Consecutive Interpretation jobs (onsite)
Initiator des Themas: Sabina Alasgarova
Sabina Alasgarova
Sabina Alasgarova  Identity Verified
Aserbaidschan
Local time: 11:44
Mitglied (2014)
Englisch > Aserbaidschanisch
+ ...
Aug 15

Dear colleagues,
I need your advice: How do you find onsite interpretation jobs?

I am aware of remote interpretation, but I view it as a last resort.

Since joining Proz.com in 2014, I've mainly been offered translation work, and I've struggled to find consecutive interpretation opportunities in Azerbaijan (especially since Covid). How is the situation in your countries? Which steps would you recommend taking in order to find and connect with potential clients? A
... See more
Dear colleagues,
I need your advice: How do you find onsite interpretation jobs?

I am aware of remote interpretation, but I view it as a last resort.

Since joining Proz.com in 2014, I've mainly been offered translation work, and I've struggled to find consecutive interpretation opportunities in Azerbaijan (especially since Covid). How is the situation in your countries? Which steps would you recommend taking in order to find and connect with potential clients? Any advice regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you!
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madleen
madleen
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 00:44
Arabisch > Englisch
+ ...
Remote jobs Aug 15

Dear Sabina,

Your situation is not rare. But I also have trouble finding remote interpretation jobs, do you have good recommendations?


 
Sabina Alasgarova
Sabina Alasgarova  Identity Verified
Aserbaidschan
Local time: 11:44
Mitglied (2014)
Englisch > Aserbaidschanisch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER
You could join Proz interpreters Aug 16

madleen wrote:

Dear Sabina,

Your situation is not rare. But I also have trouble finding remote interpretation jobs, do you have good recommendations?


Dear Madleen,
Thanks for replying.

You could try joining Proz Interpreters Pool https://www.proz.com/pools/interpreters and working with Proz for remote interpretation: https://go.proz.com/join-pool-now. There are also many companies hiring remote interpreters via LinkedIn, so you could search for jobs there.

I am only interested in onsite interpretation, which is challenging to find nowadays.


 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnien und Herzegowina
Local time: 08:44
Mitglied (2009)
Englisch > Kroatisch
+ ...
Saving money Aug 16

It’s challenging because, during Covid, they realized they could save money on venues, organization, hotels and transportation - by keeping everything online. Which is exactely what they are doing. Especially since “online interpreters” don’t charge minimum fees, or food, transport or cancellation fees.

Sabina Alasgarova
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 02:44
Rumänisch > Englisch
+ ...
"Especially since “online interpreters” don’t charge minimum fees . . . or cancellation fees Aug 17

I don't know how things go in Europe, but in the US we have a minimum charge and a cancellation fee as well for "online interpreters"

IrinaN
Maria G. Grassi, MA AITI
Sabina Alasgarova
Srini Venkataraman
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 02:44
Rumänisch > Englisch
+ ...
Are you comfortable doing court interpreting? Aug 17

madleen wrote:

Dear Sabina,

Your situation is not rare. But I also have trouble finding remote interpretation jobs, do you have good recommendations?


I have been a court interpreter for over 30 years, retired, and in the last two years my workload has increased tremendously. For example, I was on a three months vacation in Europe and had remote court hearings (ZOOM) 2-3/week. I think there is plenty of work. Get in touch with the Court Administrator of your state (honestly, I do not get all this secrecy regarding name and location) and see if they need interpreters in your language pairs.
Good luck!
Lee


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 02:44
Rumänisch > Englisch
+ ...
Dear Sabina, Aug 17

Sabina Alasgarova wrote:

Dear colleagues,
I need your advice: How do you find onsite interpretation jobs?

I am aware of remote interpretation, but I view it as a last resort.

Since joining Proz.com in 2014, I've mainly been offered translation work, and I've struggled to find consecutive interpretation opportunities in Azerbaijan (especially since Covid). How is the situation in your countries? Which steps would you recommend taking in order to find and connect with potential clients? Any advice regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you!



Dear Sabina,

I assume that in Baku you can find on-site jobs if you contact courts, hospitals, airport, travel agencies.
I read your CV, and you are qualified to do some of these jobs. By the way, a 13 pages CV is a little too long. Get rid of the references. If somebody contacts you, then you can give them references.
I have been interpreting for many, many years and nothing changed in the post-Covid era (at least in the US in my narrow field of expertise). I do not know the market in Baku, I do not know the competition, but I would suggest to try a niche you like and go for it. Specialization is the key.
Good luck!


 
madleen
madleen
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 00:44
Arabisch > Englisch
+ ...
Lee and court interpreting Aug 18

Hello Lee,

Don’t they require a certificate or that the interpreter should have completed a specific number of training hours?


Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 02:44
Rumänisch > Englisch
+ ...
Court interpreter Aug 20

Yes. You need an "Orientation course"(each state is different), pass a written and oral exam and they place yor name on the roster for court interpreters.

 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnien und Herzegowina
Local time: 08:44
Mitglied (2009)
Englisch > Kroatisch
+ ...
Post-Covid Aug 20

Pre-Covid I would travel to at least 4-5 conferences per year, post-Covid I traveled to none and have been offered online work only (which I gladly turned down). I don’t anticipate/expect or even need any interpretation work any time soon.

Here some people gave you views based on their own personal experiences. My views were based on thousands interpreters I worked with as an interpreting manager.


