Sharing your CV to translation agencies Thread poster: Maja_K
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Maja_K 
Germany
Local time: 09:02
English to Macedonian
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Hello all,
I was wondering about the following situation(s) and was hoping for some of you who are more experienced than me to share insights/experience on the subject.
- What is it with translation agencies always wanting to gather CVs from LSPs, although these agencies very often do not seem to hire the people they have gathered the CVs from? Do they "sell" people with the CVs? I understand why someone would like to see my CV (they want to know my experience), but it's like ... See more Hello all,
I was wondering about the following situation(s) and was hoping for some of you who are more experienced than me to share insights/experience on the subject.
- What is it with translation agencies always wanting to gather CVs from LSPs, although these agencies very often do not seem to hire the people they have gathered the CVs from? Do they "sell" people with the CVs? I understand why someone would like to see my CV (they want to know my experience), but it's like agencies do not collect CVs for this purpose. Especially, after getting rejected for a particular job and then someone says to me: Sorry, your quote has been declined, but I find your proz profile interesting, please also send me a cover letter and a CV. This makes no sense whatsoever, if they found my profile interesting, I should've been able to get the job. So, sometimes I feel these "jobs" are only posted so that agencies can collect CVs from people.
- What's with the portals an LSP needs to register to? Particularly in the last month I got queries from multiple agencies inviting me to register to their LSP portals. Again - what benefit do they have here to only have a bunch of LSPs registered on their systems?
[Edited at 2019-01-12 21:04 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 01:02
Dutch to English
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| No need to send CV | Jan 12, 2019 |
It sure makes you wonder, doesn't it? There is really no need to send your CV unless a new agency has asked you for a translation with some specifics about job and you have checked them out on the Blue Board and online. If you accept the job and they then ask you for your CV, you can feel free to send it. But sending your CV or enter the platforms of all kinds of agencies that you may never hear from again makes very little sense and opens you up to misuse. Make sure you never put your address a... See more It sure makes you wonder, doesn't it? There is really no need to send your CV unless a new agency has asked you for a translation with some specifics about job and you have checked them out on the Blue Board and online. If you accept the job and they then ask you for your CV, you can feel free to send it. But sending your CV or enter the platforms of all kinds of agencies that you may never hear from again makes very little sense and opens you up to misuse. Make sure you never put your address and phone number on your CV. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Classic reaction | Jan 13, 2019 |
>- What is it with translation agencies always wanting to gather CVs from LSPs, although these agencies very often do not seem to hire the people they have gathered the CVs from?
As I work on internet basis for over 20 years, I feel CV request is my chance to advertise my expertise. I expect nothing in return and agree to send CV broadly.
- What's with the portals an LSP needs to register to?
I always ignore since it is a waste of time. I prefer human contact, not web based i... See more >- What is it with translation agencies always wanting to gather CVs from LSPs, although these agencies very often do not seem to hire the people they have gathered the CVs from?
As I work on internet basis for over 20 years, I feel CV request is my chance to advertise my expertise. I expect nothing in return and agree to send CV broadly.
- What's with the portals an LSP needs to register to?
I always ignore since it is a waste of time. I prefer human contact, not web based interaction.
Soonthon L. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Reasons for gathering CVs? | Jan 13, 2019 |
"What is it with translation agencies always wanting to gather CVs from LSPs, although these agencies very often do not seem to hire the people they have gathered the CVs from?"
The exact same thing goes on -- all the time -- with staffing agencies in the U.S. and likewise, people are really fed up with this situation, but don't seem able to do much about it. The staffing agencies run the gamut from those recruiting for office/administrative work and manual labor positions to more ... See more "What is it with translation agencies always wanting to gather CVs from LSPs, although these agencies very often do not seem to hire the people they have gathered the CVs from?"
The exact same thing goes on -- all the time -- with staffing agencies in the U.S. and likewise, people are really fed up with this situation, but don't seem able to do much about it. The staffing agencies run the gamut from those recruiting for office/administrative work and manual labor positions to more high-end professional jobs (i.e. accountants).
There are all sorts of theories about why these agencies collect so many CVs here: 1) when they bid on a new project, they want to tell a prospective client that they have xxxx no. of resumes in their data base (a large no.); 2) individual project managers (or account managers), i.e. the full-time staff at these places may actually get PAID per the no. of resumes they can gather for their data bases; 3) when there is an actual job the agency is in the running for, again, the account manager (full-time employee of the staffing agency) will most likely get paid from her staffing agency based on, again the NUMBER of resumes she can get the potential client to look at.
