Not a single job in the whole year - normal?

Batichtchev wrote:

"ProZ is a business and has to make money for the services it provides."
What services did it provide to me specifically? I never mind to pay. But I expect to get something in return. Am I wrong?

Batichtchev wrote:
So what can I do if I am closely familiar with all these various fields of expertise and directly related to them? Both as a translator with 40 years full-time experience, and as a practitioner/user.

Sheila Wilson wrote:


Probably the majority of the world's translation agencies have an account here; a good percentage of professional, experienced translators who receive far more work than they can cope with (and so outsource the rest) have an account here; the site itself appears in a dominant position in any search anybody does if they're looking for a translator, be they an individual wanting a certificate or a CV translated, a translation agency, some other sort of intermediary (marketing or communications agency, web portal, publisher, etc.), or a business just branching out into a foreign market, or ...

None of that would be possible if ProZ.com wasn't being run as a business. Yes, I know that "in the good old days" it was more of a community than a business, but we're in 2018 now and things have changed, worldwide.

Whatever presence you have here is going to be better than no presence -- in the event that you have a shortage of clients. There's always a chance of picking up some crumbs. But most of the best jobs here are never advertised anywhere (on-site or off-site), and ProZ.com provides facilities for those who pay or gain a good reputation among other professional site users to become far more visible. If you both pay AND gain a good reputation then you're likely to get a very good ROI from the site. You just need a marketing message that's strong and unambiguous, so that potential clients find you and have confidence in you.

Dan Lucas wrote:


You can actively market yourself instead of assuming that clients will come to you! Saying "I have 40 years' experience" is not in itself going to be effective.

Understand to where it is that your steps have led you. You have wandered out of the back door of the air-conditioned store next to the old station, with its polite and uniformed sales assistants, its neat rows of clearly priced and labelled items.

You find yourself now at the entrance to an enormous souk full of traders hawking their wares. There are people from all cultures and continents, selling every kind of product, from every kind of establishment. Every style of dress, every language that you can imagine, and many that you could not.

And the noise! Buyers are asking terse questions or yelling out their requirements, sellers are bawling the praises of their goods and screaming to catch the attention of customers. There is a constant background hum of chat and even the odd snatch of song. Tiny cafes are thronged with customers in earnest discussion, some with the hallmarks of prosperity, many looking pinched and malnourished.

There are people with heads close together in muttered conversation over a small table in a shopfront. Next door, what looks like two old friends, or perhaps enemies, stand discoursing affably with cups of some steaming liquid. Not far away, two people stand face to face howling insults at each other, both red in the face. Bystanders, some angry, some laughing, offer advice, encouragement and insults.

Everywhere you go you are jostled, shouted at, greeted. People grab your sleeve and shout impossible prices, or demand impossible tasks. Strangely dressed individuals wave testimonials in your face, or trot along beside you reciting their skills and abilities. Nowhere is there anyone with the trappings of authority. It is a madhouse, an apparent commercial anarchy.

And yet there are oases of quiet and order here and there. Neat, open-fronted little shops have beautifully illustrated signs and placards under which the services offered within are detailed in a careful copperplate. At workbenches inside, taciturn men and women work away at their craft.

There is a steady trickle of well-dressed visitors who slip up and place small packages on the counter. The owners step over and inspect the contents. A few words are exchanged, a smile, then hands are shaken and the item is carried carefully inside. Sometimes the artisans throw their hands up ruefully and hand the item back. No, my friend, not this one.

It is not uncommon to see a desperate buyer flitting from establishment to establishment, pleading with sceptical sellers. The craftsmen look noncommittally at what is offered, prod it carefully with a frown, and listen to the urgent murmured offer. Sometimes they mutter a counter-offer, but if that is rejected, they shake their heads decisively and move back to their work.

