What Translators Need: Self-Promotion

 

While it might be a tempting idea to only ever need or train the skills directly associated with one’s own profession, that is a highly inadvisable view to take in today’s multi-faceted professional world. Professionals providing document translation services are no exception, as simply working at a certified translation company in Singapore will put them in contact with other people (clients, employers, colleagues) and as a result will require them to exercise their interpersonal skills for communication. In the specific case of freelance translators, whose list of staff begin and end with themselves, they must handle their own matters regarding finance or publicity in addition to whatever legal translation or notarized translation service they may provide. The latter is of particular importance, as without self-promotion, a translator in Singapore will be unable to reach the clients or employers they need to ply their trade.

The first step in self-promotion is in fact also the most obvious. In order to seek work as a translator, freelance or otherwise, one must simply look for relevant jobs at the usual haunts, i.e. job search websites and so on. There are even websites specifically focused on jobs for translators such as ProZ, connecting employers or clients with those who have the necessary language skills to convert a particular document (or possibly some other type of media) from one language to another.

Successfully finding work through these searches will of course lead to the more immediate gains of income and experience, but one should not overlook the opportunity for further self-promotion. Even performing a single job for a new client or agency can open the door for future work by showing them your skills, efficiency, and work ethic. A translation company may not be looking for new permanent employees now, but by showing them how you perform on a one-time occasion (such as if they needed help with a sudden large surge of PR application translation jobs), you can potentially become one of the first names they turn to when they must decide on translators for future work.

The supply of work may be unpredictable, but if one is judicious with promoting oneself as an efficient professional skilled with the use and conversion of languages, then one may feel confident about becoming another steady supplier of certified translation services in Singapore to many a client and employer.