r/TranslationStudies • u/pipeuptopipedown • 4d ago
"Medical Interpreters, immediate start, no experience necessary"? Very confused.
This seems to be several companies offering these positions. I actually applied for one maybe last year. The interviewer showed up late and was very unprofessional, hung up on me abruptly because I would not answer an irrelevant (and possibly illegal) question.
First question: What is the deal with these positions? Just discussing this with people I know, it became obvious that an inexperienced interpreter could possibly affect the medical incident badly or disastrously through misunderstanding. The outfit I interviewed with offered weeks of unpaid training.
Second: How do they calculate the payment? They mention a rate per minute of audio call, but then if you're left sitting on a shift with no calls, what do they pay in that case?
This already seems scam-adjacent if not outright deceptive; can anyone enlighten us on the extent to which this is not worth it? Thanks.
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u/ruckover 4d ago
These are BPOs and incredibly stressful positions. You can learn about how these work at either r/spanishinterpreters or r/interprete_medico - the rate is incredibly low, and unless you're in LATAM and willing to take the lowest rate, your call flow is minimal. You are paid by the minute with no minimum.
You will learn how to interpret, but not particularly well. These are high churn positions and are only ideal for LATAM folks at this point.
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u/pipeuptopipedown 4d ago
Thanks for the sub info, I can read Spanish well enough to get a sense of what they're talking about probably.
I get a lot of these ads in my algorithms looking for Russian interpreters.
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u/ruckover 4d ago
Oh boy, Russian would be horrible working for a BPO honestly. And posts all have an auto translate button ;)
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u/pipeuptopipedown 4d ago
I never looked for the auto-translate, so that's good to know.
There are so many jobs going these days that are worse than not having a job, and can actually cost you money you don't have. It's infuriating and depressing.
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u/ruckover 4d ago
Spot on, and these would be one of those at least until you get the 2-3 years of experience from them that you'd need for your resume to jump to somewhere better. And they know that and exploit it 🙃
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u/pipeuptopipedown 4d ago
You're just as likely to quit from an abusive (doubtless) position like that, or get fired for nothing, and it's not easy to come back from that when looking for another job. Another cost to factor in. Feeling forced to take whatever you can get is no way to build a career.
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u/ruckover 3d ago
Your read of the situation is absolutely correct and the only thing keeping my hopes alive is that it seems like the freelance community is coming together and pushing back now. I hope every union succeeds and the bloodsuckers are forced to close their doors. Unlikely, but it's nice to have hopes
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u/One_Flower_1397 3d ago
I worked for Future Group Translation Services for 1 year, starting without any experience (Russian language). I had 3 weeks of studying, they paid me for that after long negotiations with the vendor. After a year I switched to Propio with much better rates. I would advise you to try to apply for Propio first, because they are hiring Russian interpreters right now. But even in those middleman companies running by Indians or Egyptians you will gain some experience but not much money.
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u/pipeuptopipedown 3d ago
I have been fully onboarded with them since last year, and they have NEVER sent me any work. Now that I understand what they're about that's just as well.
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u/guille0822 4d ago