Niamh Lynch has just completed her first contract in Madrid as a translator. A holiday, with interviews Well, it’s been a busy two weeks, so busy in fact that this blog almost didn’t make it to see the light of day. I finished up in work on Friday, and, as you might have guessed from my earlier grumblings, I wasn’t too upset about it. It was hard to leave the people, who, without exception, were very nice, but as I told them, I wasn’t making for the airport as soon as I said goodbye. In fact, I have to go back on Friday to pick up my last paycheque, so it was hardly the last farewell!
I decided to take a few weeks off before I gave any real thought to ‘the next step’, mainly because I fancied a break (the last few weeks have been quite hard on me due to a death in the family) and partially because my mum is coming to visit, and I wanted to be free for that. However nice that ‘break’ thing sounded in theory though, it is turning out to be quite different in practice…. Monday’s jobI have been applying for jobs that looked interesting over the last while, and, in accordance with sod's law, all of the interviews seem to be this week, my holiday. I had one on Monday for a position as a translator/writer for a ‘business communications agency’. No, I don’t really know what that is either, but luckily, it didn’t seem to matter, because they offered me the job on the spot. I told them I had other interviews and I would get back to them next week which seemed to suit them just fine, so I have shelved making a decision until after the weekend. The job seems good; it is part time (leaving me time for freelancing and writing) and is in a really central office, as well as involving both translation and writing, which is exactly the direction I want to go in. Patents pendingThe next interview wasn’t so successful. Although it was central and well paid too, it involved the translation of….patents. Now, I’m sure some people find patents fascinating, but I am not one of them. What’s more, the interviewer came right out and told me that he would be much happier if I had a husband named Pedro and four kids, because, frankly, foreign 25-year-olds were flighty, and might take off at any moment after hours and hours of intensive patent training had been invested in them. He was speaking humorously, but I knew he meant it, so I'm not holding out much hope of a call back… Today’s interview was for a job that is very like Monday’s, except it is further away and pays better for fewer hours. Again, it is a writing/translation job, this time for an international medical publicity company. The people seemed nice, and were very open to the idea of the job being flexible; for example only coming in two days a week and working the rest from home, which would suit me just perfectly. The only problem is that on the days I did have to come in, you would need to allow an hour for the journey, taking both a metro and the bus. After six months of having only a 10-minute walk to work (or a three-minute metro ride if I was feeling really lazy), I am a bit spoiled. Back in Ireland an hour’s journey is normal, and if you got away with anything less than 40 minutes you are doing really well. It’s amazing how quickly you get used to the good life! Up against the lawFriday’s interview is with a huge law firm, so it will be back into my power suit. They gave me a good grilling over the phone, so I don’t think it will be as easy as the other companies, who were both hiring a translator for the very first time and didn’t really have a clue what they were doing (but don't tell them I said that). In general though, I’m pleased with the way this job hunt has been going. All of the interviewers have mentioned that my CV is impressive, and I’m getting lots of offers. I'm not mentioning that to brag though (well, maybe a little), just to point out that two years ago I didn’t even have a translation qualification, let alone a choice of jobs. Back then, when I had just started the Masters, I sent off to become a junior translator with the European Commission, applying good and early as I figured these things took a while. A few months later they sent me a ‘We are sorry to inform you...’ type missal, and in a stroke of boldness I rang them up and asked for someone who would explain why I had been rejected. A few days later I got a call from none other than the graduate recruitment manager, who had a long and detailed chat with me. She said they were always happy to give pointers, because obviously the more ‘tailor-made’ their recruits were, the better. The planI started to work on her tips, and even though I haven’t yet reapplied to the Commission, the progress I’m making seems to be a big help on a wider scale. I think it goes to show that a bit of focused thinking about your future career options can make a hell of a difference, even if you are not taking huge steps that you might first appear to need to get ahead, like an MBA or fluent Chinese. If you’re interested in the things I’ve been working on, I started to translate as a volunteer for well-known charities, took almost every freelance job I could manage, wrote articles for as many publications as would have me (er, hello Graduate Prospects!!) and joined all the relevant professional associations. Then I rearranged my CV (and after five years it was a long overdue clear-out), and hey presto, I’m beating off the recruiters with a stick! Ok, not quite….but it's as close as I’ve ever been! Share your comments about Niamh's blog Read Niamh's previous job logs |
