ProZ.com Blog

As a freelancer, personal business development is key to improving your business model and increasing your client load. However, with the past year's restrictions on in-person meetings, it can be harder to pitch your services when you don't get to speak with someone face to face.

So, how can you entice prospective clients?



Email, of course. Unfortunately, getting someone to open, let alone read, your email can be challenging. You need to utilize high-quality email practices, and here is how you do it.

Are you new to the translation industry? Would you like to work as a translator, but you are unsure about how to get started? Do you have questions about ProZ.com, the platform, the community, the tools available? Then this post is for you. Just keep the following in mind, and you'll find your way in the ProZ.com translation workplace in no time:

« ProZ.com is different than what you may be expecting »

The following questions and answers will show you why.

How do I answer job offers at ProZ.com? That question came up in the ProZ.com Facebook group recently and I'm borrowing the well-crafted answer from Lu Leszinsky to include on this blog.



Highlights:
1. Browse jobs that interest you
2. Confirm you meet quoting requirements
3. Click on submit quote

Where are the jobs?
When an outsourcer needs to hire for an open position or find talent to fill expected needs, jobs might be posted at ProZ.com. Language jobs posted to the world's largest community of freelance translators, interpreters, subtitlers and other language professionals are listed under a section called "Browse jobs" (to get there, mouse over the "Jobs & directories" option on the top menu, then click on "Browse jobs", or simply bookmark this link: https://www.proz.com/language-jobs).



Jobs listed in that page can be filtered by a number of criteria, including language pairs, fields, and word count.

Use the "Jobs where I meet the requirements" switch to filter jobs where you meet the criteria to submit a quote.

Make sure your profile includes necessary information
In order to be able to quote on a job, your profile information must match exactly the job's requirements.

So, for example, if you offer interpreting services, but you haven't reported "interpreting" in your profile as a service you offer, you won't be able to submit a quote.



In other words, it's not enough to offer a service or work in a given field. If that service or field (or software, credential, etc.) is not reported in your profile, the system has no way of knowing that you meet the job poster's needs, and so the "Submit quote" button will be disabled. You can update your Profile at any time here: https://www.proz.com/settings.

Submitting quotes
Job posters can choose to receive quotes in a number of ways, the most common ones are (1) online via ProZ.com, where you complete an online form with your rate, your proposed completion date, your message, etc. and the poster accesses your quote also online, and (2) via email, that is, if you meet the job's criteria, you are shown the poster's email address and you can use it to send your quote via email.

Other quoting methods include URL (the poster specifies a webpage where you can submit your quote), phone, fax and postal mail -- not so common these days though.

In sum, to quote on jobs, start by browsing jobs that may interest you, confirm that you meet quoting requirements (these are shown on the job and summarized at the top of job postings) and if you do, click on "Submit quote" to get started. If your quote is accepted, the job poster will let you know.

You may also find some useful information on this blog post on "How to write an effective job quote". 

As a language professional, do everything you can to boost your chances of success. Here's a short video from director of training Paul Urwin with some tips for connecting with translation agencies via email.

The ProZ.com Interpreter Network -the pool of pre-screened professional interpreters- continues to grow with new interpreters joining every day 🚀

Are you a translation agency or LSP looking to expand your pool of service providers for future projects? Or a freelancer who wants to get their name out there and be contacted by potential new clients? ProZ.com applications may be what you are looking for.

The first thing that strikes you about Elena Romero is how relaxed she is. Not to mention her easy-going and fluent English. Surely it can’t all be because she spent two years in London in her early 20s? But dig a little deeper and you see why: Elena spends her life travelling, much of it in English. Having left the narrow confines of her small town in the Canaries (ironically enough, a destination coveted by most of the world), she has roamed extensively – in Europe and SE Asia in particular, and counts Bali among her favourite places of all.

Ask Yassine El Bouknify what he enjoys about being a freelance translator and he responds without hesitation: the chance to work with other professionals and clients; the mobility bundled up with the job, and the ability to choose who he works for. In short, being his own boss. Just two years into his career, he’s obviously understood what makes freelance life tick. 

OK, so you posted your job, sent private messages and now you have many quotes from potential service providers. The next step is choosing who you want to work with. Sounds easy enough, but how do you know who will be the best match, the most reliable language professional?

Here's what you should look for when choosing the best service provider:

Have you ever posted a job on ProZ.com and wondered why you didn’t get as many quotes as you had expected? 

By now, the entire world knows that the current Covid-19 outbreak has --and will continue to have--  an enormous impact on freelance financial lives. However, language professionals who usually work on-site --interpreters, project managers, teachers-- don't necessarily have to live off savings during the current quarantine. ProZ.com has a few tricks up its sleeve to make money starting this weekend and while at home, and supplement your income during these uncertain times.

A jobs checkbox on ProZ.com with a new COVID-19 tag now enables job posters to tag their jobs as "Covid-19" and service providers to filter Covid-19 jobs. Many job posters are already using this option to connect with some of the 1 million language professionals at ProZ.com.

Serving the world's largest community of translators, ProZ.com delivers a comprehensive network of essential services, resources and experiences that enhance the lives of its members. What are some of the site's most popular features?