By Markus Spsike We all strive to better ourselves as professionals and to be leaders within the translation industry in order to improve our businesses and personal brand. In this article, I will highlight the importance of emotional intelligence skills in your daily work and when working within a team. For me, it is a must-have, and mastering emotional intelligence can improve your professional and personal life.  First, let’s explore why emotional intelligence is important in a business environment. Emotional intelligence is defined as the capacity to control, express one's emotions, handle and be aware of interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. It sounds just like what you would look for in a manager or senior team member, a leader who will be able to guide and improve a team’s performance. Some of these responsibilities include decision-making, coaching, mentoring, developing the team's skills and managing conflict, to name a few. Emotional intelligence...

Recruiting freelance translators is easy. Outsourcing work to freelance translators is easy. Paying freelance translators is easy. But what about recruiting, outsourcing and paying other translation companies?  By Christina@Wocintechchat In an ideal world, a database would be 20% freelance translators and 80% translation companies. It would make things so much easier! Project Managers could allocate entire projects to one supplier, without worrying about splitting files, coordinating deliveries, lengthy quality checks etc. Unfortunately, that is not how it usually happens in the real world. Working with translation companies can get very messy and stressful for a Project Manager. A small mistake can leave you with thousands of words untranslated the day before the deadline. It is true that this can also happen when working with freelancers, but the amount of work allocated to a freelancer is usually much smaller.  While working at Xerox, I resourced a job to a company that dea...

One of the key responsibilities of a Vendor Manager is to manage their database. The database is composed of thousands of profiles, one for each supplier. Each profile will contain information such as the supplier’s contact details, services, rates, competencies, performance, tasks performed and all the paperwork required.  Being the main point of reference for project managers when assigning work, the information within the database must be as up to date and accurate as possible. This way, projects can be assigned to suitable suppliers, and Vendor Managers can easily spot any supplier gaps.  The database is constantly changing, not only as suppliers evolve, but also as client’s requirements change. From my experience, the database must be flexible in order to suit any unexpected projects and new clients. This is where you can test whether your database, and by extension, your Vendor Management team, is “proactive” or “reactive”.  A reactive database can be defined as a d...

While browsing the Internet, I came across a list of attributes that a successful Vendor Manager should have, and I found it very interesting. Some of these skills are also important for other roles, but I find them especially important for any role within the translation vendor management field.  👋Excellent communication skills👋 Vendor Managers need to communicate with different parties: teammates, colleagues, suppliers and clients. Being the administrator of the database gives the Vendor Manager a lot of knowledge about the company’s suppliers (or what is missing), so they are the best people to answer their colleagues' questions. For example, when the sales team wants to check the number of resources the company has for certain language combinations, or when project managers can't find a suitable supplier for their job. 😀Ability to develop and maintain strong and successful working relationships😀 This is one of the main duties of the Vendor Manager. Recruiting suppliers ...

A company's database is one of their most valuable assets. Therefore, the relationship between the LSP and their suppliers is key to the success of the supply chain. Establishing and developing these relationships is one of the main responsibilities of the Vendor Manager.  In every relationship, we need to take into account each party's power. The matrix below will help the Vendor Manager assess the effectiveness and strength of the company's database by taking into account each party’s interest in the collaboration and the translation market. This analysis will split the database into four main groups:  Key suppliers – Supplier dominance This group should include the company's go-to suppliers. The people that the company can always rely on, who work with their most important clients and who generally deliver quality translations. The supplier should receive a large amount of work from the company, and have worked with them on a long-term basis to qualify for this group...

Keeping your suppliers engaged can be tricky. They may be too busy, or not very interested in engaging with your company. Coming up with new and interesting content can also be difficult. However, in order to keep your suppliers interested in working with your company (apart from being a good client), I would like to give you some recommendations you may want to try. Social media group I got this idea from the GALA blog, where the author talked about her experience of using a Facebook group as a way to engage with her company’s suppliers. While working for Webcertain, I took the idea and created a Facebook profile through which suppliers could interact with employees of the company. I posted industry news, company-related news and pictures of company events. It helped boost the company’s brand among our current suppliers and their immediate connections, as well as strengthen the company’s relationship with their suppliers. Achievement certificates I absolutely love this idea, and try t...

I would like to share with you the seven main attributes a Vendor Manager wants to see when working with freelance translators, as well as the language combination and subject area. (No, "cheap rates" is not one of them!)  Good time management: All clients expect their vendor to meet all project deadlines. If this is not possible, I would advise the translator to reject the task, and wait for the next offer. Missing a deadline will discourage the LSP from sending the translator additional work, but rejecting an offer won't affect their chances of getting project offers in the future. Time management and multitasking are skills that can be easily learned and adapted to your way of working. Understanding the LSP's process and hierarchy: Addressing the wrong person and replying to the wrong email thread when contacting an LSP could mean your message never reaches the intended receiver or is not understood correctly. Make sure you know who is who to ensure the quickest re...

In the translation industry, negotiation is sometimes a daily practice; vendor managers negotiate with potential suppliers, project managers negotiate with freelance translators and clients negotiate with LSPs to get the best deal possible.  I used to be the kind of person who shied away from negotiating at all costs. I felt uncomfortable and overpowered when trying to negotiate. That is why, in 2017, I attended a short negotiation course, and I realised that everyone in the room that day had the same problem as me. This course taught me some basic principles, so that I was able to build   my negotiation skills at my own pace. The truth is that the more you negotiate, the better you get at it.  In my opinion, preparing for a negotiation is key in order to get the best outcome. What could you do to prepare for a negotiation?  Learn as much as you can about the person/company you are going to talk to.  Think about the relationship you have...

