name from their database (very helpful people by the way) and had also Proz hide some of my company info which is available via the Blueboard.
I'm not sure which was the determining factor, but I haven't received any unsolicited applications now for a few weeks. Hopefully it will last.
| | | | itla
Local time: 10:03
German to English
+ ...
| Applications from gmail accounts | Feb 21, 2013 |
I'm wondering whether any of you in this thread have noticed that many applications are sent by people with gmail accounts. Typically, in the message body, nearly every sentence begins with "I" (I am fluent in ...; I have worked ...; I use ...), as if the applicants were using some kind of template.
The attachments also seem to be uniform in certain ways, and many are unprofessionally formatted, but most of all, I've noticed that in the "Properties" dialog of CV Word files, the doc... See more I'm wondering whether any of you in this thread have noticed that many applications are sent by people with gmail accounts. Typically, in the message body, nearly every sentence begins with "I" (I am fluent in ...; I have worked ...; I use ...), as if the applicants were using some kind of template.
The attachments also seem to be uniform in certain ways, and many are unprofessionally formatted, but most of all, I've noticed that in the "Properties" dialog of CV Word files, the document creator and the name of the person who last saved the document do not tally with the sender's identity. Just today, a lady from Germany sent me her CV and the Word document was electronically signed by AHMED. It isn't the first Arabic-sounding author's signature.
Could this be a scam of some sort? Any thoughts?
Best to all,
Erich
[Edited at 2013-02-21 15:46 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Andy S
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:03
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
As I have said before, someone is clearly making money by giving false hope to translators, who are pestering translation agencies in the process, by advertising position that simply do not exist. I received an application recently from someone saying they had seen the job on translationwork.com - I see no such site exists. I also keep getting e-mails saying they had seen the ad on CPL and translationdirectory.com - both sites deny it. I would like to know what is going on here.
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Natalie
Poland
Local time: 10:03
Member (2002)
English to Russian
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MODERATOR SITE LOCALIZER | Karel Kosman
Czech Republic
Local time: 10:03
Czech to English
+ ...
| mail spamming | May 29, 2013 |
I run the KENAX service which emails out CVs to agencies, and have been averaging about two mailouts a month. I too have been getting tons of applications, but fortunately most of them have been landing in my spambox. Because I am always open to new applicants I laboriously went through those and responded with a link to my online application form. It seemed I was spending half an hour a day on it and eventually decided to respond only to those who make it past the filter, but in the process hav... See more I run the KENAX service which emails out CVs to agencies, and have been averaging about two mailouts a month. I too have been getting tons of applications, but fortunately most of them have been landing in my spambox. Because I am always open to new applicants I laboriously went through those and responded with a link to my online application form. It seemed I was spending half an hour a day on it and eventually decided to respond only to those who make it past the filter, but in the process have investigated somewhat and it seems that this is some robot script that sends these out in order to verify that your email address is still valid (if you respond to them), to give greater value to their list of email addresses, which I presume they sell. I can see no other reason for these emails, because at one point I changed my response to them by asking how they received my contact information. None of them seemed to be responding (I read the same mentioned by others on other threads) and the only ones who were responding were regular applicants, discernible because all the spamming mails were either gmail, hotmail or yahoo addresses, while most translators either have their own domain or use something in-country.
If anyone is having a problem with this I would suggest a service I use, vqme.net, bought by google and which uses google's filter, which I find good, but the additional service allows for whitelisting, to make sure emails from your customers always get through. For a while I also tried a free service boxbe (if I remember the name correctly), but there were problems with that so I stopped. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 13:33
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | I get these mails too | May 30, 2013 |
At least two or three a week. I am mystified how they got my email id or why they send these mails to me. I work in very specific Indian languages (Hindi) and nowhere have I mentioned in my profile that I outsource work. I have stated my status in my profile as a freelancer/interpreter. Yet I get mails from Japanese, Chinese, Italian and other translators offering their services to me. Some of these letters are quaintly worded and are really amusing to read.
I have now learnt to rec... See more At least two or three a week. I am mystified how they got my email id or why they send these mails to me. I work in very specific Indian languages (Hindi) and nowhere have I mentioned in my profile that I outsource work. I have stated my status in my profile as a freelancer/interpreter. Yet I get mails from Japanese, Chinese, Italian and other translators offering their services to me. Some of these letters are quaintly worded and are really amusing to read.
I have now learnt to recognize such mail at a glance and usually dump them into the trash without even opening them. There is nothing else I can do about them. They are a minor irritant. ▲ Collapse
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