Industry standard

Some time ago, I happened to meet a manager of an English-language education network here in Quebec that also translates textbooks. Naturally, I introduced myself, and offered my services, either for work or for an internship. I submitted my resume. Then I waited.

At least two months later, I got a reply. "Are you still interested in working for us?" the lady on the phone asked. Of course I was, or I wouldn't have applied in the first place. "A test," she said. "You must fill out a test."

This test is well over 1000 words long, difficult, and requires fitting images and text boxes into a Word document, which is always a joyful experience. We have been warned on more than one occasion in school about companies using absurdly long "tests" as a way of getting translations for free, and in fact, my test was part of the document the manager had described to me as "our current project."Needless to say, I was somewhat wary.

It seems that the industry standard length is about 250 words, and no more than 500. This, combined with the fact that I am absolutely swamped with school and other translation work (which means I wouldn't have had time to do a good job on the whole document), led me to submit the first page of three, for a total of about 370 words.

Here is the reply:

"I read your message and got your communication. However,I have received more than a dozen completed tests from people who have years of experience and complied with our requirement. It is standard practice in the industry.

I really don't know what will happen with your test -- if that will be considered sufficient to be reviewed. If you read all 3 pages you are aware that there were two different sections required to be translated."

Needless to say, I probably won't get the job. But that's ok; the fact that it took two months for them to get back to me, and the sketchiness of this test make me question just what kind of client this would have been anyway.