| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Do you find it difficult to turn down job offers? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Paul Lambert 
Sweden
Local time: 19:23
Member (2006)
Swedish to English
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| Very difficult as in very disappointing. Will I do it? Yes. | Feb 6, 2015 |
I hate to turn down customers because, as we all understand, this is very much a feast-and-famine business. Saying no because I am too busy is unavoidable and I don't like to rush a job and have poor results. On the other hand, going a week or two with no work in the following month makes me wish I took every job I was offered.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 13:23
English to Spanish
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| Learning to turn down jobs | Feb 6, 2015 |
I found José H. Lamensdorf's guide pretty useful (I posted on my Twitter @wordsmeet). Thanks.
Although most of us will face downtime (I am, this week), we have to learn to turn down jobs and be consistent about it.
Our own personality comes into play when saying yes all the time or having difficulty saying no when we should. On the surface, it seems we are doormats —we are unable to say no because we are always nice. Or, it seems that we never say no because we are ... See more I found José H. Lamensdorf's guide pretty useful (I posted on my Twitter @wordsmeet). Thanks.
Although most of us will face downtime (I am, this week), we have to learn to turn down jobs and be consistent about it.
Our own personality comes into play when saying yes all the time or having difficulty saying no when we should. On the surface, it seems we are doormats —we are unable to say no because we are always nice. Or, it seems that we never say no because we are always hard up financially. I posit there are many reasons why some of us always say yes to all requests. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Emin Arı
Türkiye
Local time: 20:23
English to Turkish
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| it is a sign of professionalism | Feb 6, 2015 |
As you become a pro you turn down more and more jobs because:
- it is not in your field of expertise, for example I do not take any job related to medicine, even proofing as it is very, very big responsible or gambling sites due to my ethics.
- deadline is not realistic. 10.000 words in just 2 days? no way.
- peanut rates
- others.
turning down a job is not end of the world and moreover, every job you have turned down is not... See more As you become a pro you turn down more and more jobs because:
- it is not in your field of expertise, for example I do not take any job related to medicine, even proofing as it is very, very big responsible or gambling sites due to my ethics.
- deadline is not realistic. 10.000 words in just 2 days? no way.
- peanut rates
- others.
turning down a job is not end of the world and moreover, every job you have turned down is not missing an opportunity, as said in Turkish "god closes one door and opens another". ▲ Collapse
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...to have to say goodbye to some added income, sometimes more than substantial, but it is a biased impression anyway since you sell your time and nothing else. And time goes only in one direction, one second at a time.
My agency customer base is smart and educated enough to understand that I am not ubiquitous. And they know that I work on a first-come, first-served basis, because, well, I translate for a living and not for glory. There is nothing difficult to understand that days a... See more ...to have to say goodbye to some added income, sometimes more than substantial, but it is a biased impression anyway since you sell your time and nothing else. And time goes only in one direction, one second at a time.
My agency customer base is smart and educated enough to understand that I am not ubiquitous. And they know that I work on a first-come, first-served basis, because, well, I translate for a living and not for glory. There is nothing difficult to understand that days are made of 24 hours, of which a good two-thirds is dedicated to other things than translation.
They don't challenge me when I reply I can't deliver their 600 words in 3 days' time if the next 24 working hours are allocated to another project. They are also accommodating enough when they can, because they are usually the only link between me and the translation consumer.
Conversely, if they're really stuck, I can go to great lengths to "solve problems" (like H. Keitel in Pulp Fiction), because accommodating timing issues is a two-way street.
So with generous deadlines (although they always turn tight for some reason) and accommodating customers, I can limit "lost" income to a minimum and secure the maximum amount of jobs, but it still happens a few times a week unfortunately, including 3k due Tuesday today.
Ten years ago, I used to turn down an awful amount of work from an incumbent agency customer, so instead of killing myself trying to meet their demands, I raised my rates in 2006 from best-deal-of-the-year (EUR0.084) to atrociously expensive (0.095). I lost the customer, but charging more for less stress is the way that pays off in the end.
Touching wood, I have yet to lose an agency customer based on unavailability alone.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
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Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 14:23
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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| Excellent rating, Jose! | Feb 6, 2015 |
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
EASIEST - ...
I have basically two categories.
1) Difficult but honest: When I'm overloaded with work, and there is a chance I will not be able to meet the deadline. I prefer to say "no" to a client than to deliver a job late. The client will surely find another translator, so I'm doing no harm being honest with them. Frequency: Not very commonly. Up to five times in a year.
2) Extremely easy: When the client offers very low rates, requires discount for repetitions, requests "proofreading" of machine translations or requires the use of on-line platforms like Wordbee and the like. I have no difficulty at all saying "no" to these people (after trying to negotiate better conditions and receiving a negative reply), and even telling them they will only hire beginners and low quality labor in those conditions. Frequency: Practically on a daily basis.
| | | | Erzsébet Czopyk
Hungary
Local time: 19:23
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
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SITE LOCALIZER | the most important is: keep your words | Feb 7, 2015 |
I loved Mr. Lamensdorf's system, but mine is a less coloured.
EASY - Very low rates, anything under 0.05 EUR/even 0.03 USD last time (!!!) per source word. Usually they ask "best rate" and discount, but I see them first, and the offer is above 10.000 words. Sadly, those agencies mostly from Italy, India, and US.
HARD - When the client is forcing me to do something I cannot or do not want, I begin to behave/act like a donkey, just stay and repeat no,no,no, no way for tha... See more I loved Mr. Lamensdorf's system, but mine is a less coloured.
EASY - Very low rates, anything under 0.05 EUR/even 0.03 USD last time (!!!) per source word. Usually they ask "best rate" and discount, but I see them first, and the offer is above 10.000 words. Sadly, those agencies mostly from Italy, India, and US.
HARD - When the client is forcing me to do something I cannot or do not want, I begin to behave/act like a donkey, just stay and repeat no,no,no, no way for that price, no way to that deadline. It took a long time to LEARN HOW TO SAY NO and some SAD EXPERIENCE GAINED WHEN I DID NOT OR COULD NOT.
IMPOSSIBLE - When I am busy with anything else but a good, old client needs me/something ASAP (i.e. deadline: yesterday). I usually take a deep breath and ask for an extra coffee and smoke-break before start. After delivery I can sometimes make malicious remarks (my possible heart-attack in the future due to their deadlines etc.).
Anyhow or anything you choose, the most important is: keep your words.
Hugs from Budapest, Liza ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Agree with Harald | Feb 8, 2015 |
Harald Roald wrote:
I turn down jobs all the time - mostly because the rates are not worth working for and/or deadlines are too tight ( not to mention all the desperate job offers Friday afternoon/evening from agencies I have never worked for before, who have promised a delivery Monday to their client, without having skilled resources to do the job).
But when it comes to regular clients, I never say no - just negotiate the deadline
[
It's only difficult when I'm already booked and the job being offered is better paid or one of my favorite subjects.
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