| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | How likely is it to get work with a free account? Thread poster: Sara Garcia
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| A few more thoughts | May 15, 2015 |
Sara Garcia wrote:
Thank you so much for all the feedback! It's been very useful to get so many replies with your opinions. I will take all of them on board and persevere for a while, see how it goes. I have already filled in my profile, though I'm not sure how good it is.
Just wanted to add, if you decide to become a paid member, that you can buy a paid membership for half a year which is cheaper. Then you can quote on jobs (good ones are hard to find but anything is possible) and be listed in the member directory. Try to contribute to KudoZ but don't spend too much time on it. But most importantly, I recommend sticking to professional behavior to make this a rewarding career (accurate work and adequate rates that YOU determine yourself). Even though I don't agree with everything on the ProZ.com wiki page, it's a good start, especially as far as determining the amount of work and money you need to become successful.
Please review:
http://wiki.proz.com/wiki/index.php/Establishing_yourself_as_a_freelance_translator
| | | | Oliver Walter 
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:06
German to English
+ ...
| Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 00:36
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER | proz membership and its uses | May 16, 2015 |
While it is true that many of us come to proz.com in order to find gainful employment, as we get used to the site, we find many other uses for the site too. It basically functions as a community for us where we can interact with other like-minded people, and when you are working alone as a freelancer, this kind of interaction is often needed to keep your morale up, especially when work has slowed down to a trickle.
Although a paid membership is often not needed to avail of these add... See more While it is true that many of us come to proz.com in order to find gainful employment, as we get used to the site, we find many other uses for the site too. It basically functions as a community for us where we can interact with other like-minded people, and when you are working alone as a freelancer, this kind of interaction is often needed to keep your morale up, especially when work has slowed down to a trickle.
Although a paid membership is often not needed to avail of these additional services that this site provides, many of us feel that by making this small contribution to the site we are in a way paying back to the site for all that it does for our benefit.
So don't just take into consideration the job aspect while evaluating the money's worth of a proz.com professional membership, there are other aspects too to it.
As far as jobs are concerned, I can tell you from personal experience that a paid membership definitely enhances your chances of being approached for better paying jobs. But as others have pointed out, to maximize your benefits from a paid membership, you need to do several other things too before paying up, such as having a 100% complete profile, specializations, a sizeable trove of kudoz points and browniz (both of which are used for translator ranking), and regular visibility in the various forums.
So take a planned approach to a proz.com membership and do all the necessary things stated in the previous para before you pay up so that you get maximum value for your money.
If you are really strapped for money, as a beginner translator can be expected to be (although the membership amounts to just about a 100 dollars, and even less if you go for a half-year's worth of membership), there are a few ways to get free paid membership, for example, by contributing to localizing proz.com site into your local language. If you provide significant contribution in this direction, proz.com sometimes will reward you with a free paid membership of a few months, on which you can built your initial translation career. You should get in touch with proz.com and the Coordinator of the team localizing the site in your language for further details, and to find out whether this option is available to you or not.
[Edited at 2015-05-16 03:11 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Paying for ProZ memberships will not automatically land you a job, by far not.
However, look at it from another perspective. If you do translation work for a living and put up with a free membership (with lots of limitations, such as delayed access to posted jobs, listing in the directory, etc.) you simply fail to project "seriousness" about your profession. In other words, you look "unprofessional".
Again, let us make no mistake; paid membership alone will not lead to ... See more Paying for ProZ memberships will not automatically land you a job, by far not.
However, look at it from another perspective. If you do translation work for a living and put up with a free membership (with lots of limitations, such as delayed access to posted jobs, listing in the directory, etc.) you simply fail to project "seriousness" about your profession. In other words, you look "unprofessional".
Again, let us make no mistake; paid membership alone will not lead to work by itself. It is, in my opinion, necessary however to be able to make maximum out of such an important website as ProZ is. Unfortunately, free membership will not do the trick.
Because by the same token we could also save on CAT tools, Office tools, laptops/desktops, printers, paper, paper clips, chair, screen, mouse, keyboard, books and dictionaries, training, etc. I could have dropped my MA in translation and saved 5k EUR. May be I should have dropped my law studies too and saved 22k EUR. Why bother reading and reading and reading again in your target and source languages, you can just watch TV and relax...I should sell my "Ortografía" and make 10 EUR. Do not upgrade to the latest version of you CAT tool (if you have one) it too will save you some money.
But this is wrong path to take for it is not about how much you can save (well, you have to be reasonable, though). Rather, it is about how much work (and what kind of work) you can actually generate. Bear in mind, you only have 10 hours a day (at best). So, it is always your choice:
1. Be small, be cheap, save on everything.
2. Invest in what is your profession and be profitable in the long run.
[Edited at 2015-05-16 08:48 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Suzan Hamer
Netherlands
Local time: 21:06
English
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| Great idea, Sheila. | May 16, 2015 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
Good luck! And let me know if/when you're prepared to pay for membership. I can donate some BrowniZ points to you, or anyone else, to give you a small discount. They don't seem to have much other value.
