| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Getting declined for jobs - why? Thread poster: Paul Dixon
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Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 23:56
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| "It isn't over until the fat lady sings", as they say, for some reason | Jun 20, 2014 |
Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote: but ''no action'' is the same as ''declined'' in my book! 
My stats on the "my quotes" page show:
Quotes: around 150 in total since 2007 (higher rate in earlier years).
Accepted: 7
Declined: 32
No action: around 111 (if my maths is correct)
Those "no action" ones were largely a waste of my time - no feedback at all so I have no idea why I wasn't chosen. Maybe just "first come, first served", maybe rates or delivery times...). However, I've found at least five names in there that I've since worked with - and two of them are among my best current clients. I can only imagine they contacted me directly through my ProZ.com profile some time later, but I really don't remember.
And the majority of the "decline" responses were accompanied by a note to say "sorry, the job has already been assigned"; or "I'm sorry, I didn't specify but I needed US Eng for this one"; or even "sorry, the client cancelled, otherwise...". In other words, they were mostly at least partly positive responses. In each case, I'm hoping they've retained my details for the future. Maybe I'll hear from one tomorrow .
Of course, statistics on the "my quotes" page only cover jobs where the poster asked to be contacted via the ProZ.com interface. The majority of posters nowadays prefer to by contacted by email, though I imagine the percentages probably end up being similar. And then again, a healthy percentage of outsourcers prefer to select who to contact rather than using the public job board. The "accepted" rate for that method is much higher, of course.
So I don't really agree 100% with Diana when she says
I really wish professionals would stop relying on ProZ for their income.
even if she did mean "the ProZ.com public job board" rather than the site in general.
I do agree that relying solely on ProZ.com (whether job posts and/or private contacts) if you need to become a full-time translator would be unwise in the early days when you need to build a solid client base from scratch. You could spend years waiting for it to happen and that doesn't put food on the table. But as a source for established translators to "top up" their clients and find one-off jobs to fill odd moments, I think it works well.
| | | | | No CAT tools | Jun 20, 2014 |
My stats:
Quotes: 16 since January 2014
Accepted: 2
Declined: 3
No action: 11
Myself I do not know how to make the decline button fonction. Never found it, but most often I give a personal answer when I propose a job.
I do not work with CAT tools neither. This certainly puts agencies off.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 00:56
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| In my book as well, but... | Jun 20, 2014 |
Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote:
Sorry, Samuel, but ''no action'' is the same as ''declined'' in my book!
In my book as well, but the original question related specifically to active declines, i.e. in which the client had not simply ignored the translator but actually taken time to purposively reject him.
| | | | | Decline and decline | Jun 20, 2014 |
Samuel Murray wrote: Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote:
Sorry, Samuel, but ''no action'' is the same as ''declined'' in my book! In my book as well, but the original question related specifically to active declines, i.e. in which the client had not simply ignored the translator but actually taken time to purposively reject him.
I think "reject" is often too harsh a term for when the client hits the decline button because as I also find, a lot of times the outsourcers who do that are the ones who explain why they declined you - either the job was already assigned or some other details prevented them from working with you. And they leave it open or sometimes express the wish to work with you in the future.
I find the ones who don't give a hoot about you and don't do anything with your quote less appealing. Bu yes, a red decline with no explanation is certainly a rejection.
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 00:56
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Bernhard Sulzer wrote: Samuel Murray wrote: Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote:
Sorry, Samuel, but ''no action'' is the same as ''declined'' in my book! In my book as well, but the original question related specifically to active declines, i.e. in which the client had not simply ignored the translator but actually taken time to ... reject him. I think "reject" is often too harsh a term for when the client hits the decline button because as I also find, a lot of times the outsourcers who do that are the ones who explain why they declined you...
Yes, you have a good point. Perhaps the OP can tell us whether any of those declines have notes.
One thing I did notice was that he is in Brazil yet seems to claim European Portuguese as one of his languages, even though his entire education and training took place in Brazil.
And let's not forget that ProZ.com still does not treat Brazilian Portuguese as a separate language (let's not discuss whether it is), which means that Portuguese translators have a higher chance of receiving jobs posts (and applying for it) that are actually not related to them.
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Stats on quotes? Can someone tell me how I can see the stats of my quotes?
Thank you
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