Life As a Resource Specialist

We are happy to announce that we are starting a new series of blog posts focused on our experts daily life. This detailed guide will show you how to start your journey with translation industry and what are the typical challenges you may cope with. This time, we have a pleasure to talk with Luiza Szafrańska – Resource Specialist.

What does a normal day in your shoes look like? 

Luiza Szafrańska: Well, it depends if we are in the process of some intense recruitment for a project or not. If we are, I start my day with a strong cup of coffee (double cappuccino is the best) and a croissant to boost my energy level. I go through my e-mails and once coffee kicks in for good, I prepare myself for skype interviews. I go through candidates’ profiles and highlight things I need to explore more during the call (e.g. particular specialization in terms of projects they have completed). 

Next, when the time of the call comes, I conduct an interview (my favorite part) and on the basis of what I hear, I update the applicant’s profile in our database. Afterwards, I generally help our Project Management teams by answering their requests concerning best linguist choices for projects, I assist our language partners if they have minor problems with TMS or our Evaluation Module. I also monitor the feedbacking process in our Evaluation Module, or if there is a sudden call for anonymized CV’s of translators or reviewers for an RFP, I do my best to find perfect matches for a given client’s requirements. 

These would be the key activities I get involved in, but of course there is more. Obviously, everything needs to be prioritized depending on the day.

How do you help translators on a daily basis?

LS: I usually answer their questions related to the qualification process, assist them when they need to retrieve their log in credentials, or if there is a communication issue, I do my best to solve it. When there is a sudden drop in quality delivered by a given linguist or agency, our team is also responsible for investigating the issue and contacting our partners to explain the situation and prevent it from reoccurring.

What are the daily challenges you experience?

LS: I think the biggest one would be when a given project has a very narrow and rare specialization combined with an equally unpopular language pair. It usually results in a resource specialist undertaking a new search aimed at top-notch experts which might involve some non-standard channels of communication. On top of that it very often takes time and that’s the biggest issue to overcome.

What would happen if the Resource Team vanished from Argos organizational chart?

LS: Oh, I think the most painful outcome would be a drop in quality of projects delivered and overall havoc. Our department plays a key role in the whole production workflow and it’s as indispensable as the Linguistic Department or Project Management Department. 

What aspects of your work do you like doing the most? 

LS: Like I already said, that would be interviewing our applicants, as I really enjoy contact with people, but I also like coming up with the right questions to elicit things that I need to know in order to find the best specialist that has ever walked on Earth.  I’ve also recently started co-operating with our Marketing Department more closely, as Argos is getting more and more visible in social media and other channels of communication in the field of collaboration with language partners. This area of my daily activity is making me very happy.

What advice would you give to translators that are applying for work?

LS: There would be three pieces of advice actually. First, invest in Trados Studio if you are hesitating. Our Project Management teams always assign projects with the use of CAT tools and Trados is the most popular one. Second, specialize. Try to choose up to 3 areas you specialize in, carefully select projects you accept and consequently develop your portfolio. Third, attend trainings on various tools.

Have a look at further blog posts from our “Life as…” series: