| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Unnecessary annoying zoom meetings Thread poster: Anna A. K.
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Anna A. K. 
Germany
Local time: 08:05
Member (2020)
English to German
Hi there,
I have noticed that some clients or translation agencies tend to ask for a zoom/skype meeting after I successfully applied for a job or when a test translation was successful. Looking back, all of these calls were an absolute waste of time, because they are telling me things that they could have easily written in a short email but occupy 30 minutes or an hour of my time instead.
Or they ask me about my experience, which is stated very detailed in my resume. A... See more Hi there,
I have noticed that some clients or translation agencies tend to ask for a zoom/skype meeting after I successfully applied for a job or when a test translation was successful. Looking back, all of these calls were an absolute waste of time, because they are telling me things that they could have easily written in a short email but occupy 30 minutes or an hour of my time instead.
Or they ask me about my experience, which is stated very detailed in my resume. And I basically read my resume to them. What is the point? I really start to feel annoyed by these calls as they are 100 % useless and stealing my time. I understand they want to get to know the translator, but why are these call never efficient or helpful?
I was wondering if you guys are often asked for (unnecessary) zoom meetings in the beginning stages of a new job and how you go about it. I am at a point where I just want to decline them, but in a nice way.
Best regards,
Anna ▲ Collapse
| | | | Elke Gober
Germany
Local time: 08:05
English to German
| Team decline | Feb 10, 2022 |
Hi Anna,
I absolutely agree with you - most of these calls are a total waste of time. However, it can be rewarding to have "met" the project manager you will be working with in the future.
I usually explain politely how much UNPAID time I have spent on application, filling in forms and/or doing test translations and that I am afraid I can't invest any more unpaid time in a cooperation that hasn't even started yet. Then I ask for payment for the time I am supposed to spe... See more Hi Anna,
I absolutely agree with you - most of these calls are a total waste of time. However, it can be rewarding to have "met" the project manager you will be working with in the future.
I usually explain politely how much UNPAID time I have spent on application, filling in forms and/or doing test translations and that I am afraid I can't invest any more unpaid time in a cooperation that hasn't even started yet. Then I ask for payment for the time I am supposed to spend on this call They usually decline themselves.
I always suggest that I am more than happy to take part in such a call after we have been working on a few projects together - after all, it's usually nice to sort of know these people.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes these people simply don't know/understand/want to understand how much time (and money, effectively) they are stealing us with these calls.
You are a highly qualified professional and you are absolutely right if you don't want to waste your time!
PS: UNLESS the client pays incredibly good - that will almost always be worth it ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 08:05
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Anna1307 wrote:
Looking back, all of these calls were an absolute waste of time, because they are telling me things that they could have easily written in a short email but occupied 30 minutes or an hour of my time instead.
Yes. However, some people actually appreciate this. I've been to webinars where I thought "well, this was crap" and then it gets glowing reviews from other participants. Some people just communicate optimally differently.
On the other hand, I've had to give feedback about translations to teams of translators via Zoom, and the voice (and screen sharing) capabilities did allow me to stress specific things. And a video chat ensures that the listeners don't skip over anything because they don't realize that it is quite important.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 09:05
Member
English to Turkish
| Well, at least | Feb 10, 2022 |
that's one way of establishing whether or not the person is who he/she says he/she is, and not some scammer who's stolen somebody else's CV and masquerading as an English to Dutch/Bulgarian/Slovakian/Georgian translator, looking to get e-mail notifications from agencies to outsource those jobs to bottom-feeders on Upwork.
Some sort of vetting is necessary to separate wheat from chaff. Anybody can get into agencies' books by simply clicking on the 'Join Us' button. I suggested (and still th... See more that's one way of establishing whether or not the person is who he/she says he/she is, and not some scammer who's stolen somebody else's CV and masquerading as an English to Dutch/Bulgarian/Slovakian/Georgian translator, looking to get e-mail notifications from agencies to outsource those jobs to bottom-feeders on Upwork.
