Whichever the job or career path you decide to progress down, make sure that each application is specific and relevant to the position you are applying for. This will involve adapting your CV for every job application. Although it is time consuming, it will be time well spent as the recruiter will be able, at a glance, to see your best points and how these are relevant to the company/position you have applied for.

Check for spelling and grammatical errors! In the language services sector accuracy is paramount; if you show that you are careless in a short cover letter or in your CV, what does this say about your attitude to work?

Persevere. As with many industry sectors the language services market is competitive. This said, there is always room for someone with enthusiasm willing to work hard and who can produce reliable, high quality work- whichever role this may be in. Speculative applications may not always work, but if they are well chosen (and follow the previous advice) your email or letter may fall into the hands of a recruiter in need of your skills!

You may find that translation companies don’t want to work with inexperienced translators, and unfortunately this will be the case more often than not. Starting out as a freelancer is always fraught with difficulties, more so if you are fresh out of a translation course. It’s the time old conundrum of ‘I need experience’, but ‘I need experience to gain more experience’. Our advice start small; offer translations to charities or on a probono basis e.g. through www.proz.com or work part or full time and do translations ‘on the side’. Once you have a few thousand words under your belt, and even a year or two specialising in a certain field you will soon be able to get a foot, or at least a toe on to the freelance ladder.