tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63660376378781472102011-07-08T02:27:30.760-07:00Welcome to my little corner of the world...Arfan Achyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18234212884594686515noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366037637878147210.post-28849771892035130572010-03-22T21:40:00.000-07:002010-03-22T22:34:59.447-07:00Not long ago, I tried to offer a project to fellow translators in my home town of Jakarta. Needless to say, the response was good. After going through the CVs I received, I was appalled by some of the CVs. <div><br /></div><div>Guys, do you know <b>what</b> CV is and what it is <b>for</b>?</div><div><br /></div><div>Let me explain it to you in <b>plain</b> English.</div><div><br /></div><div>When a business is trying to announce its service to the public, it uses various methods: advertisement is one of them. </div><div><br /></div><div>The same goes with translators. When a translator wants to introduce him/herself to a potential client, what does he/she do? Again, advertise is one of the way. ProZ and TranslatorsCafe and even a blog can be excellent media for that purpose. However, what if you need to be active offering your service to parties or companies, or whatever institutional names suit you, you advertisement <b>is</b> your CV; plain old CV.</div><div><br /></div><div>A CV is basically <b>a story</b> about <b>your professional and education background</b>. It must be constructed in such a way so that the potential client is interested in contacting you. </div><div>Microsoft Word, any version, already provides various templates for that. What MS Word does not provide is what you should put in it.</div><div><br /></div><div>First of all is of course, your personal and educational details; such as names, address, and all of those small nitty gritty..... Once you pass that point, you need to decide what you put in it.</div><div><br /></div><div>From my experience, I won't make a single CV for anything. I have several. I customize those in accordance with the purpose of sending it. Since we are talking in term of translation, let's discuss what we need to put in it.</div><div><br /></div><div>You need to have clear information regarding the language pair. What language(s) do you translate to and from? English to Indonesian? Indonesian to English? Swahili to English? Aramaic to Italian? <b>Point 1. Be Specific.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>We need to include all the <b>RELEVANT</b> details afterwards. Since we are talking about translation, any experience you have in translating will be <b>RELEVANT</b>. Forget your experience as a teller of such and such bank or other experience unrelated with translation. <b>Point 2. Relevant Details.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Once you identify that, you need to arrange it in a certain way. You can arrange the experience in chronological order, meaning by time; or in alphabetical order, meaning by the field of translation. Remember, here, the operative word is, again Be Specific. If, let's say you have NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreement) which prevent you from mentioning specific details of a project, be general; just mention general aspects of it. The experience not restricted by NDAs, please fell free to fill in the details as you see fit.</div><div><br /></div><div>The third point is <b>Don't Mess Up with the Font</b>. Keep it simple and easy to read. Remember, your CV may not be the only one the client has to read in a day.... </div><div><br /></div><div>So guys, those three points are what you need to remember when making CV:</div><div><b>1. Be Specific,</b></div><div><b>2. Relevant Details,</b></div><div><b>3. Don't Mess Up with the Font.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Hope this short article is beneficial for you.</div><div><br /></div><div>ciao</div><div>Arfan Achyar</div><div>English<>Indonesian Professional Translator</div><div>ESP Teacher </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6366037637878147210-2884977189203513057?l=abufira.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Arfan Achyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18234212884594686515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6366037637878147210.post-26648792882075680442009-05-24T02:54:00.001-07:002009-05-24T02:57:57.339-07:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(31, 30, 29); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family:verdana;font-size:11px;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6366037637878147210-2664879288207568044?l=abufira.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Arfan Achyarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18234212884594686515noreply@blogger.com0