Some sort of vetting is necessary to separate wheat from chaff. Anybody can get into agencies' books by simply clicking on the 'Join Us' button. I suggested (and still think it's a good idea) providing references who would vouch for one's ability and skills as a translator in the past, but, for some reason, it got a very negative reaction from forum members. Zoom calls sound extreme and annoying. Nobody has ever asked me to do that as of yet. I don't even have a camera & microphone for my desktop computer. ▲ Collapse
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Joe France
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:05
Member (2016)
German to English
+ ...
| See it as networking | Feb 10, 2022 |
Hi Anna,
I can understand why you might find such calls frustrating. I don't know how many of these calls you've had, or how many clients you work with, but I shouldn't imagine it's some exorbitant number. I can see why you would rather spend your time translating and actually generating income - but I would suggest that you look at this differently.
For example, I'm not the world's fastest translator, I'm far from the cheapest and I'm not afraid to say no if something'... See more Hi Anna,
I can understand why you might find such calls frustrating. I don't know how many of these calls you've had, or how many clients you work with, but I shouldn't imagine it's some exorbitant number. I can see why you would rather spend your time translating and actually generating income - but I would suggest that you look at this differently.
For example, I'm not the world's fastest translator, I'm far from the cheapest and I'm not afraid to say no if something's beyond me. I'm still working to eke out my specialisms, so I have to think about what sets me apart from other translators - and the obvious answer would be the fact that I spend time building relationships with people. I'm not saying you don't, but try to see these calls from the PM's perspective: if they've got a nice job from a good client and their go-to translator is booked up, wouldn't you like to be at the front of their mind as that pleasant young translator they spoke to last week, who so enthusiastically outlined their skills and expertise? Think how long sales agents spend building relationships with potential clients - and see it as a little marketing activity.
This doesn't mean brown-nosing or laughing at all the PM's jokes, but rather building a relationship on a human level. From conversations with friends who are PMs, and from my dealings with some other translators, it's quite common in our line of work for people to have poor interpersonal skills or, perhaps, for people to be unable to express these skills via email. Just like a job interview - and, I know, we're freelancers, not employees - a video call is an opportunity for a client to get to know you. Do you seem reliable? Could you strike up a rapport? Does it seem like you actually want to work for them? Aside from all that, I've always found that you catch more more flies with honey than vinegar.
This might all seem obvious, but try to see it from the PM's point of view. For your part, you might consider trying to put a framework/limits on the conversation - maybe you have another call just after, or a lot of deadlines in the afternoon? I guess my suggestion would be not to decline, but to agree to a brief, 15 minute call, or another set framework you'd be happier with and would give you a little more control. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 09:05
Member
English to Turkish
Joe France wrote:
Hi Anna,
I can understand why you might find such calls frustrating. I don't know how many of these calls you've had, or how many clients you work with, but I shouldn't imagine it's some exorbitant number. I can see why you would rather spend your time translating and actually generating income - but I would suggest that you look at this differently.
For example, I'm not the world's fastest translator, I'm far from the cheapest and I'm not afraid to say no if something's beyond me. I'm still working to eke out my specialisms, so I have to think about what sets me apart from other translators - and the obvious answer would be the fact that I spend time building relationships with people. I'm not saying you don't, but try to see these calls from the PM's perspective: if they've got a nice job from a good client and their go-to translator is booked up, wouldn't you like to be at the front of their mind as that pleasant young translator they spoke to last week, who so enthusiastically outlined their skills and expertise? Think how long sales agents spend building relationships with potential clients - and see it as a little marketing activity.
This doesn't mean brown-nosing or laughing at all the PM's jokes, but rather building a relationship on a human level. From conversations with friends who are PMs, and from my dealings with some other translators, it's quite common in our line of work for people to have poor interpersonal skills or, perhaps, for people to be unable to express these skills via email. Just like a job interview - and, I know, we're freelancers, not employees - a video call is an opportunity for a client to get to know you. Do you seem reliable? Could you strike up a rapport? Does it seem like you actually want to work for them? Aside from all that, I've always found that you catch more more flies with honey than vinegar.
