Freelance websites like Elance and oDesk are some of the best places to find translation jobs. At the same time one has the opportunity to offer his services to companies, also individuals.Some experienced translators think that the best way to achieve good results working on freelance basis is to use all the opportunities that exist.
If you work for companies, that means you will have a stable stream of new jobs, and it'll give you a chance to have a long lasting collaboration with them.If you change your location, it's possible to contact the same company online, and continue working.
When working on freelance sites, one has to bid on as many projects as possible. There are many translators registered in such sites, and there are a lot of competing professionals, each of them says that he is the best. You will need to provide samples of previous projects, or translate texts and save them in your computer to provide to interested clients to show the quality of translations that you will do.
In case you're looking to become a full time translator, you will need to get certified by a well known, respected agency. Certification process requires time, and is difficult. But if you're are a professional, then there won't be any problems.
Freelance translators usually don't need any certificates, and that's the main advantage of freelancing.
As mentioned previously, there are freelance sites which can be used by translators to get projects. There are sites which are designed especially for translators. They provide a free membership, but may charge a commission from each project you receive. To be able to use the whole potential of the site you should create a complete profile, which will include information about your education, translation experience and referrences, if they are available. When your page is ready, you can use social media to make it visible and offer your services online, or offline, in case you deal with local clients. Freelance translation websites provide you with tools, such as word counters, automatic quotes, etc.
There are also websites where the membership is paid, but you still can create a free profile, and have a limited access to the job postings. Before signing up for a paid membership you should think if it's really worth the money you will spend. In this case, if you're a newbie in freelance translation, the best option is to use free sites with free memberships.After you make money, whether online or offline, and become well known amongst the clients, you can switch to paid account.
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