As a freelancer, it’s always difficult to decide how much personal information your clients need or want to know about you. In one sense, Americans in general are relatively disinclined to share personal information with employers. Unlike in much of Europe, where it’s customary to include your birth date, marital status and a photograph on your resumé, standard practice in the US is to omit almost all personal information, even down to the dates you graduated from college or held a certain job. On the other hand, we all want to appear “real” and approachable to our clients, and part of this involves allowing our clients to know a bit about us.
As translators, we have some specific considerations. For example, we have to decide whether to mention (overtly or casually) that our spouse is a native speaker of our source language, or our sister-in-law is an intellectual property attorney and occasionally proofreads our translations.
Recently, I’ve talked to a couple of new translators who are faced with a dilemma; say nothing about their personal lives and let the client guess what they’ve been up to for the past 10 years, or risk providing too much information. For example, if a freelancer has been technically unemployed for the past decade but in reality has been raising a disabled child, running a homeowners association, serving as the general contractor for large-scale home renovations etc., does this show the person’s dedication, energy and ability to multi-task, or provide information that the client really doesn’t need to know?
I’ll admit that I normally err on the side of saying too little. Although I’ve combined freelancing and parenting since my daughter was an infant, I take on a standard volume of work and have never missed a deadline, so I feel that my family situation really isn’t the client’s concern. However, I’ve heard other freelancers be a lot more open, even telling clients that they are typically not in the office from 3-8 because they’re getting the kids at school, having dinner and putting the kids to bed.
Readers, what do you think? Is personal information relevant or irrelevant to a freelancer’s clients?
Cultural differences in resumes are huge, and European readers of your blog would do well to take note of your excellent post! One thing about photos in particular: American employers really don’t want to see things like birth dates and photos because they can expose the employer to age-based, ethnic, or racial discrimination lawsuits; how old a person is or how he or she looks is supposed to be completely irrelevant to almost all jobs (except for things like modeling or acting).
In Europe, resumes seem to be a list of personal and professional data organized by date; Europeans tend to do a literal “curriculum vitae,” often including details like elementary school attended and ages of children that Americans find not only irrelevant but possibly suspicious (“They had room on their resume to include elementary school?”)
In North America, resumes are meant to be a summary of professional achievements, and need not be comprehensive; they should rarely exceed one page long. Many American resumes are organized in fact not by date but by achievements or skills, as well. Americans usually tailor resumes to each potential employer.
Even if unemployed or being a stay-at-home caregiver, you can still include skills and achievements related to what you’ve been doing.
In general, including excessively personal information like the following topics will convey to an American employer the sense that you need to add a bunch of fluff to your resume because you don’t have enough “real” content on it (unless these things somehow directly relate to the specific job):
* Birth date
* Marital status
* Children
* Religion
* Race or ethnicity
* Sexual orientation
* Hobbies, pastimes, sports, etc.
* Photograph
* Any education that is not directly relevant to the position (i.e. omit everything before university degrees).
You might include charity work, activism, or volunteerism if relevant, but you might also omit this kind of thing if you’re not sure how a given activity would be received by a specific employer (e.g. if you’re applying to work on a Republican campaign, you might omit work you’ve done for Democratic charities).
For those who are interested, this Web site gives very good examples of American resumes, both chronological resumes and skills resumes:
http://www.career.vt.edu/jobsearc/resumes/formats.htm
Definitely worth a look for non-Americans applying for work in the United States or with American employers.
Thanks, MT! That was a very useful link! And I liked you clear explanation of the differences between American and European resume formats.
You always pose great questions, Corinne!
As a very relational person, this is one I often struggle with. I like to know about people, and like them to know about me. Much like for a text where, without the context, you often can’t feel confident in giving a translation because there are several options, I feel like without some knowledge of the person, it’s often harder to work and interact with them.
That being said, I realize that not everyone feels that way. I guess for the most part, I find myself sticking to the customary “less is more” on the resume for here in the States (i.e. no birthdate, marital status, etc – though I do mention a few of my hobbies) and then feel people out during the interview or as we work together, giving more information if I feel they’re open to it, or staying more distant if that seems to be their style.
I definitely know that I had to convince my Spanish hubby to leave his picture off his resume when he was applying for jobs here in the US though!
I’ve just discovered this blog and I thank you for doing it. As a former agency person and current freelancer it’s very useful and interesting to me.
The resume question is so important, since it’s likely the only information project managers will have about you. At the places I worked, we (back in the 90s) would have a book of resumes for each language pair that we would turn to when our “regular” people were unavailable for a new job. More recently, we would have a database in which someone had entered information from resumes: a person’s name, language pairs, contact information, certifications, rates, experience, specialties, and notes. One thing that I always found useful when making these entries or choosing a new translator was real, concrete information about a person’s experience with or knowledge of a certain type of material. I know a lot of people want to make themselves sound very flexible, but “specializing in legal, financial, technical, and marketing” tells me nothing and, without specific details, suggests that a person has little experience. Knowing that they have done multiple translations of child nutrition focus group transcripts, or electronics patents, or homeowners’ insurance brochures, gives me some real information. One translator had a resume that listed some “favorite jobs” of the last few years. These kinds of details didn’t make me think that the translator couldn’t do other kinds of jobs; rather, they made me feel that I knew the person, which made me more likely to call them up out of the blue to discuss a new project.
Other things I liked to see on a freelance translator’s resume, cover letter, or website: rates and whether they are flexible, personal editing/proofreading procedures (I work as a team with my native-speaking spouse/colleague; I subcontract proofreading; I enjoy working with outside editors), editing/proofreading experience and rates (if applicable), “real world” (non-freelance) experience either language-related or not (I don’t need to know about all your responsibilities working as a bank teller, but I’d like to know that you were a bank teller), CAT tools and programs you are willing and able to work with, formatting experience in those programs (and rates, if applicable), language varieties you are comfortable translating into or out of – with the strongest ones at the top, working hours if you are far away from the place you are sending the application or work unusual hours, and how long you have been freelancing. Things that are irrelevant: technical details about your computer, a list of dictionaries you own. If you have a blog, consider providing a link to it, especially if it is about language or translation. People who work in translation agencies are often (but not always) language nerds. Even if they don’t send you any projects for a while, they may bookmark your blog and read it while they’re procrastinating in the office. Then they will be that much more familiar with you when they do need someone new.
This is an interesting topic. As a freelance translator working from the Netherlands, I tend to start with a limited amount of personal information, although I understand from what’s been written here, that this limited amount would be considered too much in the US. My resume contains my date of birth, my education (secondary school upwards, including dates) and my work experience, again including dates. My website contains the same information, but much more concise and without dates. You never know who reads your website…
However, once I’ve developed a working relation with a client, I tend to give them a little more information. Like you, I’ve been combining motherhood and freelance translation for years without missing deadlines, and I too take on a steady amount of work. I’ve recently started taking all school holidays off, though, to be able to spend more quality time with my family, and I have no problem at all telling my clients the reason why I’m not available. Also, I do explain sometimes that I won’t be able to take on a rush job because I’m taking my daughter to school. In my experience, this usually improves the working relationship. My clients know that I’m honest about what I can and cannot take on and that I will meet any deadline that I’ve agreed to.
is it correct that Chronological resumes should use while looking for a new job.