This might all seem obvious, but try to see it from the PM's point of view. For your part, you might consider trying to put a framework/limits on the conversation - maybe you have another call just after, or a lot of deadlines in the afternoon? I guess my suggestion would be not to decline, but to agree to a brief, 15 minute call, or another set framework you'd be happier with and would give you a little more control.
I may be wrong, but from what I understood from her post, Anna describes this as part of an onboarding process, and as far as I know 'Vendor Managers', rather than PMs, are involved in that process, so it must be them you should be dealing with.
In my experience, most PMs have no time to stop and chat, let alone having zoom calls in a 'foreign language' (English) with a translator (I have yet to find those 17 cent per word paying 'boutique agencies' located in rural Denmark or France, maybe the PMs are chattier there), they just want to get on with their jobs (as I said most of them, not all of them).
I'd much rather expressing myself in an email, I don't speak English that well. I'm sure the majority of those translating from English would feel the same.
But I do understand where you're coming from.
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Oh, Baran... | Feb 10, 2022 |
Baran Keki wrote:
that's one way of establishing whether or not the person is who he/she says he/she is, and not some scammer who's stolen somebody else's CV and masquerading as an English to Dutch/Bulgarian/Slovakian/Georgian translator, looking to get e-mail notifications from agencies to outsource those jobs to bottom-feeders on Upwork.
Just last month I got a tip that someone stole a cover letter I made over a year ago. So I can relate now. 
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 09:05
Member
English to Turkish
| Sorry to hear that! | Feb 10, 2022 |
Novian Cahyadi wrote: Just last month I got a tip that someone stole a cover letter I made over a year ago. So I can relate now.
Last year somebody stole both my cover letter and old resume and, using those (with a fake name), applied for a job with the agency where I worked as an in-house for 10 years and left after a long legal battle. I got nearly sued again by my old boss and exposed as a scammer on some website.
These things do happen.
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Tony Keily
Local time: 08:05
Italian to English
+ ...
...the PMs (or VMs) in question had just done a mandatory multi-stream technology upgrade seminar and needed a certain number of lective implementation modules to achieve full equivalence certification.
Reminds me of what a guy I once worked with (a gnarled TV field producer) told me: "There are two kinds of people in this world: those who work and those who use PowerPoint."
| | | | | No, please... | Feb 10, 2022 |
Call me old-fashioned, but as I hate being contacted by phone (landline or mobile) imagine what I think about Skype, WhatsApp, Zoom and the like. All these means of contact often give rise to long conversations that could be solved with one first email. Fortunately all my clients are as old-fashioned as I am...
| | | | | Never happened to me | Feb 10, 2022 |
But I think it's a great idea. Not only do you get a chance to impress, but if they are investing that much time in you presumably they are more likely to use you.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:05
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
You already answered your own question.
You say 1) they occupy a lot of your time and 2) they never lead to any project landing.
You can tell them what you said here: I don’t provide these interviews free of charge as they take a lot of time. I can provide one at my standard hourly rate.
Then they can take it or leave it. Some people here say it’s because they want to see you are not a catfish. 30 minute conversation? It takes 5 minutes at most to see s... See more You already answered your own question.
You say 1) they occupy a lot of your time and 2) they never lead to any project landing.
You can tell them what you said here: I don’t provide these interviews free of charge as they take a lot of time. I can provide one at my standard hourly rate.
Then they can take it or leave it. Some people here say it’s because they want to see you are not a catfish. 30 minute conversation? It takes 5 minutes at most to see she is who she says she is.
It sounds like yet another additional annoyance to endless paperwork some agencie prefer (the agencies that never send you any work). ▲ Collapse
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Anna A. K.
Germany
Local time: 08:05
Member (2020)
English to German
TOPIC STARTER
Lingua 5B wrote:
It sounds like yet another additional annoyance to endless paperwork some agencie prefer (the agencies that never send you any work).
