When a translator approaches the job market, a portfolio is often required. A portfolio is a list of each commission a freelancer did accompanied by some images. For example, an architect or an artist’s portfolio should have some drawings they did. However, in the translation world, creating a portfolio is not so intuitive. There are many variables involved: a more experienced translator could have way too many projects to include, while a novice could have the opposite problem. Let’s see together how to create one.
Consider Creating More Than Just One Portfolio
Not all fields are interested in a complete portfolio. Imagine you are sending your curriculum vitae and your past works to a marketing company. Probably, they will not be interested in your literary translations. In the same way, a video game localization company could not be interested in your social posts’ translations.
A useful strategy is to create more than just one portfolio, each one thought for a specific type of commissions or for the job position you are considering.
Do Not Include Just the Paid Commissions
When you create a portfolio, you do not necessarily have to include just the paid commissions. For novices, it could be useful to include university’s exercises or other projects made during an internship or an online course.
If you collaborated with a non-profit organization and the articles are published on their web sites, you can include them in your portfolio. In the same way, you can ask to some bloggers to translate their articles. Be careful, though, to check if they are protected by creative commons.
Contact Small Businesses
Small Businesses are often formed by small groups and do not have budget for a translator. To build a rich and professional portfolio you could help them with free translations in order to show them to recruiters.
Presentation Is the Key for Success
When you create your portfolio, a smart move is to describe the details of each commission. If you translated a page for an association, describe its purpose, the source language and the target one, what kind of specialization was required.
You should give priority to those skills that can be useful instead of including everything: the portfolio must be thought and purposeful. Try to get in the shoes of your client: what does they expect to find? If it is a job in the medical field, it is advisable to highlight past works and acquired skills in that field.
Two other key elements are references and the graphic design. References are useful to have the opinion of past clients on your professionality in order to have a guarantee of quality. The graphic design is essential to present efficiently yourself: the eye needs its share, too! A wide utilised tool is Canva, which gives templates that can be used to build your portfolio.
Portfolios Are the Instrument to Access the Job Market
There are no excuses for not having a portfolio. To create one is a matter of days or weeks, but a client that approaches a localizator is looking for certainties.
It does not have to be something excessive: ten or twelve examples of three hundres words each can be a great plus in a selection of candidates.
