Your Resume

Your resume must be brief;

The heading of your resume should include your name and language pair, for example – ‘Jane Smith, English into French translator’;

If you don’t have extensive experience, then your resume should be no longer than one page, and certainly no longer than two pages in all other instances;

Your translation rates should not be mentioned in either your email message or your resume. The discussion about rates will come later;

Your references should not be included with your resume. If someone wants to see them, they will ask;

Be very sure that there are no mistakes whatsoever in your resume. Have another pair of eyes check it for correctness.

Localize Your Résumé

Did you know that a resume submitted to an American company should notinclude your photograph, whereas a resume submitted for a potential French clientshould? And that’s what we mean by localizing your resume! Your resume must contain all the necessary information, but don’t fill the page with irrelevant content. If you have very little experience, then it’s acceptable to include other work you’ve completed, but remember that once you’ve gained translation experience this fill-in information should be removed. Also remember that every last piece of information offered in both your message and your resume must be verifiable.

What Should Be Included in Your Résumé –

Your working language pairs;

Your translation experience,

Your expertise with specific translation software programs, like CAT tools and/or DTP programs;

Other relevant work experience,

Education standard, and

Your best contact details.

What Should Not Be Included in Your Résumé –

Your personal interests and hobbies; and

Personal information such as your marital status and your age.

The exception to these two points is –

If a resume for your target market usually includes personal information, then it’s up to you to determine if that information should be included in your resume; and

If your hobby contributes to your specialization, again this will be your decision as to whether you should include this information in your resume.

An Important Note about Translation Rates

Always remember that it’s not the translation agency who decides what your rates are – it’s you, the translator. Certainly, the translation agencies are quite within their rights to reject your rates or to accept them, or to try to get you to reduce them.