| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Looking for advice, being ghosted by company I worked freelance for the past year Thread poster: Stefanie Lewis Aschenbrenner
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Hello,
I’m just after some advice really as I am at a loss.
It’s a global life science company that has started to build up their own translation department about a year ago. I worked for them for the past year as a freelancer several times a week on various projects. They gave feedback once a month which was always positive, they always paid on time (or almost always). I haven’t heard from them in over three weeks. After being offered no new work for over a week, I have... See more Hello,
I’m just after some advice really as I am at a loss.
It’s a global life science company that has started to build up their own translation department about a year ago. I worked for them for the past year as a freelancer several times a week on various projects. They gave feedback once a month which was always positive, they always paid on time (or almost always). I haven’t heard from them in over three weeks. After being offered no new work for over a week, I have sent a friendly email to the PM I was most in contact with enquiring if there’s anything I can do to qualify for more work as I have noticed a drop in demand over the past week. No reply. A week after I sent an email to my personal contact regarding translation quality asking the same question and if there’s anything I can improve on, again no reply. This week I tried two more contacts with the same result. Any ideas what I could do to get any kind of reply? I can’t stop thinking what it is that I could have done wrong.
Is this common? Has it happened to anyone else?
Thank you ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Fossey 
Canada
Local time: 17:50
Member (2008)
French to English
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Especially with large direct clients that have an in-house translation department, for which freelance translators are likely getting overflow from their in-house translators. If there is a reduction in volume that brings it below the threshold for requiring outsourcing, the freelancer will experience it as a sudden stop.
It underlines the need to always keep marketing and, as a rule of thumb, not to let any one client be the source of more than 20% of your work. More than that and ... See more Especially with large direct clients that have an in-house translation department, for which freelance translators are likely getting overflow from their in-house translators. If there is a reduction in volume that brings it below the threshold for requiring outsourcing, the freelancer will experience it as a sudden stop.
It underlines the need to always keep marketing and, as a rule of thumb, not to let any one client be the source of more than 20% of your work. More than that and the loss or even reduction in volume of that client will be hard to bear. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Try another contact there | Sep 14, 2021 |
Maybe it’s as simple as your contact leaving or being on leave. Try contacting someone else.
It would be rude, unprofessional and surprising to be dumped without explanation.
| | | | | Apply for different agencies | Sep 14, 2021 |
Hello, I am sorry to hear that you had to go through this experience. But I think that you should use this as a chance to expand your work opportunities by applying to new agencies, and I am sure a lot of agencies would be happy to give you work, especially with the experience you gained. In addition to that, the agency might contact you again. Finally I wish you the best of the luck in future.
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expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 22:50
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| If you have something on your mind, | Sep 14, 2021 |
I would give them a call.
Otherwise, you will keep thinking or worrying about it. I wouldn't hesitate.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 23:50
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Of course it’s common. | Sep 14, 2021 |
Stefanie Lewis Aschenbrenner wrote:
Hello,
I’m just after some advice really as I am at a loss.
It’s a global life science company that has started to build up their own translation department about a year ago. I worked for them for the past year as a freelancer several times a week on various projects. They gave feedback once a month which was always positive, they always paid on time (or almost always). I haven’t heard from them in over three weeks. After being offered no new work for over a week, I have sent a friendly email to the PM I was most in contact with enquiring if there’s anything I can do to qualify for more work as I have noticed a drop in demand over the past week. No reply. A week after I sent an email to my personal contact regarding translation quality asking the same question and if there’s anything I can improve on, again no reply. This week I tried two more contacts with the same result. Any ideas what I could do to get any kind of reply? I can’t stop thinking what it is that I could have done wrong.
Is this common? Has it happened to anyone else?
Thank you
Yes, it’s common. What is not common though is that nobody is replying to emails. What was your communication with them like so far - automated or personal? As in just sending files via a button, or personalized emails?
To me it seems like their campaign or project has been over if the drop was so sudden. Or they have other priorities budget wise. If you really wanna know for sure, give them a call or drop them a message on LinkedIn.
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
| August problems? | Sep 14, 2021 |
In a few countries with long paid vacation, anyone who's anyone takes the month of August off, and everything non-urgent grinds to a halt.
I almost managed to forget that I did a lot of business translating Ukrainian earlier this summer... until last week, I was starting to suspect that was pretty much over.
Suddenly, I'm getting lots of jobs with date stamps like "Sent July xx Received September xx" again.
[Edited at 2021-09-14 19:41 GMT]
| | | | | Happens somtimes | Sep 14, 2021 |
It's rare, but it happens. Even when things were going well with the agency. Sometimes it can be because someone left and they didn't lock the email. But here you tried mailing other people and nothing. My guess is maybe they don't need you anymore but just can't be bothered to answer. It's incredibly rude, but I saw it happen.
Similarly to what John Fossey said, that's why you should never get too attached to one client or another. They rarely get attached to you.
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jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 17:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Your clients are not obligated to keep giving you assignments | Sep 14, 2021 |
Stefanie Lewis Aschenbrenner wrote:
After being offered no new work for over a week, I have sent a friendly email to the PM I was most in contact with enquiring if there’s anything I can do to qualify for more work as I have noticed a drop in demand over the past week. No reply. A week after I sent an email to my personal contact regarding translation quality asking the same question and if there’s anything I can improve on, again no reply. This week I tried two more contacts with the same result. Any ideas what I could do to get any kind of reply? I can’t stop thinking what it is that I could have done wrong.