Eventually the despairing buyer moves on to less a prosperous section of the market, where hungry-looking workers in tiny, ramshackle shops - no illustrated signs here - seem eager to accept the items. The buyer lingers, repeats his instructions, before walking off with many a backward glance. Other buyers are interrogating sellers with much hand-waving. The frantic body language is easily read. Where is it? When will it be done? The seller shrugs indolently. These things take time. Wait, my friend. Soon, it will be soon. The buyer stalks off, defeated and furious.

Back in the prosperous quarter, some of the craftsmen scrape away with hand tools. Others bend over little machines that emit puffs of steam and light, before the work is finished by hand. Sometimes you may see them working late into the night, their shadows thrown by lamplight onto the canvas of a closed shop front.

Welcome. Welcome to the bazaar.

In this environment, sitting quietly in a corner with a small card marked "Four Decades in a Big Organization" will not get you very far, at least until you have a few regular clients.

Help potential clients to understand how you acquired specialist knowledge. For example, I personally do not see the connection between "Automotive / Cars & Trucks" and the UN. How did you get this experience? Perhaps there is a section within a UN organisation that is involved with environmental issues and CO2 emissions. Maybe there are UN programs related to the modeling of growth of traffic flows and their economic impact. So I can see that it might be possible, but it is not obvious, and clients are short of time.

You need to spell it out. Explain to clients why they should hire you. Set out your stall, spread your wares, display pride and conviction in what you sell. Currently your sign says "Very Good Things". That's not remotely persuasive. Why are they good? How did you acquire such skills?

Change your approach, or in twelve months you'll be back here complaining about another year without a job.

Regards,
Dan

Dan Lucas wrote:


You can actively market yourself instead of assuming that clients will come to you! Saying "I have 40 years' experience" is not in itself going to be effective.

Understand to where it is that your steps have led you. You have wandered out of the back door of the air-conditioned store next to the old station, with its polite and uniformed sales assistants, its neat rows of clearly priced and labelled items.

You find yourself now at the entrance to an enormous souk full of traders hawking their wares. There are people from all cultures and continents, selling every kind of product, from every kind of establishment. Every style of dress, every language that you can imagine, and many that you could not.

And the noise! Buyers are asking terse questions or yelling out their requirements, sellers are bawling the praises of their goods and screaming to catch the attention of customers. There is a constant background hum of chat and even the odd snatch of song. Tiny cafes are thronged with customers in earnest discussion, some with the hallmarks of prosperity, many looking pinched and malnourished.

There are people with heads close together in muttered conversation over a small table in a shopfront. Next door, what looks like two old friends, or perhaps enemies, stand discoursing affably with cups of some steaming liquid. Not far away, two people stand face to face howling insults at each other, both red in the face. Bystanders, some angry, some laughing, offer advice, encouragement and insults.

Everywhere you go you are jostled, shouted at, greeted. People grab your sleeve and shout impossible prices, or demand impossible tasks. Strangely dressed individuals wave testimonials in your face, or trot along beside you reciting their skills and abilities. Nowhere is there anyone with the trappings of authority. It is a madhouse, an apparent commercial anarchy.

And yet there are oases of quiet and order here and there. Neat, open-fronted little shops have beautifully illustrated signs and placards under which the services offered within are detailed in a careful copperplate. At workbenches inside, taciturn men and women work away at their craft.

There is a steady trickle of well-dressed visitors who slip up and place small packages on the counter. The owners step over and inspect the contents. A few words are exchanged, a smile, then hands are shaken and the item is carried carefully inside. Sometimes the artisans throw their hands up ruefully and hand the item back. No, my friend, not this one.

It is not uncommon to see a desperate buyer flitting from establishment to establishment, pleading with sceptical sellers. The craftsmen look noncommittally at what is offered, prod it carefully with a frown, and listen to the urgent murmured offer. Sometimes they mutter a counter-offer, but if that is rejected, they shake their heads decisively and move back to their work.