I've been meaning to contact ProZ to ask if I could use my BowniZ to provide membership for a friend of mine who wants to begin working as a translator but cannot yet afford the membership.
Wouldn't it be great if we could help someone out by paying at least half if not ALL of a (6-month?) membership using our, as you say, otherwise worthless BrownZ points?
[Edited at 2015-05-16 10:09 GMT]
| | | | Germaine
Canada
Local time: 15:06
English to French
+ ...
I don't see any mention of a CAT tool on your profile. Direct clients won't mind, but I would say it's mandatory for getting work from an agency.
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
There are ten (10) major features compared at http://www.proz.com/membership/ , where Free account users get five (5) limited options x 0.5 = 2.5 points of 10. It makes 1:4.
Of course, it doesn't count your exp, skills, abilities, possibilities, and so on, yet it does answer your question: since some 2004 a free ProZ account is hardly useful for getting new clients (jobs). That's it.
... See more There are ten (10) major features compared at http://www.proz.com/membership/ , where Free account users get five (5) limited options x 0.5 = 2.5 points of 10. It makes 1:4.
Of course, it doesn't count your exp, skills, abilities, possibilities, and so on, yet it does answer your question: since some 2004 a free ProZ account is hardly useful for getting new clients (jobs). That's it.
Why, it doesn't mean it's absolutely impossible to get clients or that a free account is but useless, it's just really very-very biz-limited (with purpose). Still it's quite ok for beginners to learn the ropes, stay tuned for news and facts of the trade, ask and answer related and to so obvious questions, get new acquaintances and so on. It's a good start, nothing else.
As a beginner I registered at several portals (including ProZ) and got quite a lot job offers, a little later ProZ restricted free accounts, so I thought to abandon ProZ for I got plenty of offers from other sources. However, a bit later I changed my mind, because I could learn and participate in the trade, which often comes handy) I still don't consider 'upgrading' for I already work with direct clients and I don't consider leaving ProZ atm either.
As for six months membership, I think it would be rather short for a newbie, but it really depends on how good quick-learner you are and how you can get along with people, trade, and biz.
http://www.proz.com/forum/prozcom_technical_support/285509-trial_membership.html
Good luck. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | The same question ? | Jan 14, 2017 |
Sara Garcia wrote:
Hi all,
I have signed in for a free Proz account, as i can't afford to pay the membership. My hope is to get enough work through the free account to raise money to pay for a full one, however, looking at the jobs panel, it looks like there's not much of a chance of getting any work without paying. So before wasting my time, i thought i put this question to the forum to see if any of you was able to get work without getting full membership. Thank you in advance for your feedback.
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| Why one can not have work for free account in proz | Jan 14, 2017 |
I have the same problem ,i have a free account in proz and till now i have not get any work and i can not pay for an account now without having any projects.So ,is there is any hope hope to get work in future?
| | | | | Membership means a better location for your shop window | Jan 16, 2017 |
Among the guiding principles upon which ProZ.com has been built you will find:
11. Site staff members focus their efforts on serving members first and foremost. While welcoming use of the site by non-paying users, the site team maintains a keen focus on providing great value to the site's paying members, whose fees make this endeavor possible. New features are developed according to member need and f... See more Among the guiding principles upon which ProZ.com has been built you will find:
11. Site staff members focus their efforts on serving members first and foremost. While welcoming use of the site by non-paying users, the site team maintains a keen focus on providing great value to the site's paying members, whose fees make this endeavor possible. New features are developed according to member need and feedback.
Membership alone is not enough, of course. ProZ.com profiles could be compared to shop windows, with members' profiles located on a better street. PRO KudoZ points in the corresponding field of expertise will move the shop window to the better part of the relevant street, but once the clients look into your shop window, the decision to get in or walk away will be based on how attractive the window is to them.
Regards,
Enrique ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I have a free account and I do get work | Jan 16, 2017 |
I've been on ProZ for slightly over 10 years, and am still unconvinced I need a paid account, but I came to ProZ with 20+ years of experience. Sure enough, paying the annual fee will get you a better visibility, but it doesn't guarantee you anything at all. For those at the very beginning of their translation career, I would recommend to get a free account and try to get jobs while improving your profile. Once you start to get at least SOME work, you can switch to a paid account and see if the j... See more I've been on ProZ for slightly over 10 years, and am still unconvinced I need a paid account, but I came to ProZ with 20+ years of experience. Sure enough, paying the annual fee will get you a better visibility, but it doesn't guarantee you anything at all. For those at the very beginning of their translation career, I would recommend to get a free account and try to get jobs while improving your profile. Once you start to get at least SOME work, you can switch to a paid account and see if the job stream gets any thicker. If it does, keep paying; eventually, when you start to get enough work to be picky, you may switch back to the free account. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:06
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| You have to make the account work for you | Jan 16, 2017 |
Mohammed Abd El Aziz wrote:
I have a free account on ProZ.com and until now I have not gotten any work, and I cannot pay for an account now without having had any projects.
