How does agency want to be contacted? Autor vlákna: Margaret Schroeder
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Not following the instructions in a job offer is a deal killer. If the agency says to include information A, B and C but not D in your bid, and send it to a specified e-mail address you can bet they won't give a second look to offers that don't follow those clear instructions.
How then, should you contact an agency that posts a job offer here at ProZ which contains the information to send the bid to a specified e-mail address, but chooses as contact method submitting a quote via Pro... See more Not following the instructions in a job offer is a deal killer. If the agency says to include information A, B and C but not D in your bid, and send it to a specified e-mail address you can bet they won't give a second look to offers that don't follow those clear instructions.
How then, should you contact an agency that posts a job offer here at ProZ which contains the information to send the bid to a specified e-mail address, but chooses as contact method submitting a quote via ProZ.com?
Would you send your offer to the stated e-mail address as instructed, or via the "Submit Quote" button as implicitly prescribed by the fact that they chose that method? If you decide to choose one or the other, it might be the wrong one. If you decide on both, the agency might see it as submitting multiple bids, and rule you out for "spamming" them. What would you do? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Elizabeth Ardans 
Uruguay
Local time: 19:20
Člen (2005)
angličtina -> španělština
+ ...
| I noticed that too... | Jun 17, 2006 |
I noticed that too... and it is confusing. When an agency provides an email I usually send my quote to that email. In most of the cases I remember, they asked for a CV or other documents and, as far as I know, you cannot upload documents when submitting a quote via proz, so email was the only real option
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finsko
Local time: 01:20
Člen (2003)
finština -> němčina
+ ...
If possible I do it directly to the email address provided, and it has worked so far. When you use the quoting system there is always some additional trouble to establish direct contact.
I believe most of all you have to strike the right chore from the beginning, announcing the outsourcer personnally, but of cource also businesslikely.
There have been cases when the outsourcer wants you to send in your CV, but provides no email address. You cannot do that except by copying the text... See more If possible I do it directly to the email address provided, and it has worked so far. When you use the quoting system there is always some additional trouble to establish direct contact.
I believe most of all you have to strike the right chore from the beginning, announcing the outsourcer personnally, but of cource also businesslikely.
There have been cases when the outsourcer wants you to send in your CV, but provides no email address. You cannot do that except by copying the text into the message field.
When using direct emailing you don't have to bother with the restrictions of the job bidding system (mandatory rates, USD as default valuta etc.) which can lead to misunderstandings. If you cite a rate and find out later, that the job is much more difficult than you thought, you have to renegotiate.
Regards
Heinrich ▲ Collapse
| | | | Trans Secret (X)
Local time: 01:20
angličtina -> arabština
| experience from a company owner | Jun 17, 2006 |
Dear Sir
I am owning a translation company and here is what I do: -
We receive may offers from translators.
How do we evaluate?We send a second email asking, for example, the translator to fill in a special form of CV. Many translators do not. We discover that they just have sent the email without any care so we neglect their offer. On the contrary, others interested would follow up. We then examin the skills of those who follow up.
Well, Both ways are okay... See more Dear Sir
I am owning a translation company and here is what I do: -
We receive may offers from translators.
How do we evaluate?We send a second email asking, for example, the translator to fill in a special form of CV. Many translators do not. We discover that they just have sent the email without any care so we neglect their offer. On the contrary, others interested would follow up. We then examin the skills of those who follow up.
Well, Both ways are okay but what matters is whether to be serious or not.
THAT IS PART AND PARCEL OF THE TRANSLATION SECRETS.
Thanks ▲ Collapse
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Ralf Lemster
Německo
Local time: 00:20
angličtina -> němčina
+ ...
| Contact a Jobs moderator... | Jun 17, 2006 |
Hi GoodWords,
How then, should you contact an agency that posts a job offer here at ProZ which contains the information to send the bid to a specified e-mail address, but chooses as contact method submitting a quote via ProZ.com?
Contact a Jobs moderator, who will get in touch with the job poster.
Best regards,
Ralf
| | | | Yolande Haneder (X)
Local time: 00:20
němčina -> francouzština
+ ...
| turn to yesterday's topic about formulars | Jun 17, 2006 |
Trans Secrets wrote:
We receive may offers from translators.
How do we evaluate?We send a second email asking, for example, the translator to fill in a special form of CV. Many translators do not. We discover that they just have sent the email without any care so we neglect their offer. On the contrary, others interested would follow up. We then examin the skills of those who follow up.
Well, Both ways are okay but what matters is whether to be serious or not.
THAT IS PART AND PARCEL OF THE TRANSLATION SECRETS.
I don't think you have to ask for a CV to know if the translator is genuine.
