An inbox full of CVs
Your agency needs more Korean translators with legal experience. You post the need, and applications arrive by email: CVs in several formats, some with qualifications attached, some promising to send them later. Your vendor manager replies to each, sends a test, waits, forwards completed tests to reviewers, chases the reviewers, then sends an NDA and a rate agreement to the ones who pass.
Six weeks later, you have two new translators set up. Somewhere in the process, several good applicants went elsewhere. And your existing vendor records still show rates from years ago and specialisms that some translators no longer offer.
Why vetting is slow
- Applications arrive in inconsistent formats, so information has to be extracted by hand.
- Test translations are sent, returned and reviewed through email chains.
- Reviewers are freelancers too, and chasing them is manual.
- NDAs, contracts and rate agreements are signed on paper or by emailed PDF and filed separately.
- Nothing prompts a review of existing records, so they go stale.
What it costs
Good applicants go to agencies that respond faster. Vendor managers spend their time chasing. Existing records are unreliable, so PMs assign work based on memory rather than data. Some clients ask about translator qualifications, NDAs or confidentiality arrangements, and gathering evidence takes a search. If your agency works to a quality standard such as ISO 17100, the evidence of translator competence is harder to produce than it should be.
| Record item | Typical state | In the vendor record |
|---|---|---|
| Language pairs and specialisms | In a CV, maybe | Structured, searchable fields |
| Qualifications | Attachment somewhere | Stored with issue details |
| Test result | Reviewer's email | Score and comments against the record |
| NDA and agreement | PDF in a folder | Signed online, dates recorded |
| Rates | Old spreadsheet | Current, with history |
How we build vetting and vendor records
- Applicants complete an online form: language pairs, specialisms, CAT tools, qualifications, experience, rates, availability, and uploads for CV and certificates.
- Applications are screened against your current needs, so a vendor manager sees first the applicants for pairs and specialisms you are short of.
- Test translations are sent from the system, with a deadline, and returned through the same page.
- Completed tests go to a reviewer for that pair, who scores against your criteria through a form. Reminders go to reviewers automatically.
- Successful applicants receive the NDA, framework agreement and rate agreement for e-signature, and are set up as vendors in your TMS or accounts system.
- Existing translators are asked periodically to confirm or update their details, rates and availability, and anything expired is flagged.
- Reviewer scores from live jobs are added to the vendor record over time, so quality data builds up.
The criteria for passing a test and the standard your agency works to are yours to set. The system makes sure each step is recorded.
What vendor managers notice
The periodic check-in is the quiet hero. Twice a year, or whenever you choose, each translator gets a short page showing what you hold about them and asks them to confirm or change it. The ones who do not respond are often the ones who have stopped translating, which is useful to know before a PM offers them an urgent job.
Applicants move through the process faster, so you keep more of the good ones. Tests and reviews are tracked without chasing. Every vendor has a complete, current record that PMs can trust when assigning work. When a client or auditor asks about translator qualifications or confidentiality arrangements, the evidence is a click away.
The same record then feeds job matching, payments and quality tracking, so it only needs keeping up to date in one place.
Could this be your agency?
- Freelancer applications arrive as emailed CVs in every format.
- Test translations are tracked through email.
- NDAs and agreements sit in folders, not on vendor records.
- Rates and specialisms in your database are years old.
- Producing evidence of translator qualifications takes a search.