Personal and interpersonal competence – Making the best use of professional associations

This session will look mostly at the freelance perspective but will apply to all newcomers to the profession.

1) Accessing training and professional tools
- Continuous professional development in a mix of formats on translation skills, technology, business skills, certifications, starting out,
- Access to a vast network of CPD offers through sister associations members of international federations like FIT (e.g. FIT Europe CPD calendar),
- Access to discounts on translation tools or professional insurance,
- Online directories listing professionals (Annuaire of the Société française des traducteurs).

2) Learning from experienced colleagues
- Mentoring programmes
- Forums
- Newsletter or bulletin,
- At meetings and social gatherings.

3) Networking and engaging, within the profession and beyond
- Crucial for mental health: associations organise social events.
- Crucial to keep learning new things and nurture and grow your vocabulary.
- Source of clients, via colleagues’ recommendations, and opportunities like large institutions recruitment drives.
- Access to business organisations like chambers of commerce through regional associations.
- Access to trade shows and book fairs.

4) A few tips on how to do this as a newcomer
Newcomers don’t tend to have a large budget and can feel overwhelmed with choice.
We will look at lower subscription dues and different grades of memberships (e.g. Institute of Translation and Interpreting), talk about how to pick the association that offers you the most opportunities if you can’t join several, and go through a few strategies on how to approach your chosen association.