This is so true, the ones who wanted a call as part of the onboarding were usually the ones that provide the least amount of work.
You are right, charging an hourly rate is the correct solution. Thanks
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 08:05
French to English
I haven't had Zoom meetings, but I have had some pretty lengthy phone calls. These mostly seem to work to my advantage, as I see them as an opportunity to sell my translation skills and explain how I work, why I'm more expensive than the competition etc.
You feel like refusing these meetings and that's understandable, especially given that Zoom can be quite excruciating for those who are not familiar with it and for hard-core introverts (and let's face it, translation is a wonderfu... See more I haven't had Zoom meetings, but I have had some pretty lengthy phone calls. These mostly seem to work to my advantage, as I see them as an opportunity to sell my translation skills and explain how I work, why I'm more expensive than the competition etc.
You feel like refusing these meetings and that's understandable, especially given that Zoom can be quite excruciating for those who are not familiar with it and for hard-core introverts (and let's face it, translation is a wonderful occupation for introverts, so a lot of translators are introverted). However, refusing won't get you work, that's for sure, and presumably if you've got to that stage with an agency it's because you're looking for work?
If your Zoom meetings don't lead to you getting jobs, maybe you're doing something wrong. You might want to practise with a friend, the kind of friend who'll be forthright and tell you exactly how you're coming across and what you need to do to improve.
Otherwise, you can:
- make sure you have a nice background (shelves of dictionaries and interesting books, I would have books and other items representing my various specialities: CDs by musicians I work for, reproductions of artwork by artists for whom I have translated exhibition cartels and catalogues. I'll point these out as I mention the various jobs I have done)
- work on your posture, sitting up rather than slouching, looking interested and interesting, smiling, no picking noses, scratching itches, or any other annoying habits you might have (I was horrified, in pre-internet days, to see a video of myself while demonstrating something, twiddling with my hair and scratching my nose where my hair had tickled it, and ever since, I've been very careful to use my hands only to put my point across),
- practise talking about your work, highlighting jobs that might be of interest to the client, work you've done for their competitors, your knowledge of their industry, your working methods, ensuring that you sound like you enjoy your work (as opposed to "reading my CV out loud" which sounds excruciatingly boring),
- if you can get them to laugh, you'll increase your chances no end, so practise slipping little jokes in (I often get a laugh telling them about my little mottos like "quality control is like housework, nobody notices unless you've not bothered", or I tell them how I used to have a post-it on my screen that said "cut the crap" as a reminder that English needs to be more concise and to-the-point than French, where you need to wax lyrical on occasion, and use long sentences to show that you're clever).
That might sound like a lot of work, but if you're looking for work and coming unstuck at zoom time, this is what you probably need to do to get Zoom to work for you. Hope that helps!
[Edited at 2022-02-10 13:37 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-02-10 13:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Anna A. K.
Germany
Local time: 08:05
Member (2020)
English to German
TOPIC STARTER
Joe France wrote:
This doesn't mean brown-nosing or laughing at all the PM's jokes, but rather building a relationship on a human level. From conversations with friends who are PMs, and from my dealings with some other translators, it's quite common in our line of work for people to have poor interpersonal skills or, perhaps, for people to be unable to express these skills via email. Just like a job interview - and, I know, we're freelancers, not employees - a video call is an opportunity for a client to get to know you. Do you seem reliable? Could you strike up a rapport? Does it seem like you actually want to work for them? Aside from all that, I've always found that you catch more more flies with honey than vinegar.
I understand what you mean, but time is a valuable resource that I don't like to give away freely, not in my private life and especially not in my professional life. I have a problem with people who don't respect other people's time. I am not an employee, I am a freelancer. Those people don't seem to get that, our time is worth something. If they assess my skills and my test gets approved, and they have my references in the resume, if they have doubts about my reputation, there is no need for any "hanging around on Zoom" in my opinion.
[Bearbeitet am 2022-02-10 14:11 GMT]
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