I think it starts with "dear sir or madam", "dear agency owner", "to whom it may concern" up to having the list of the other agencies which have been contacted to in in adress field.
If the translator does not bother to look for my name or offers me services from XXXX to XXX knowing that I am an Austrian agency and sending me as attachment a price list for spanish provider, I may not feel myself concerned (somethimes I even get applications in spanish).
--> end to the bin.
I am for instance quite lazy and look first in the outlook preview box before deciding to read further. You may consider that only the first 10 lines are shown or so. For me it is quite decisive wether there is a follow up or not because I may or may not be interested to read further at that point. Agencies with a big logo are wasting this space. I know it is an agency even before I read.
I "Love" attachments of 4 MB. It is not very respectful for an agency that may have a slow line (although I do not).
The first 10 lines are the most important.
Mails like "hello, please read my CV as attachment" may end in the bin.
A translator that interests me may have to fill the online form sooner or later but it is not important at that point if he/she interests me (the translator could also have a look at the previous jobs to know which kind of job I usually offer).
In the end it is up to the choice of the translator. however, the translators who are online have a decisive advantage: they are on my server, which I can access from everywhere, from abroad, from my client's office or from anybody representing me because I may not be available for the day and who is checking my e-mails. The ones on the paper or on my disc are only available when I am at my computer and thanks to the internet, mobile phone or fax that you may call from anywhere, you can not garantee (and even less in the future) that the one who saved the CV will be the one who is offering the job.
Online forms may be a hassle for translator but they are used by many offices with several persons who could offer a job.
The best way then before sending e-mails is to check on the site wether they have an online form.
| | | | Trans Secret (X)
Local time: 01:20
angličtina -> arabština
| What is the alternative | Jun 17, 2006 |
Good morning Yolande
So what is the alternative?
We test through exam and CV.
Thanks.
| | | | Yolande Haneder (X)
Local time: 00:20
němčina -> francouzština
+ ...
| The alternative | Jun 18, 2006 |
I think CV is still one of the most important things. Exam to a certain extend to when you have the possibility to have somebody trustworthy to check it.
The problem with test exams (as I have the feeling that it happened to me) is that the one who is doing the test exam may not be the one doing the translation.
Sometimes I think I should give a in the background "timed" test exam just to ensure that the translator is not doing some copy and paste.
Maybe th... See more I think CV is still one of the most important things. Exam to a certain extend to when you have the possibility to have somebody trustworthy to check it.
The problem with test exams (as I have the feeling that it happened to me) is that the one who is doing the test exam may not be the one doing the translation.
Sometimes I think I should give a in the background "timed" test exam just to ensure that the translator is not doing some copy and paste.
Maybe the end solution one day is to imply the client (if you have time too). The client has always "time" to find somebody to tell you if the translation is bad. Many are big concerns checking the translation themselves afterwards or have business partner knowing what to expect.
Maybe in the end it would be better to have a test translation for an offer and asking the client which one he/she would prefer - 5-10 lines may be enough and sometimes it would avoid a client making a claim on a perfect translation because it is not the wording he /she likes.
Finding the right translator is not an easy task but once you have a good one you can always rely on him to be clear to you about others.
In my short experience, very good translators are very critical. They know what they want or do not want and make it clear to you. I like such applications and although it is not always easy to make a balance between such demands and the ones of the client having most of the time no idea about what a translation is demanding - I usually get the best results. ▲ Collapse
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RosettaT
Velká Británie
Local time: 23:20
Člen (2004)
angličtina -> němčina
+ ...
| Re: How does agency want to be contacted? | Jun 18, 2006 |
GoodWords wrote:
Would you send your offer to the stated e-mail address as instructed, or via the "Submit Quote" button as implicitly prescribed by the fact that they chose that method? If you decide to choose one or the other, it might be the wrong one. If you decide on both, the agency might see it as submitting multiple bids, and rule you out for "spamming" them. What would you do?
From an agency point of view, my gut feeling is that you might just want to send it to the stated email address: the poster probably just got their posting wrong (I am sure it has happened to me on occasion).
On the other hand, submitting a quote via Proz as well, and pointing out at the top of your email to the stated address that this is what you are doing because of the ambiguous instructions would work equally well, at least for me.
I would most likely be impressed that you read my instructions better than I did when I wrote them.
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Thanks for your input, Elizabeth, Heinrich, Ralf and Rosetta. I've contacted a Jobs moderator as per your suggestion, Ralf. It seems that the consensus is to (at least) use the e-mail address. Rosetta, your suggestions are quite consistent with what I was thinking. I wasn't sure whether I was the only person who thought that way, so it was good to have my views validated.
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