Even those of us who have paid accounts get very few jobs via the job posting system. The majority of jobs come from clients who visited our profile pages or from clients whom we contacted ourselves.
1. You have a fairly unique set of language combinations, so you should focus on making yourself known to agencies that would have need for those languages. How many Dutch and Belgian outsourcers on the Blue Board have you contacted so far? There are 500+ Dutch outsourcers, of which almost 300 have 4+ ratings. Twenty Dutch outsourcers were added in 2016 and are therefore "hungrier for translators". The figures for Belgium are very similar.
2. Your profile page looks a bit slapdash, and you make language errors in your presentation. Your sample translations have weird blank spaces in them. Fix that to make a better first impression on potential clients visiting your profile page. Also, not mentioning your rates and not indicating more "working" fields puts you at a disadvantage in jobs posts (as you would otherwise not be notified of jobs that you might qualify for).
3. You are currently on the lower end of page 3 for a directory search for Dutch-Arabic translators. You can catapult yourself to #4 on page 2 if you only answer a few KudoZ questions in that language combination. You can reach #2 on page 2 for Arabic-Dutch by earning just 1 KudoZ point.
4. You write on your profile page:
My name is Mohammed a translator for Dutch , Arabic,English languages
I am ready to do the work you wish and send it back on time
Look at that... would you hire a translator who doesn't care about even the little things, like punctuation, particularly on his profile page, which is supposed to be the single good first impression he makes on clients?
You write in a BB rating:
Yes , i would like to work with [redacted] once again and looking forward to dealing with them ,thanks
Did you even proofread that entry before you hit the submit button? What must colleagues and potential clients think of you?
[Edited at 2017-01-16 23:39 GMT]
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Natasha Ziada (X)
Australia
Local time: 05:06
English to Dutch
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| Agree with Samuel | Jan 17, 2017 |
Sorry to say Mohammed, but your Dutch is nowhere near good enough to translate into Dutch. I had a look at your sample translations and the quality is not of a professional standard. It might be best to stick to translating into Arabic (in which surely there is plenty of work) and work on improving your writing and presentation skills in Dutch (and English) before attempting to translate into those languages.
I don't mean to be rude, you just have to keep in mind you are competing w... See more Sorry to say Mohammed, but your Dutch is nowhere near good enough to translate into Dutch. I had a look at your sample translations and the quality is not of a professional standard. It might be best to stick to translating into Arabic (in which surely there is plenty of work) and work on improving your writing and presentation skills in Dutch (and English) before attempting to translate into those languages.
I don't mean to be rude, you just have to keep in mind you are competing with professional translators and have to stand out in terms of quality to attract clients.
[Edited at 2017-01-17 00:20 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You can get a job even if you are not a paying member | Jan 17, 2017 |
My experience shows that it is possible to get a job even if you are not a paying member. I have joined Proz.com only 6 months ago, and at the beginning I was getting some small jobs, for 20, 30 Euros. And then, one fine day, I got a PO for 350 Euros translation. My luck was indescribable.The first thing I done after receiving this money was to pay for a membership. Why you ask? First of all, I think it is only fair to give back to those who gave us all an opportunity to earn money and second, ... See more My experience shows that it is possible to get a job even if you are not a paying member. I have joined Proz.com only 6 months ago, and at the beginning I was getting some small jobs, for 20, 30 Euros. And then, one fine day, I got a PO for 350 Euros translation. My luck was indescribable.The first thing I done after receiving this money was to pay for a membership. Why you ask? First of all, I think it is only fair to give back to those who gave us all an opportunity to earn money and second, I thought this will increase the number of my client. And guess what? It did. My advice to you is to send as many cover letters to agencies, since this was the way I was getting jobs in the first place, and still is. To summarize, polish your cover letter as humanly possible, and write in it something that will attract agencies. This worked for me, and I sincerely hope it will work for you as well. Best of luck. Oh, I almost forgot. Do not give up after a month or two. Stick to what you want to do and good things will happen. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:06
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Natasha Ziada wrote:
Agree with Samuel
Sorry to say Mohammed, but your Dutch is nowhere near good enough to translate into Dutch.
I was not commenting on the quality of his Dutch, but rather on the [lack of] attention to detail.
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