# Editorial jobs in Mexico City



## Guest (May 29, 2008)

Greetings,

A friend of mine is interested in finding the following work in Mexico City:

providing Spanish-to-English translations
proofreading Spanish-to-English translations
editorial consulting for ESL publications

He's from the US, well-qualified (I would seriously say over qualified), speaks decent Spanish, and has an FM3 from a former job, but unfortunately, it's going to expire soon.

After an extensive online search (in Spanish and English) with no luck finding job postings through the internet, he's decided that the best way to land this type of work would be to open the paginas amarillas and start making cold calls to translation companies and publishing houses with his Spanish/English CV at the ready.

I have the feeling that there's another way to go about this, but I don't know which way that is. Any ideas from locals and/or people in the DF publishing world would be immensely appreciated. And if his only option is to make cold calls, what shouldn't he do/say to avoid being black-balled?

Mil Gracias,
K.


p.s. He's willing to work anywhere in DF (although I'm assuming the proofreading/translating could be done at home)


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

kdaca said:


> Greetings,
> After an extensive online search (in Spanish and English) with no luck finding job postings through the internet, he's decided that the best way to land this type of work would be to open the paginas amarillas and start making cold calls to translation companies and publishing houses with his Spanish/English CV at the ready.


This is a good tactic.

Other recommendations:

Join Translatorscafe and ProZ (these websites are easy to find in a search). Basic memberships are free at both sites. Use these to network (there's an upcoming Mexico City ProZ meet in July), and to read articles about further suggestions for finding jobs.
Cultivate friends who teach English at universities. They are often asked by colleagues in other departments to translate, but many of them don't have time because they are busy with their teaching jobs, and might be happy to recommend him instead—especially if they are not native English speakers themselves.
(If he expects to still be here in 2009)—get listed in next year's DIEM (search for it at the libraria-dot-com-dot-mx website), the Directory of the Mexican Publishing Industry.



> And if his only option is to make cold calls, what shouldn't he do/say to avoid being black-balled?


What he _should_ do:
"Hello, I translate texts from Spanish to English. May I send you my CV?"

(If 'yes') "To whom may I send it?" (get a name and e-mail address)

"Would you/he/she like to receive the CV as an attachment or in the body of the e-mail?"

And the e-mail, addressed to the specific person named, includes, "Futher to my telephone conversation with [person] on [date], here is my CV, as agreed."

(Of course all this conversation and correspondence takes place in Spanish!)


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## Guest (Jun 11, 2008)

Thanks for your advice, Maesonna. I'll definately pass it on!


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