Thank you
The PM may not like your inquiries. You work as an independent contractor, and such a status never guarantees a non-stop workflow.
The fact that you got no assignments for 3 weeks may have been caused by a whole lot of things, and it could just be that your client has been slow in their business.
[Edited at 2021-09-14 22:58 GMT]
| | | | Min Xuanping
China
Local time: 05:50
Member
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Keep a few customers in hand and refresh your customer base by setting a criteria. | Sep 14, 2021 |
I usually keep 3 customers in hand. If one of them does not send me any task in one week, I will find another customer to replace it. There is no need to explain much, we do it and we do the best without the need to be appreciated by any others.
| | | | Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 17:50
German to English
| Three weeks is not a long time! | Sep 14, 2021 |
Stefanie Lewis Aschenbrenner wrote:
Hello,
I’m just after some advice really as I am at a loss.
It’s a global life science company that has started to build up their own translation department about a year ago. I worked for them for the past year as a freelancer several times a week on various projects. They gave feedback once a month which was always positive, they always paid on time (or almost always). I haven’t heard from them in over three weeks. After being offered no new work for over a week, I can’t stop thinking what it is that I could have done wrong.
Is this common? Has it happened to anyone else?
Thank you
One of my direct clients is a publisher that sends me upwards of 50 assignments/year. From time to time they send nothing for several weeks in a row, then they'll send several jobs a week for a few weeks.
There could be a number of factors at work here, none of which you can control: internal reorganization including change of PMs, vacations, as well as policy decisions regarding freelancers vs. internal production. My advice is to stay cool and keep expanding your client list.
[Edited at 2021-09-15 01:33 GMT]
| | | | | Three weeks? | Sep 15, 2021 |
Over the years I have been working regularly with a long-standing customer (a Belgian agency). They usually send at least one job a week. I haven’t heard from them since the 29th July but with the summer vacations in full swing and everything the Corona virus epidemic entails I am not worried at all…
[Edited at 2021-09-15 08:49 GMT]
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Thank you all for your supportive and honest comments. I guess I should just let it go and move on. My communication with the PMs I worked with was always on a professional but personal level, discussing the current projects and working together so I had the feeling we've built a good and strong working relationship. As it was advertised as a freelance position that will at least require 25 hours per week (which it was until now) I have prioritised them which has now come back to haunt me. I hav... See more Thank you all for your supportive and honest comments. I guess I should just let it go and move on. My communication with the PMs I worked with was always on a professional but personal level, discussing the current projects and working together so I had the feeling we've built a good and strong working relationship. As it was advertised as a freelance position that will at least require 25 hours per week (which it was until now) I have prioritised them which has now come back to haunt me. I have learnt my lesson and will, as some of you already said, not focus so much on one client anymore. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| Being heavily dependent on one client is inherently dangerous | Sep 15, 2021 |
One way to mitigate it somewhat is to have multiple language pairs, but even then, if you inadvertently offend someone or get into any sort of situation that casts doubt on your professionalism or integrity (even a misunderstanding over files lost by somebody else or a server error could do the trick, if no one bothers to follow up), that can really hurt.
But at least with multiple language pairs you know where you stand. If *everything* dries up, it's almost certainly not your rate... See more One way to mitigate it somewhat is to have multiple language pairs, but even then, if you inadvertently offend someone or get into any sort of situation that casts doubt on your professionalism or integrity (even a misunderstanding over files lost by somebody else or a server error could do the trick, if no one bothers to follow up), that can really hurt.
But at least with multiple language pairs you know where you stand. If *everything* dries up, it's almost certainly not your rates and not localized weirdness like holidays.
I'd advise starting to look for new business whenever you have 2 consecutive days without job offers.
Strategies vary... some people will say use the downtime to try to score business at higher rates, others will advise exploring new markets entirely, and some people I'd disagree with would suggest finding a stable source of crappy cheap work to fall back on in such situations
[Edited at 2021-09-15 10:14 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Be more "direkt" dealing with the company | Sep 15, 2021 |
Well, you do say that the company has been developing its own translating department over the last year, so my guess is that they have finally got an in-house translator and simply don't need you any more.
You say you wrote enquiring if there’s anything you could do to qualify for more work as you have noticed a drop in demand over the previous week. This is quite a roundabout way of reminding them that you are still out there and it didn't produce any reaction from them! Perhaps... See more Well, you do say that the company has been developing its own translating department over the last year, so my guess is that they have finally got an in-house translator and simply don't need you any more.
You say you wrote enquiring if there’s anything you could do to qualify for more work as you have noticed a drop in demand over the previous week. This is quite a roundabout way of reminding them that you are still out there and it didn't produce any reaction from them! Perhaps it is a German firm and they are more "direkt" than you realise?
Meanwhile it's quite obvious that you are no longer being considered, so it's time to ask outright why not. Don't be apologetic or begging, just ask them to confirm that they don't need you any more, mentioning that you have other clients who require your services and you need to know whether you will now be able to devote all your time to the other clients. With any luck you might even get a nice communication back thanking you for your work. ▲ Collapse
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