This is a guest blog post by Juan Pablo Sans, author at ‘Traducir Y Divertirse’ and CEO at Juan Pablo Sans Traduccion.
My dear readers,
Today I would like to talk about an apparently obvious topic that can be the difference between your candidacy landing a project, or being sent to the bin. That is, of course, the case of the translator’s résumé.
- Should I include everything I have done or should I include none? What should I include in my résumé? Those are the questions you should always ask yourself when writing a résumé. The big answer to those questions is depending. Depending on what? Depending on the context, of course (translation pun intended)!
Whether our résumé’s layout is in one way or the other will depend on who our résumé is addressed to. For example, if we are to send our résumé to a medical translation company, it would be convenient to have a résumé listing, mainly, the experience we have in that field. We should also list experience that makes us unique for the project we intend to take! For example: I was a member of the healthcare system in the UK, and I have seen workshops on childcare, etc. - How long should it be? For me (and many experts), a résumé should be one page and half tops! Longer résumés will surely receive a one-way ticket into the HR manager’s recycling bin.
- What to include then? Our personal details (including education), our experiences in the field (including non-translation ones that may be useful for the project that you are applying for), as well as our skills for the post. References may be also important, but not necessary (two or three should be enough).
- A chronological résumé? With hundreds of projects from different clients all year round, I do not think it is convenient to make a chronological résumé. I think we should use a Major clients section instead.
- What to use as experience? Only the major projects should be included. Sort them by the project’s length, client’s importance and/or the relevance the project has in the field we want to work in.
These are the suggestions I have been able to gather throughout my short 7 years of experience in the translation industry. I think they might help you get more and better projects. I would like to hear your opinion about the translator’s résumé in the comments below.
Cheers!
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