Get hired by a translation agency

A Stranger asked: My question is about how to get hired by a translation agency. I'm a Spaniard, educated in Montreal, Canada where English and French were taught in schools. I pursued languages including Spanish in college. Today I live in California working as an RN. I translate quite often since the majority of the patients are Hispanic. As for as certification, I have none, but I took a simple Spanish translation test at work. It was not mandatory but was simply to get a little more pay for the additional skill. I really enjoy translating and would like to focus on that more than nursing now.



The Spanish Translator: A lot of translators I know rely on translation agencies to get translation jobs, so if you're just starting out marketing yourself as a freelance translator, agencies are a good way to go. Probably the hardest part in applying to translation agencies is actually finding the agencies to submit your resume to. That is why I put together The Freelance Translator's Ultimate List of Translation Agencies, a list of over 500 translation agencies looking for freelance translators.

Once you find translation agencies, it's time to submit your resume. Usually the agency wants to get information about who you are and what kind of translator you are, and they'll do it one of two ways. One way is by asking you to mail in a resume with your information. If this is the case, you'll want to be sure and submit a resume that is geared towards translation and the work you've previously done in translation.

While some translation agencies will ask for your resume, other agencies ask you to fill out a form outlining your experience as a translator. It will take some time to fill out the information requested from each agency, so you'll want to set aside about an hour each day to to send your information to the agencies. It might take a while for you to hear back from some of the agencies, and you might not hear back from some of them. However, if the agency is interested in working with you, they might either email you right away for more information, or they might even ask you to take take a translation test in order to assess your skills.

Also, it's important to remember that while translation agencies are an important place for translators to find work, they are not the only place. Be sure and use the local connections you might have in the area where you live to find clients. You mentioned that you already to medical translation at work. You might look around at other hospitals or clinics and see if they have a need for a translator. You could offer your services to them, and since you already have credibility as a medical translator, it might be fairly easy to find some more translation work that way.

Hope this helps, and good luck.