How important are professional memberships to a freelancer? Well, I guess it all depends on the nature of the services we offer and the potential benefits that membership of a particular organisation can bring.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As a freelance translator and enthusiastic linguist, I have a been a proud member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists for many years and have gone from being a full member to a Chartered Linguist. A UK-accredited body as I am British educated and translate into my mother tongue, which is English, despite the fact I have lived in Italy for many years. So why did I join this institute back in 2011? Initially, to increase my credibility as a translator. The organisation’s Find-A-Linguist network also proved useful early on, as it provides potential clients with a way to seek me out. Now, further down the line, I appreciate the opportunity to network and attend industry-specific events. I am obliged to keep my CPD up to date, which has definitely meant that I undertake more personal and professional development activities than I perhaps would otherwise. The institute also offers an array of offers and discounts, although the majority of these are UK-specific.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More recently, I have joined the institute\u2019s mentoring scheme, offering my support to newly qualified language professionals who are perhaps considering setting up as freelancers and\/or as translators. I have also contributed to the institute’s in-house magazine The Linguist, outlining my role as a motorsport-oriented translator and PR pro.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Find me at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.ciol.org.uk\/member-check\/profile\/27856\/2023<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n And then there is the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, also a UK-accredited body. I became a member just three years ago and have not yet been as involved as I have with the CIoL. I have successfully completed CPD cycles though, which have granted me Accredited PR Practitioner status. Like the CIoL, I am able to use the institute\u2019s designated logos and banners as a further way to promote my work online. The CIPR is currently developing a sports-specific branch, and so I hope to perhaps get more involved with activities in this area, considering my professional background.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Find me at: https:\/\/www.cipr.co.uk\/CIPR\/Contact_Management\/Public_Directory\/PR_Directory.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Essentially, I deem my professional memberships to be both valuable and beneficial. I have clearly seen benefits in terms of the connections I\u2019ve made, work that has been generated as a result of my membership, and, last but by no means least, my own personal development across the fields of language, translation, PR and sport.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over the last year or so, I have also joined a few less formal groups, such as the Women\u2019s Sport Collective (https:\/\/www.fearlesswomen.co.uk\/collective<\/a>) , Women in Localization (https:\/\/womeninlocalization.com\/<\/a>) and the International Women\u2019s Association of Modena (https:\/\/www.iwamodena.org\/<\/a> and International Talents Emilia-Romagna (https:\/\/internationaltalents.art-er.it\/it-er-ambassador<\/a>). All are useful in that they provide opportunities for me to network, socialise with like-minded professionals, and\/or support the less experienced as they forge their own career paths.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Networking can never be underestimated, particularly when you\u2019re a freelancer. Chance meetings, word-of-mouth recommendations, or even social gatherings may all lead to potential new clients and exciting new projects. I guess the takeaway here is: be sure to explore ALL channels when seeking to develop your business and your client pool. After all, the more proactive you are, the greater your chances of success!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How important are professional memberships to a freelancer? Well, I guess it all depends on the nature of the services we offer and the potential benefits that membership of a particular organisation can bring. As a freelance translator and enthusiastic linguist, I have a been a proud member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,46,45,39,38,33,37],"class_list":["post-1704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-conexuscommunications","tag-credibility","tag-professionalmembership","tag-ciol","tag-cipr","tag-cpd","tag-mentoring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1704"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1718,"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1704\/revisions\/1718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexuscommunications.com\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}