| Páginas sobre el tema: [1 2] > | Client asking for telephone numbers of previous clients - is this legal? Autor de la hebra: Paul Dixon
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Paul Dixon 
Brasil
Local time: 11:18
portugués al inglés
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In Memoriam
Something strange happened today, an agency contacted me and asked me to send my CV (which I did) and now they have replied saying they want telephone numbers of my clients (no mention of a job, at least for now). Is this legal, or recommended? I don't want to lose my clients to this agency, especially in the global crisis caused by the pandemic. I don't like to give references, for that same reason. When I do give references I only mention other agencies and NOT direct clients.
| | | | Heike Holthaus
Estados Unidos
Local time: 09:18
Miembro 2012
inglés al alemán
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| Confidential information | Dec 3, 2020 |
Hi Paul,
I would politely decline this request telling them that this information is confidential. Unless, of course, they would want to give you their client list first.
For references, I use agency contacts.
| | | | Sadek_A
Local time: 18:18
inglés al árabe
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They're definitely looking to acquire new clients through you.
Best case scenario you will still be working for your clientele, but through them, if you connect them together.
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
España
Local time: 15:18
español al inglés
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| Of course it's legal | Dec 3, 2020 |
People can ask you whatever they want, and they can make any request. They can ask you what time it is, they can ask you how to get to the railway station, they can ask you when that shop over there opens, they can ask you how old your father is, they can ask you what you do for a living, they can ask you about your kids' grades at school, they can ask you for other people's telephone numbers, they can make just about any request they want quite legally. The onus is on respondents to work out wh... See more People can ask you whatever they want, and they can make any request. They can ask you what time it is, they can ask you how to get to the railway station, they can ask you when that shop over there opens, they can ask you how old your father is, they can ask you what you do for a living, they can ask you about your kids' grades at school, they can ask you for other people's telephone numbers, they can make just about any request they want quite legally. The onus is on respondents to work out whether it's reasonable to grant the request, whether they get anything out of granting the request, whether it might work against them to grant the request, or even whether they have any right to grant the request. ▲ Collapse
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I rang up Directory Enquiries the other day to get the number for a plumber and they said sorry, mate, no can do, that's privileged information these days, GDPR, you know how it is, just stick your finger in the hole, no the one the water's coming out of, you muppet.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Países Bajos
Local time: 15:18
Miembro 2006
inglés al afrikaans
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Paul Dixon wrote:
An agency contacted me and asked me to send my CV (which I did) and now they have replied saying they want telephone numbers of my clients.
This is what is known as contactable references. What you should do, is ask some of your best clients if they would mind if you gave their names and contact details as references on your CV. Get permission from at least two or three of them. Then, whenever a new client is asking for references, you'll have the references available and ready to send. Including phone numbers in contactable references sends the right kind of message. If your references are agencies, you can use the agency's main telephone number, but be sure to include the PM's name.
It's risky to send a new potential client the contact details of your old clients without informing your old clients first.
| | | | | and then your customer is their customer, | Dec 3, 2020 |
you know
| | | | | I never give references | Dec 3, 2020 |
I certainly would not give a potential competitor my clients´phone numbers.
I never give references. This is partly because if I had to give references to everyone considering sending me a job, it would take up far too much of my clients' time. I am a freelancer, not an employee, and I work for dozens of different people over a year. It is also because new clients ARE potential competitors of those I work for.
I asked for two references when I joined the CIoL, and two ... See more I certainly would not give a potential competitor my clients´phone numbers.
I never give references. This is partly because if I had to give references to everyone considering sending me a job, it would take up far too much of my clients' time. I am a freelancer, not an employee, and I work for dozens of different people over a year. It is also because new clients ARE potential competitors of those I work for.
I asked for two references when I joined the CIoL, and two more when I became a Chartered Linguist. Those references went to the Institute, not to competing agencies, and I do not need new references several times a year!
That is one way of getting round the question of references. ▲ Collapse
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| Point them to your WWA | Dec 3, 2020 |
Paul Dixon wrote:
Something strange happened today, an agency contacted me and asked me to send my CV (which I did) and now they have replied saying they want telephone numbers of my clients (no mention of a job, at least for now). Is this legal, or recommended? I don't want to lose my clients to this agency, especially in the global crisis caused by the pandemic. I don't like to give references, for that same reason. When I do give references I only mention other agencies and NOT direct clients.
Just point them to your WWA box on your profile. You have references, or testimonials, there. That's enough.
| | | | Kay Denney
Francia
Local time: 15:18
francés al inglés
Christine Andersen wrote:
I certainly would not give a potential competitor my clients´phone numbers.
I never give references. This is partly because if I had to give references to everyone considering sending me a job, it would take up far too much of my clients' time. I am a freelancer, not an employee, and I work for dozens of different people over a year. It is also because new clients ARE potential competitors of those I work for.
I asked for two references when I joined the CIoL, and two more when I became a Chartered Linguist. Those references went to the Institute, not to competing agencies, and I do not need new references several times a year!
That is one way of getting round the question of references.
You have already said much the same in previous threads and I'm taking this opportunity to thank you, your posts have helped me a lot.
I asked a couple of friends to give me WWA here. I have done translations for them, and I know that if an agency were to contact them, they wouldn't decide to work with that agency instead. I know I can trust them to tell me what happened!
