A company cannot thrive without its people. This is why we have recently taken part in the Career Week, an event organized by Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. When entering the labor market, new professionals often don't know what to expect and how things work in practice, so this was a great opportunity to get together and give students some first-hand information on what employers expect.
Translation work requires not only excellent linguistic knowledge, but many other skills as well. Some of those are analytical thinking, attention to detail, ability to find and apply necessary information in appropriate context, high levels of concentration and a good work ethic. In that sense, it is important for students to get some informal experience as early as possible and learn about their prospective jobs.
Career Day for language and translation students – Translating Europe
The first event we took part during the Career Week was the Career Day for students of linguistic and translation studies, organized by the European Commission Representation in Croatia and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, where the event took place. It was a meeting of services and institutions that can aid students in searching for jobs and gaining (in)formal experience. Sinonim was represented by our CFO, Igor Jurić.
"What we're looking for in our potential employees are high engagement levels and proactivity. There are plenty of opportunities in our industry to gain informal experience, so we definitely take such activities into account in our selection process. It is easier to introduce someone to a job if they already know something about how the industry works or, for instance, about CAT tools, and those extra efforts really speak about a person's character. Of course, translation work requires outstanding linguistic knowledge," Igor said.
Marina Petrić from the European Commission Representation in Croatia explained the idea behind this event: "As part of the Translating Europe initiative, this spring we have organized three Career Days for language and translation students, in Zagreb, Zadar and Osijek. On these occasions, we want to present the institutional services that can help students gain experience and find work, including the Croatian Employment Bureau, Europass and internship in European institutions. In addition, we want to provide them direct contact with prospective employers. This includes short employer presentations, followed by meet-and-greet with students, where they were able to get more information and ask questions."
All those who were unable to attend the Career Day and are interested in working as a translator can contact us at posao@sinonim.hr or through any of our social network pages, and we will do our best to answer any questions.
Career promenade
As part of the Career Week, the first ever Career Promenade was held at the University Campus. Some twenty companies presented themselves to students from all schools of the University. And they wanted to know everything – from language related questions to what our corporate hangouts look like.
One of the most common questions was whether you need a degree in translation to work at Sinonim. The answer is – not necessarily. As we mentioned earlier, it is reasonable to expect that a person with no working experience, but who has studied a language for five years, would offer a higher level of knowledge than someone who learned informally. However, higher education is not a guarantee that someone can be a good translator. You can check out our blog and read all about what you can do to become a better translator.
By participating in the Career Week, Sinonim continues its good cooperation with the University of Osijek, and its Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in particular. We would like to thank the Faculty and University staff for inviting us, and we look forward to future similar events!
