the 2-year experience minimum barrage

Anne LE ROMANCER wrote:

Thanks for any tips or advice you can offer.

Anne

Anne LE ROMANCER wrote:
I'm getting frustrated because I'm trying to apply to agencies for some freelance work but all the reputable agencies I find seem to only take you on once you've had 2 to 3 years of experience.

Tom in London wrote:



One tip: I suggest you complete your profile. This is very important.

Angie Garbarino wrote:

When jobs are posted by small agencies (for example) you have more chances if you are a paying member, In my opinion this site can give you the opportunity to have jobs but not as a non paying member, to me, only experienced translators with faithful clients can afford the luxury of not paying the membership.

Just my opinion based on my experience

Good luck!

[Edited at 2019-02-27 14:48 GMT]

Arianne Farah wrote:

Just enough to gain some legitimacy and learn the business side of the translation business (since I had already learnt the translation side through a Bachelor of Arts specialized in Translation). No-one questions your freelancer credentials after a few years as an in-house translator, it's a guarantee that you did 35-40 hours of translation a week, every week and that you understand the level of quality required by the industry; while a few years of freelancing could just be a few hours here and there in reality, and not much concrete experience.

Christine Andersen wrote:

Smaller agencies tend not to have so many rigid rules. They look at who you are, not just how many boxes they can tick. Apart from that, I find they are much nicer to work with allround, experience or no.

Don't underestimate your experience of jobs in marketing and development.

Another tip I would give is to take some courses - Coursera is highly recommended by some colleagues, and there are others. Expand the subject areas you are comfortable with, or go into more detail, so you can specialise a bit.

And don't give up!

Best of luck!

Anne LE ROMANCER wrote:

I didn't invest in it as from what I hear people say it's really not worth it and my savings are getting lower and lower so I need to make the best investment with what's left. That's why I didn't go for it. If I increased my hours in my other job I could perhaps make it happen...but then I'd have less time to work on the translations....aaaaaargh what a headache!!!

Yoana Ivanova wrote:



Take it from someone with two years of experience and not a lot of money to invest. Getting the Plus membership from the very beginning is likely the only reason I managed to get my first jobs here.

You can quote as soon as a job is posted, which I imagine is even more important in your pair, where there's plenty of competition. By the time restricted jobs become available to quote on for non-members the translator has already been found.

If someone searches the directory, you will appear on the first row. But you have to improve your ranking constantly by answering Kudoz questions. Set up notifications, so you can get in on them early.

It's my personal opinion, but I think you invested in MemoQ way too early. Plus Membership would have given you free access to a decent CAT tool for much less money.

And another suggestion is to add sample translations. If you don't have a lot of experience to offer, you can leverage your skills.





[Edited at 2019-02-27 16:17 GMT]

Heike Holthaus wrote:

Think about and focus on what you DO have to offer, e. g. 10 years of teaching French, in your applications.

"While I do not yet have 2 years experience.....I can offer you....."
"During my 10 years of teaching French, I gained valuable insight into..."
"Teaching French in GB provided me with valuable insight into..."
"While living in GB and teaching French... cultural nuance ... which will be your benefit when working with me"

What other skills do you have that may be relevant to an agency? Dedication, research ability, subject matter knowledge, CPD, etc, etc.