I wouldn't ask them to act as references for clients though, because I don't want them to be bugged all the time. The WWA is plenty, along with the fact that I've clearly been earning my living as a translator for over 20 years.
| | | | Sarah Maidstone
Alemania
Local time: 15:18
Miembro 2020
alemán al inglés
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| Redirect to the CIOL? | Dec 7, 2020 |
Christine Andersen wrote:
I asked for two references when I joined the CIoL, and two more when I became a Chartered Linguist. Those references went to the Institute, not to competing agencies, and I do not need new references several times a year!
Christine, does that mean that, when asked for references, you state that you provided professional references to the CIOL and direct the person seeking references to your Find a Linguist listing on the CIOL site?
I'm asking because I don't feel comfortable with providing references (for the reasons you state), but am a member of the CIOL so would be able to use this approach if it actually works.
| | | | Sanjin Grandić
Croacia
Local time: 15:18
Miembro 2020
francés al croata
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| References&CV's | Dec 19, 2020 |
I am growing tired of sending an "updated" CV and fresh references.
Especially the updated CV's. I understand that an agency, the PM that is, wants to know your background to understand who he or she is dealing with and of course, a certain number of translations/projects but anything beyond that is really not necessary.
I am more than willing to share that I am a native Croatian who lived in France from 1975 (age ten) till 1991 so, I learned French because I grew up and went... See more I am growing tired of sending an "updated" CV and fresh references.
Especially the updated CV's. I understand that an agency, the PM that is, wants to know your background to understand who he or she is dealing with and of course, a certain number of translations/projects but anything beyond that is really not necessary.
I am more than willing to share that I am a native Croatian who lived in France from 1975 (age ten) till 1991 so, I learned French because I grew up and went to school in Paris.
Later I obtained my Baccalaureat in Economics and Social Sciences and entered into La Sorbonne thanks to my grades. This fact+my portfolio+the fact that I am clearly earning a living by translating/interpreting should be more than enough for any PM.
Ok, I'll leave the mail address and the phone of the agency I worked for so if they want, they can call and enquire about me and my work. Nobody in his right mind would give a phone and the name of a direct client.
A linguist's reference should be the quality of his/her work. Send me 100/150 words if you have a big project and I'll translate it, no strings attached. If you are a serious agency you have someone to check and rate my translation, that's how it should work.
They expect us to be highly professional and expert in our fields while most PMs are even not linguists and some of them barely speak/write English.
It is also a big problem for new or/and young translators, many of them are very good but they lack these references and the CV is short because they are young.
[Edited at 2020-12-19 21:00 GMT]
[Edited at 2020-12-19 21:01 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Daryo
Reino Unido
Local time: 14:18
serbio al inglés
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| Wouldn't be so sure ... | Dec 21, 2020 |
Mervyn Henderson wrote:
People can ask you whatever they want, and they can make any request. They can ask you what time it is, they can ask you how to get to the railway station, they can ask you when that shop over there opens, they can ask you how old your father is, they can ask you what you do for a living, they can ask you about your kids' grades at school, they can ask you for other people's telephone numbers, they can make just about any request they want quite legally. The onus is on respondents to work out whether it's reasonable to grant the request, whether they get anything out of granting the request, whether it might work against them to grant the request, or even whether they have any right to grant the request.
GDPR or not, if you keep asking questions about anything that could be reasonably presumed to be confidential information, you could be asking for trouble, of the legal or some other kind.
To give you one example. You have worked few months for a company A and went thought a training where you learn inside out the operating procedures of the company A that is the leading one in the sector. Some time later you apply to work for a company B that is a direct competitor of the company A. When they learned that you have worked for A they start asking that you give them anything you have or know about how A operates, implying that otherwise you won't get the job.
According to you that would be perfectly legal? I somehow think that few learned friends would beg to differ...
As for this specific case - asking for your list of clients - it's simply out of order.
| | | | | Legal or not... | Dec 22, 2020 |
It's legal for them to ask. It's probably iligal for you to comply with the request (see NDA, GDPR, etc.).
In any case, the first filer shouldn’t be the legality of the request, but rather it’s all about if you are conformable disclosing to a potential client who your existing clints are. If you are, you can then look into the legality of this operation.
In any case, I’m sure this potential client of yours has access to your WWAs. There, they can easily obtain t... See more It's legal for them to ask. It's probably iligal for you to comply with the request (see NDA, GDPR, etc.).
In any case, the first filer shouldn’t be the legality of the request, but rather it’s all about if you are conformable disclosing to a potential client who your existing clints are. If you are, you can then look into the legality of this operation.
In any case, I’m sure this potential client of yours has access to your WWAs. There, they can easily obtain this information (see who the clients are and google their contact details). That’s what I would do: point them to my WWA section of my ProZ profile. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mervyn Henderson (X)
España
Local time: 15:18
español al inglés
+ ...
No, I stand by what I said, learned friends or not. All I said was they could ask.
You're introducing a totally different ball game by mentioning the veiled threat that someone won't get the job unless they cough up info. That's coercion or blackmail, one of the two, or both, and obviously it's illegal for them to say either you do this, or ... and it's illegal to do what they say.
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