This is a very murky, and totally unregulated area of the labor market in the US. There are tons of threads/forums on this situation here in the U.S., with people voicing how fed up they are with being required to submit a resume when in most cases it doesn't result in a job.
In addition to submitting a resume, these agencies also require prospective workers to fill out a ton of paperwork, often take tests, etc. In some cases, one technically becomes an "employee" of the agency as soon as you do all this -- even though in most cases most people never get any work. There is a "tax credit" situation that is also murky. Attempts to regulate these staffing agencies have failed because they have excellent, well-paid lobbyists in D.C.
I'm not sure what the parallels are with translation agencies also gathering a ton of CVs, but I'm sure there are some. ▲ Collapse
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:02
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| The freelancer gets to choose | Jan 13, 2019 |
Colleen Roach wrote:
This is a very murky, and totally unregulated area of the labor market in the US. There are tons of threads/forums on this situation here in the U.S., with people voicing how fed up they are with being required to submit a resume when in most cases it doesn't result in a job.
They are not required. They are asked, and they make their choice. I don't submit details of this kind unless there is a project waiting to be tackled, and then only if I judge that the agency is serious. If more freelancers followed suit and refused to sign up on spec, this kind of agency behaviour would die away.
As for lack of regulation, that sword cuts both ways. There are plenty of freelancers who have rather modest formal qualifications (if any). Regulations would presumably impinge, or possibly prevent entirely, their ability to work in the industry. You're not going to get regulation of buyers without some regulation of sellers as well - there are no free lunches. It is easy to imagine agencies lobbying for a requirement that freelancers have years of experience, and onerous formal qualifications, before being allowed to work. Regulation is no panacea, and it has its own costs, hidden though they often are.
Regards,
Dan
| | | | Maja_K
Germany
Local time: 09:02
English to Macedonian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Dan Lucas wrote:
As for lack of regulation, that sword cuts both ways. There are plenty of freelancers who have rather modest formal qualifications (if any). Regulations would presumably impinge, or possibly prevent entirely, their ability to work in the industry. You're not going to get regulation of buyers without some regulation of sellers as well - there are no free lunches.
So, are you saying that you would share your CV and other qualifications without a second thought to an agency that needs to "comply with ISO 17100:2015", hence they "require proof of translators' qualifications"?
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:02
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| If I thought they were serious, yes | Jan 13, 2019 |
Maja_K wrote:
So, are you saying that you would share your CV and other qualifications without a second thought to an agency that needs to "comply with ISO 17100:2015", hence they "require proof of translators' qualifications"?
Provided that I had confidence that they were genuine agencies and that these actions would lead to work in the near future, yes, I would. The ability to judge this accurately comes from life experience. I do feel that the buyer has a right to some assurance that you have the qualifications you claim to have (a degree transcript, for example). Copies of passports and so on are not required for compliance with ISO 17100, and I would not submit such documents without very good reason. I don't think I ever have, in fact. Nor do I submit details just to get put on a database, though I did when I got started for agencies that had an excellent reputation.
As a general rule, I think freelancers massively underestimate the business value of provable authenticity. Agencies and other clients are trying to find - in an unregulated industry - genuine linguists, people who are who they say they are, people who live where they claim to be living, people who possess the skills and experience they claim to possess.
If you have a LinkedIn profile and a social media footprint that matches who you claim to be in your profile (what you refer to as a CV), and if you work for a company whose details can be easily established from public databases, that provides clients with some much-needed reassurance. It's rare enough that it makes you stand out.
Until I joined ProZ.com I had never used my real name on the internet. During the signing-up process I thought about the issue, and decided that potential clients would probably quite like to know who I really was. It seemed to me that transparency (having an identity that can be quickly proven) would have value in itself.
Over the past few years I think that it has worked quite well. I don't regard disclosing this information as a risk. Sure, in theory a bad actor could copy my profile, but a potential client can google me and within a few seconds find multiple places (LinkedIn, ProZ.com, Twitter, Companies House) where they can contact me and verify any information they want to check.
It seems to me that the real problems arise when the client is contacted by somebody purporting to be you, but then cannot easily find the real you to check whether the person contacting them is genuine or not. In such cases, if you have generally concealed or obfuscated your identity, it could work against you. The client cannot find the "real" you, so they decide that the person fraudulently using your identity is genuine, and get scammed.
Regards,
Dan
[Edited at 2019-01-13 20:32 GMT]
| | | | | 100% with Dan | Jan 15, 2019 |
Excellent post, Dan, you summed everything up perfectly!
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 03:02
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Not furnishing your CV means | Jan 15, 2019 |
you are avoiding sth essential because of a slight risk.
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