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 02:44
Rumänisch > Englisch
+ ...
Of course I expressed my views based on personal experience Aug 21

Lingua 5B wrote:

Pre-Covid I would travel to at least 4-5 conferences per year, post-Covid I traveled to none and have been offered online work only (which I gladly turned down). I don’t anticipate/expect or even need any interpretation work any time soon.

Here some people gave you views based on their own personal experiences. My views were based on thousands interpreters I worked with as an interpreting manager.



One must keep in mind the language pair and the competition in a particular country or area.
Turning down online work is your choice. I can tell that online interpreting is very lucrative, being able to interpret from wherever you are.

De gustibus non est disputandum . . .


Maria G. Grassi, MA AITI
 
IrinaN
IrinaN
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 01:44
Englisch > Russisch
+ ...
Two key points Aug 21

Sabina,

1. Your best bet would be to find your way to Azeri oil and gas projects. This is still the top industry in Azerbaijan, and every project requires English. Easier said than done, of course. It takes a lot of training and practice, a couple of truckloads of terminology and at least some understanding of it. Nevertheless, legislation, environment, finance, contracts are all a huge part of the same as it pertains to O&G and related infrastructure. That way you'll begin to pick
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Sabina,

1. Your best bet would be to find your way to Azeri oil and gas projects. This is still the top industry in Azerbaijan, and every project requires English. Easier said than done, of course. It takes a lot of training and practice, a couple of truckloads of terminology and at least some understanding of it. Nevertheless, legislation, environment, finance, contracts are all a huge part of the same as it pertains to O&G and related infrastructure. That way you'll begin to pick up terminology without dealing with the in-depth engineering and operational aspects from the start. I would presume there is a strong cohort of very experienced translators and interpreters who work in the field since the last century so it may not be easy to break in but it's worth a try.

2. I can't speak for someone else but it seems that our colleague Lingua 5B's vehement resentment means that she looks at online interpreting exclusively as a pay-per-minute thing for 50 cents a minute, which is not the case at all. Oh well, this one can give up to 2 grand a month in the US, depending on the demand in a language pair ($0.50 x 250 min/day in the peak time x 15 days = $1875 for a supplemental income), but I won't go back to our previous discussions on this subject now. Looks like your attitude is the same ("last resort."). Why?????

In the US, my colleagues work simo and consecutive conferences remotely for the same high rates as if they were on site, myself including. Locally it's a blessing because a client in Houston can be located 30-50 miles away and battling a thick traffic both ways is no fun. Actually, before that I would accept only a full day pay plus commute time and gas, but now I don't see why I shouldn't accept even a 2-hour simo gig for $200 in my pajamas. You'll need a good noise cancelling equipment and a room that would ensure peace and quiet. There is absolutely no need to invest in super expensive computers, just about any laptop will do. I have new ASUS for under $500 but I do not run any CATs or play any games. Zoom, Teams, WebEx - no problem. And I always have two laptops, which helped just 6 days ago when the camera on one of them started acting up. I fixed it later but instead of panicking I just turned the other one on before the conference since I always double-check everything at least 30 minutes before the start time. It took me 5 to switch. That one was bad enough even with the slides on the screen, and would have been a complete disaster without it - tables, numbers, Excel spreadsheets and changes to the English paragraphs that I was supposed to read in Russian in real time. Not everything could have been emailed to me in advance.

Good luck!
Irina
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Maria G. Grassi, MA AITI
Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 02:44
Rumänisch > Englisch
+ ...
I seeone reason Aug 22

IrinaN wrote:

. . .

2. I can't speak for someone else but it seems that our colleague Lingua 5B's vehement resentment means that she looks at online interpreting exclusively as a pay-per-minute thing for 50 cents a minute, which is not the case at all. Oh well, this one can give up to 2 grand a month in the US, depending on the demand in a language pair ($0.50 x 250 min/day in the peak time x 15 days = $1875 for a supplemental income), but I won't go back to our previous discussions on this subject now. Looks like your attitude is the same ("last resort."). Why?????

...

Good luck!
Irina



A few days ago I received an invitation from an agency in Poland to provide OPIs for them; they offered top $$$ 23cents/minute. I replied and explaind that the US market is different than the European market, especially the Eastern European market where this rate could be appealing. My lowest rate for a banal OPI is 80 cents/minute. As a side-note to the cancellation fee - last week I got four continued(cancelled) court cases and I earned 600 USD (not bad for doing nothing).


 
Liviu-Lee Roth
Liviu-Lee Roth
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 02:44
Rumänisch > Englisch
+ ...
Dear Sabina, please heed this advice Sep 2

"These same principles, it turns out, apply to writing a CV. A résumé is not a list of every job you ever had. It is not your autobiography. It is, like that hair-care advert, a marketing tool. Your audience is made up of recruiters and hiring managers. Like cocktail-party guests, they do not take a long time to decide if they want to keep talking. According to one study, such professionals spend an average of 7.4 seconds skimming a job application.

The CV’s number-one task is n
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"These same principles, it turns out, apply to writing a CV. A résumé is not a list of every job you ever had. It is not your autobiography. It is, like that hair-care advert, a marketing tool. Your audience is made up of recruiters and hiring managers. Like cocktail-party guests, they do not take a long time to decide if they want to keep talking. According to one study, such professionals spend an average of 7.4 seconds skimming a job application.

The CV’s number-one task is not to put the reader off. "
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