CPD: The bigger picture

Joëlle Bouille explains her approach and strategy towards continuing professional development, which has helped her achieve well over 150 CPD hours this membership year.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines strategy as ‘The art... of planning the future...; the formulation of a plan..., esp. of a long-term or ambitious nature.’

In terms of CPD, my approach is threefold:

• Long-term value assessment – As a freelance translator, particularly when starting out, it is easy to fall in the short-term trap of ‘What job can I get today?’ I made that mistake for many years but have now learned rather to ask: Where will this step (job, training, event, etc.) help position me in the market? Am I happy with that? How will it help me build my portfolio and brand? Will it be a step in the right direction or a waste of time? Does it mean progress or the status quo?
• Review of priorities – At least every six months, I review where I am at, where I want to go from there and how to do so, which may involve CPD. Frequent review is important for a very simple reason. Human beings are creatures of habit, and habits – good or bad – can largely become unconscious so it takes conscious and constant effort to keep bad ones in check.
  
  (Can you think of one bad habit you have allowed to settle in over time, which hurts your professional development or your work/life balance? If the answer is yes, you probably need to review your approach more frequently.)
• Time planning – Once my current priorities (CPD or other) are set, I assign appropriate time slots (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.) in my calendar and track what I actually do there. If I get too busy for a non-urgent task, I postpone it but make sure that when postponed CPD tasks add up to two or three days, I deal with them together before planning any new job.

CPD is not just about translation skills

Examples of the types of CPD I have undertaken this membership year range from marketing to cybersecurity, from sensitivity reading to how to enter the French publishing market, and from rate calculation to market insight and AI hype.

As translators, we often tend to focus on improving what we bring to our craft and clients, while sometimes neglecting to understand the market as a whole, its many actors and what they bring.

Yet such knowledge helps us understand that we operate in a fragmented market, which can generally be subdivided as market A+ (publishing), A (direct clients), B+ (10% of quality-focused agencies¹) and B (79% of price-focused agencies²). The latter is a staggering and somewhat  contradictory proportion, given that price (just like speed) is generally not the main concern for end-clients: quality is.³

Market knowledge also helps us put things in perspective. Where does the backbone of our market lie? In the mostly price-focused 15% market share of so-called big players? Or in the 85% market share of ‘small’ players? Who promotes quality first and honours our profession?

Consider all these questions and tailor your CPD towards the answers you come up with.

Key takeaways

• If you cannot afford CPD, a wealth of free information and resources awaits online
• If you are too busy for CPD, your rates and client base might need review
• Compare and contrast: never rely on a single source of information
• Understand the big picture, not just your picture: are you missing out on great opportunities because you think you can ‘manage’ with your current not-so-ideal client base, low rates and/or crazy hours?

Knowledge is power. Is there anything you are neglecting to know right now?

^{1 2020 ELIS Survey, page 65.
2 Ibid. 1.
3 2020 ELIS Survey, page 39.}