Effective Freelancer Resumes By Marian S. Greenfield and Teresa S. Waldes o you’ve decided to hang out likely targets are translation compa- Heading your shingle as a freelance nies acting as intermediaries between The heading of your resume should S translator and start looking for end-clients and freelancers. After include all your personal data: full clients. Everyone tells you that the identifying your strong points, think name, address, telephone and fax num- first thing you need is a resume. The about what the employers you are tar- bers, and e-mail address, if you have problem is that you’re not sure what geting are looking for. It is important one (if you don’t, you must get one you should say or how to say it, and that your resume be accurate, yet it before going any further). Bear in most of the advice available in books should highlight your strong points mind that Yahoo!, Hotmail, and other or on the Internet applies to resumes and organize your information in a Internet service providers (ISPs) for in-house employment rather than way that shows you in your best light offering free e-mail have file size freelancing. We thought we would fill to your target audience. limits that could prevent you from this gap by offering some specific receiving files (that is, jobs) from your tips on drafting resumes suitable for clients. What’s more, sending e-mail soliciting freelance translation work. “…It is crucial to organize from such accounts really gives the Our advice is based on our many impression of a dilettante. Also, years of experience evaluating your resume so that the remember that cutesy or racy e-mail resumes from freelancers, and most important names are best left for personal e-mail, includes general suggestions as well as they are simply unprofessional. as recommendations specifically information can be Consider spending the roughly applicable to the translation industry. gleaned at a glance…” $35/year it costs for your own domain name so that you don’t have to change Getting Started e-mail addresses (and therefore busi- Before you begin writing your How to Package Your Message ness cards, stationary, etc.) every time resume, you need to give some thought The people who will look at your you change ISPs. Be sure your contact to the following considerations: resume (i.e., project managers at information also includes a cell phone translation companies or potential or pager number. Translation is a What are your strengths? direct clients) are extremely busy. service business, and you must be As the ancient philosopher said, There are enormous numbers of easily reachable if you want to get “know thyself.” Think about what aspiring translators out there all work. you have to offer, what makes you jostling for attention. Many compa- unique. Make a list of all your quali- nies receive an average of 20-30 Most Important Information fications and outside interests. This resumes a day. This means the reader Anybody glancing at your resume list will help you identify your will look at your resume for just a should be able to tell in the first 10 strengths and will form the basis for few seconds. You must make an seconds that you are offering your your resume. You will eventually impression in that short time span or services as a freelance translator in need to whittle it down, but it is you are not likely to get a second some specific language pairs. Either important to start out with as much chance. It is crucial to organize your write French-into-English Freelance information as possible so as not to resume so that the most important Translator (for instance) as a subtitle overlook anything relevant. information can be gleaned at a under your name or in the objective glance. That’s why we recommend section. Many people who previously Who is your target audience? that you place all your freelance- pursued other careers use their old In this discussion we assume that related information in a prominent resume and neglect to mention that your goal is to work in commercial position near the top. As your reader they now want to work as freelance translation as an independent con- scans piles of resumes and gets to translators. Never make your reader tractor. (If what you want is, for yours, that first crucial glance should guess—state clearly the kind of work instance, to be a literary translator or land on the information most relevant you are looking for. a medical interpreter in a hospital set- for his or her purposes. Your clear, ting, you will need to research well-organized resume says read me Freelance Translation Experience employers in those fields.) Your most while others are tossed out. If you are currently (or have ➡ The ATA Chronicle | November/December 2002 19 Effective Freelance Resumes Continued previously been) freelancing, even the conferring organization and the Please note that all of the above part-time, the top of this section language pair[s]/direction[s] in which information should be included, should read: you are accredited and/or certified. whether you have been translating for Either here or elsewhere in the 20 years or are seeking your first Freelance Translator resume, you should clearly indicate assignment. If you do have freelance [year]__ – Present how you came by your language experience, you might want to men- Under this item you should list skills (through education, years spent tion some significant recent projects your: in foreign countries, etc.). Some (include clients’ names only with people like to have a separate section their permission) or list the types of Language Pairs entitled “Languages.” documents you work with. If you Be reasonable. Do not list all the don’t have translation experience, languages with which you are some- Areas of Expertise you should really get some before what familiar. List only the language Look up the list of areas of applying to translation companies. pairs you have mastered and are pre- expertise on the ATA Membership Put yourself in their shoes—why pared to work with. Resumes with 20 Directory website (www.atanet.org/ should they take a chance on an language pairs generally wind up in bin/view.pl/18756.html) and those untested individual? Try to find an the circular file. Only one language used by many translation companies internship in a company or volunteer should ever be claimed as native, and to cross-reference translators. If your to translate for worthy nonprofit if you claim to translate into more expertise truly does not fit into the organizations. Do anything it takes to than one language, your resume typical categories, create your own, get experience. should provide evidence that you but make sure they are immediately really are qualified to do so. Resume comprehensible to the average (non- Other Experience readers are quickly turned off by technical) reader. For the rest of the experience sec- grandiose claims of unlikely lan- tion, you can follow either the stan- guage abilities. Hardware and Software dard historical format or a more Make sure you are fully competent Do you have a PC or Macintosh? functional one. If you follow a histor- in any language pairs you claim, or What word processing programs do ical format, provide the dates (year- you are likely to become a “one-job you use (e.g., Microsoft Word 2000 to-year), title, function, company, wonder.” Being competent means Professional, Word Perfect 7.0, etc.)? city and state, and a brief description having at minimum university-level Are you proficient in any other pro- of your duties for each position. reading ability in the source language grams, such as Excel, Adobe Acrobat, A functional format puts less and native-equivalent university-level and Quark? Desktop publishing skills emphasis on dates and more on writing skills in the target language; are a real bonus. skills. This approach allows you owning or having immediate access to to highlight how you developed an extensive, subject-appropriate set Daily Output translation-related skills and subject- of reference materials; installing the Since deadlines are always tight, matter knowledge. The section could required fonts and spellcheckers in translation companies want to know then be titled “Relevant Experience” your computer; etc. whether you can do 4,000 words a and grouped by skill, such as transla- By all means, list ATA accreditation day or only 1,000. You should also tion, writing, language teaching, or a if you have earned it. Some translation indicate whether you are freelancing particular technical field in which you companies claim that they use only full- or part-time. If you are only specialize. Another option is to have accredited translators, and most will available to translate at certain several subtitles, such as “Translation look at accreditation as an indicator of times, be sure to specify them. Experience,” “Financial Experience,” seriousness. If you have other creden- etc. Bear in mind that almost anything tials, such as a State Department exam- Other Services Provided you have done in your personal and ination or foreign certification, list This section should list editing, professional life can be put to good them also. For any accreditation or cer- proofreading, escort/court/ conference use in your translation career. Your tification you list, be sure to include interpreting, tape transcription, etc. past experience in other fields gives 20 The ATA Chronicle | November/December 2002 you credibility as a specialist translator articles or books you have written Word file so that they can be pasted (i.e., as a legal translator if you have and conference or seminar presenta- right into a database.