The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2023 - 18

Instead of
simply listing
where you
worked and
sharing the
bare minimum,
offer potential
clients a
glimpse of the
impact your
work had and
the good things
you achieved
while you
were there.
Skip to the good stuff.
Include only relevant
jobs or positions that speak to
your skill set as a translator
or interpreter and the kind of
work you want more of in the
future. It's nice that you had
other jobs in the past, but if
they don't support the kind
of work you want to do you
might not need to list them.
For example, I've taught at
three universities, and while I
don't want more of this type
of work, these were all jobs
that speak to my skills and
background in languages.
This is why I keep them on
my profile right after my
current job/work under my
Experience. However, I didn't
list the jobs I had in college
working at a local restaurant
or smoothie bar. These two
positions are completely
different than the work I want
more of and irrelevant to my
potential clients, so they're
best left out of the mix.
1
Elaborate. Instead of
simply listing where
you worked, your title, and
the number of years you
held a position, elaborate.
Tell people what you did
and the types of results you
brought to the company or
organization while you were
there. Rather than sharing
the bare minimum (see
Figure 1), offer potential
clients a glimpse of the
impact your work had and
the good things you achieved
while you were there.
Now look at the updated
job descriptions under my
Experience section in Figure
2 on page 19.
2
Notice I talk about my
work in the first person. This
is your time to share what
you've done and reiterate
your expertise in a given
18 The ATA Chronicle | May/June 2023
Figure 1
area. As you develop the
descriptions of your previous
experience, portray the
results of your work with
confidence. When possible,
share statistics or specifics
so clients get an idea of your
effectiveness and drive.
3
Use keywords. Keywords
are weighted heavily
in the Experience section
of your LinkedIn profile, so
it's important to make good
use of them. That doesn't
mean you should stuff every
available keyword in the
profile, though. Instead,
pinpoint the natural search
terms your potential clients
would use and include them
in your profile, and especially
in the Experience section.
Take another look at the
example shown in Figure 2.
My potential clients might
search for one of my working
languages (Spanish or
Portuguese), or they might
be looking for someone
who writes or speaks these
languages. They could also be
looking for someone who has
an advanced level of fluency
in one of these languages.
Knowing this, I've written
my experience descriptions
to reflect my work while
using potential keywords
that could help my profile
rank higher in search results
for these terms. Figure 3
on page 19 shows another
example with the description
of my current work/position.
4
Include what's most
important to your
potential clients. When
you're highlighting your
experience, make sure you
talk about what would be
important to your ideal
clients. You don't need to
write a laundry list of every
task you ever took on in your
previous positions, but make
sure you talk about your
work in a way that allows
clients to get a sense of how
your experience and working
style can benefit them!
Be friendly, be
yourself. Make your
Experience section friendly
to read, not stiff. This section
of your profile shouldn't read
like an autobiography. Keep
it succinct-don't make your
potential clients work to find
what they're looking for.
Conversational copy is the
norm these days. It's easier
5
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