Niamh Lynch continues her search in Madrid for freelance and full-time translation work and checks replies to her advert for a web designer. Cash only, please This week was a bit of a non-event as far as work goes. In fact, it was a bit of a non-event as far as everything goes, a fact I realised when it dawned on me that, apart from another emailed declaration of undying love (with no reference at all to website design), writing this blog has probably been the highlight of my week.
The freelance work keeps coming – I’ve had a job a week pretty much for the last month and while that isn’t going to keep me in champagne, it’s all experience and pocket money, so I’m not complaining. One of the more irritating things about it is that I have to actually meet the clients to get paid – I don’t accept cheques because, apart from them being practically obsolete back in Ireland, and therefore something that never springs to mind, banks here charge outrageous amounts for lodging them. I have a PayPal account, which would mean that people could pay me by credit card, but as far as I can see it is fairly difficult getting the money out of cyber-limbo and into my grubby little hands, unless I want to use it to buy rubbish from E-bay (which is a real risk). So I meet them instead so they can pay cash. That results in all kinds of semi-enigmatic telephone calls and emails to say things like ‘I’ll meet you under the old clock tower at nineteen hundred hours’ and ‘I’ll be wearing a blue coat and carrying a pink folder’, and a lot of embarrassing attempts to meet the eyes of passers-by to see if they might be ‘the one’. In fairness, it’s worked well so far, but it would be much easier, and no doubt seem much more professional, if I could do it electronically. I’ll have to look into it. Professional serviceThe job hunt has reached a plateau, waiting for responses and answers. Translation jobs take longer than others because your tests have to be sent to revisers and proofreaders for assessment. The job I was waiting for most, a native English translator with a well known international professional services firm (that’s what Wikipedia tells me it is anyway - isn’t that the vaguest title you’ve ever heard?!), is seeming more and more like a figment of somebody’s imagination. I first saw the job more than six months ago, when I was in Ireland looking for work in Spain, and applied even though I didn’t live in Madrid. I heard nothing, and assumed it was because, well, ahem, the ad did technically ask for people, er, living in Madrid. When I started looking again, I realised that the ad was still there and although that struck me as strange, I applied again. That was a month ago and I still haven’t heard anything, even though the ad is still there. I thought it was unusual that a company that well-known wouldn’t confirm receipt of my CV, or send a rejection letter, so I sent an email asking for confirmation of the existence of the post. Unfortunately, both my application and my email go unanswered. It looks unlikely, but I’ll wait in hope, because the job would be great. On another front, I got an offer to start working as a freelancer with an agency. I am thrilled, because although I haven’t technically decided what I am doing next, a quick return to Ireland seems unlikely. There’s just one, big stumbling block. I’ll have to set myself up as self-employed. In Spain, home of sadistic bureaucrats and offices that you and 10,000 others desperately need to visit but are only open between 09.46 and 10.17 on the third Wednesday after the first full moon of the Chinese New Year, that might prove difficult. I’ll keep you posted - wish me luck. Share your comments about Niamh's blog Read Niamh's previous job logs |