Translation Vendor Management Group

As a Vendor Manager, I probably post about 5 adverts per month in order to cover my company's needs for translators. I will be honest and admit that Proz.com is my go-to website to recruit translators in most cases. With each advert posted, I receive between 20 to 60* emails applying/bidding for the project advertised. However, I would generally choose around 5 translators to onboard per language combination. A high volume of applications is great news for any Vendor Manager, but it means some translators will pass unnoticed and won't be successful on their application for this particular opening. So, how to make your application stand out from the crowd as a freelance translator? Don't start your email with "Dear Sir/Madam, Sirs, hiring manager". Always find the name of the person hiring and address them directly wherever possible. Whenever I advertise a position, my name and position are always clearly stated, but if you are still not sure, check the profile and...

I have been working in Vendor Management for 4 years now, and checking CVs/applications is now an automatic task in my brain. Much like driving, my eyes are trained to scan the document or email looking for the key information I need. In my previous article on this topic, I focused on the content that is necessary (or not) in a CV, so in this one I would like to talk about formatting and presentation of the information. As you already know, being a freelancer looking for new clients, you can’t afford to appear unprofessional to your clients and peers. Your CV is the first impression your new client will have of your business. Therefore, you want to make it count. The layout of your CV has to adapt to the content you are including in it, this means you can't use a CV template that is designed for people looking for a full time position (for example Europass), because you will find yourself deleting most of the default fields trying to make it work. I always recommend Canva.com, whic...

Most of my daily work involves recruiting freelance translators. I send hundreds of emails and screen dozens of CVs every week. I have held the role of Resource Administrator for a year and during this time I have been able to interact with translators from all around the globe. This has given me an overview of how freelance translators present themselves to their potential clients. Recruiting freelance translators is not an easy job. The market is endless and finding the right freelance translator for your projects can seem like finding a needle in a haystack. Personal impressions play a big part in the recruitment process. We all have different personalities, priorities and goals and this should be clearly shown on your CV. Together with your introductory e-mail, this is the first impression your new client will have of your business. Therefore, I would like to share with you my opinion of what makes a successful freelance translator CV. As a freelancer, you are not applying for any ...

During my first year working at Xerox, I worked part-time in the Quality Department monitoring our supplier's performance, and giving feedback when necessary. I loved it. I still find it fascinating to see how a supplier performs over time on different projects, but the most exciting part was always the answers I got to my emails. For most translators, their business is their own self, and that is why feedback can make or break someone's day. The definition of constructive feedback I like the most is taken from a Harvard Business Review article: Feedback is about telling people what we think of their performance and how they should do it better. I use this definition, because this is the version I think is most widely used in the translation industry. Each client will have their own reference material for which suppliers working on the project should adhere to on every occasion. I would say that around 95% of the feedback I see from clients is in regards to their opinion on how...

                                               Now is a time of great change in the world, and in business. Many companies will need to re-invent themselves, people will change careers, and others will continue as before. Workload is always somewhat uncertain in our industry, but I think it will fluctuate more than usual during the next six months. Are you already seeing any trends among your clients? Is it time to diversify your books? Have you considered working for clients in a different time zone? Here is your chance. Agencies will be looking to recruit new translators, and freelancers will be looking for new clients. The start of a new partnership is always exacting, but it can also be a period of adaptation, to ensure both partners can (and will) work smoothly together. I would like to highlight five points that, in my opinion, are often unde...

Talking about rates can be a delicate subject for many people in the translation industry. Pricing the services you offer is a very personal (and sometimes difficult) thing, both for freelance translators, and for agencies. Am I bidding too low? Will the client agree to my rates? How low am I ready to go? Per word or per hour? Before diving in, consider, have you got the same rate for each of your clients? Do you offer discounts and surcharges on specific projects? Do you offer a different rate for each subject matter which you translate? Do you offer a customised rate for each project? End clients set a yearly budget to spend on translation services. This starts what could feel like a race to find the supplier with the cheapest rates. Translators working with both end clients and translation agencies might see the difference between the rates paid. Translation agencies will use a fraction of the total paid by the client to cover the supplier's costs. However, this doesn't alwa...

A vendor database is a tool for project managers and coordinators to find the best translation vendor possible for any given project requested by a client. The Vendor Manager’s duty is therefore to manage it strategically to ensure that it is flexible, cost-effective, and maximise its usability. This means the cost of maintaining the vendor database has to be small, vendors have to be used as much as possible, and the variety of vendors has to be flexible enough to cope with extraordinary requests or peaks in the workload. Tasks such as a full database clean-up or mass on-boarding/removing of vendors takes a lot of Vendor Manager’s time and effort, so they won’t have as much time to be deal with other requests. Hence, an effective management of the database on a daily basis is the most beneficial in terms of cost and employee motivation. Here are six tips to help you manage your database effectively. Take on board these tips and make your daily work more efficient. Dealing with Data Th...

It is so easy for a translation vendor’s database to get out of control. Unlike other industries, the database of a translation business, big or small, changes every week. Considering that perhaps 80% of a translation business’ success is based on how good the vendors in the database are (combined with how well your PMs can match them with the right clients’ request), the database is one of the main factors for your company’s success or failure. Unless you outsource or have a very good automated process, you really need a staff member looking after the translation vendor’s database in order to keep it under control. The fact is that cleaning the database can be a mammoth task which can make any Vendor Manager feel like a monastic scribe from the Middle-Ages. Hopefully these guidelines will make you feel like a master organiser instead, and help you take ownership of the task ahead. Let’s pause for a moment and think: What does your company need from the database? What is the purpose of...