Eventually the despairing buyer moves on to less a prosperous section of the market, where hungry-looking workers in tiny, ramshackle shops - no illustrated signs here - seem eager to accept the items. The buyer lingers, repeats his instructions, before walking off with many a backward glance. Other buyers are interrogating sellers with much hand-waving. The frantic body language is easily read. Where is it? When will it be done? The seller shrugs indolently. These things take time. Wait, my friend. Soon, it will be soon. The buyer stalks off, defeated and furious.

Back in the prosperous quarter, some of the craftsmen scrape away with hand tools. Others bend over little machines that emit puffs of steam and light, before the work is finished by hand. Sometimes you may see them working late into the night, their shadows thrown by lamplight onto the canvas of a closed shop front.

Welcome. Welcome to the bazaar.

In this environment, sitting quietly in a corner with a small card marked "Four Decades in a Big Organization" will not get you very far, at least until you have a few regular clients.

Help potential clients to understand how you acquired specialist knowledge. For example, I personally do not see the connection between "Automotive / Cars & Trucks" and the UN. How did you get this experience? Perhaps there is a section within a UN organisation that is involved with environmental issues and CO2 emissions. Maybe there are UN programs related to the modeling of growth of traffic flows and their economic impact. So I can see that it might be possible, but it is not obvious, and clients are short of time.

You need to spell it out. Explain to clients why they should hire you. Set out your stall, spread your wares, display pride and conviction in what you sell. Currently your sign says "Very Good Things". That's not remotely persuasive. Why are they good? How did you acquire such skills?

Change your approach, or in twelve months you'll be back here complaining about another year without a job.

Regards,
Dan

Batichtchev wrote:
The whole idea of my topic was - disbelief and mystery. With the fact that "job posters" are not impressed and interested in a translator with THESE record, qualifications, professionalism, responsibility and work ethics.

Dan Lucas wrote:


Nobody cares.

You haven't demonstrated your record, qualifications, professionalism, responsibility or work ethics in any way, shape or form. You make assertions without explanation or supporting evidence. You may (I stress "may") have great credentials, but apparently you could not be bothered to detail them in your profile - for an entire year. That you think that working for a much-derided, often-criticized and legendarily expensive international organisation should, in itself, entitle you to attention from potential clients suggests very strongly that you do not understand the market in which you seek to participate.

Names do not matter here. Reputations have to be built. Credibility is hard to gain, but easily lost. You are, in essence, finding what many others who have worked in comfortable positions for governmental or quasi-governmental organizations have found. It's harder out here. This is a Darwinian world in which you eat only what you kill, and in which the monthly income, the generous benefits package and the nine-to-five do not exist.

My advice: you undoubtedly have a good pension and are under little financial pressure. If you wish to earn decent rates, this market requires too much of an investment in time and money to be appealing to retirees who have not already proven themselves as freelancers.

Find a fulfilling hobby, direct your energies towards that. It will be more enjoyable and less bruising.

Regards,
Dan

Batichtchev wrote:



May I respectfully ask about YOUR professional record and credentials? Would be interesting to compare.

Michael Beijer wrote:



It's all here: https://www.proz.com/profile/1917791
Just take a look at the guy's profile. He has done a fantastic job of making it abundantly clear he knows his shit. As I already said, the answer to your problem is right in front of you: study people's profiles.

Ok, back to work for me (got a patent application to get done by Monday).

Michael

Michael Beijer wrote:

My advice is to study the profiles of the people posting here (who are trying to help you by the way) and see if there is anything you can use in your own profile. Obviously not what their profiles say, but how they say it. Many people in this thread have managed to make Proz work for them over the years, including myself. For example, I am regularly approached by new clients here on Proz offering well over €0.15, as are others in this thread, I'm sure. But a strong profile isn't built overnight and will take a bit of work.

Anyway, don't give up yet, and whatever you do, don't get pissed off (and show it), as this will make fellow site users disinclined to help you or send work your way.

Michael