CV with no professional experience

Tom Metcalfe wrote:
For the meantime, could I replace the 'Experience' section of my CV with a 'Continued Professional Development (CPD)' section?

Samuel Murray wrote:

No, only academic people know what CPD is. People who do not know what it is will think it means "I'm busy continuing to develop professionally", i.e. I'm still a student. Rather, replace the Experience section with a section that explains to the reader what services you offer and what types of texts and subject fields you can deal with.

If you want a critique of your CV, upload it to your ProZ.com profile.

By the way, your ProZ.com profile picture communicates "I enjoy relaxing with friends". Translators with no experience to offer must offer confidence instead. Try getting a picture that communicates confidence and reliability. For many agencies, reliability is almost more important than experience.

Rachel Waddington wrote:

Hi Tom,

Joining the ITI/CIOL sounds like a good move, but as with everything you get out what you put in. If you can, join your regional group and attend meetings or, better still, take on a committee position. Solid relationships with other translators can be a major source of support when you are starting out.

I'd agree with Samuel on the photo. If you can't afford a professional photo yet, at least get someone to take one in more businesslike clothing. First impressions matter.

Have you thought about specialisms yet? Having a clear idea of what area you want to translate in can really help you to craft a profile that stands out.

It sounds like the ITI's SUFT course may be useful to you: https://www.iti.org.uk/discover/iti-training-courses/setting-up-as-a-freelance-translator.html

Rachel

Christine Andersen wrote:

There are two sides to translating. One is being good at your languages, which comes through practice, real life and ok, also experience of translating.

The other is knowing your subject matter. Even some of the relatively menial jobs people do to pay their way through college or pay the rent until they find something better are in fact good ways to learn the kind of real-life language used in warehouses and back-offices, what products are called, and so on. A young engineer I know knew everything there is to know about bicycles, because he worked in a specialist cycle shop.

That is also experience, and it is definitely relevant to translating! Or if you have a hobby you know a lot about, mention that too. Then fill in some subject areas, so that you can be found by clients with the kinds of jobs you are interested in.

Freelancing is about convincing the client you can do their job here and now, so they will not always worry about next month, let alone next year. I am afraid good intentions about CPD will not bring in a lot of jobs. Don´t be put off, however. Add all the CPD you can to your CV afterwards. A convincing beginner who looks reliable and is on his toes may be quite as good as a tired old hack who has not kept up with developments - I feel it is a struggle occasionally.

Ideally, both clients and freelancers are happy to set up long-term relationships, and if a client likes your work, they will come back for more. That is how you build up translation experience.

Best of luck!

Tom Metcalfe wrote:

In terms of specialisms, my educational background is solely languages really, though I do have keen interest in areas such as sport, tourism, and food and gastronomy. However I'm unsure whether just having an interest is enough.

Fatimah Emad wrote:

Greeting Tom...

I'm new too when it comes to freelancing or starting a career in the industry, and the replies above were more than helpful. However, for the industry experience, I would like to suggest that you look up volunteering opportunities that can add to your bucket of experience. Coursera's Global Comunity Translators is a great beginning, that provides you with trophies or badges when you achieve a number of words translated. I would also suggest that you can include any previous experience that you had as a summer intern since it's mandatory to have summer training before graduating from most universities.

Rachel Waddington wrote:

Writing your various profiles and marketing materials is to a large degree about being memorable - giving the reader a reason not to delete your CV after scanning the first few lines or skip straight to the next LinkedIn profile. So, if you can tell a story around how your love of football developed throughout your life and describe how that feeds into your approach to a sports translation, that can make you stand out above someone who just says something completely bland and generic. See it as a chance to showcase your writing skills and grab attention. If you can write a stunning piece of marketing text about yourself, your lack of experience or certifications will matter a whole lot less. You will have proved that you can write and that is actually quite a rare skill.