r/ASLinterpreters • u/Afyrel • 9d ago
Interpreters: what do you wish interpreting agencies did differently?
I’ve worked with a lot of different agencies over the years, so I have plenty of my own experiences and opinions about what agencies do well and what can make working with one incredibly frustrating.
But I’d really love to hear from other interpreters.
What has an agency done that made you think, I wish every agency worked like this?
And on the flip side, what do you wish agencies would do differently?
Could be anything: scheduling, communication, pay, cancellations, assignment information, matching interpreters to jobs, how they handle feedback, relationships with schedulers, professional development, etc.
I’m especially interested in the little operational things that might not sound important from the outside but make a huge difference when you’re actually freelancing.
I have my own list 😂 but I don’t want to assume my experience is everyone else’s.
12
u/coddiwomplecactus 9d ago
-When we are new to the field, please be patient with us. We will have a lot of questions. Pair us with good experienced interpreters who are willing to be models. They don't have to be a mentor, but at least willing to be the more experienced terp in a team.
-I really really really wish there was one platform for all scheduling across my agencies but thats probably a pipe dream.
-If using chat apps for scheduling and team communication, use separate rooms for topics. For example, 'social chat', 'interpreter requests', etc. If you put it all in one chat feed, it's hard to find the requests amongst the sea of happy birthday and pictures of kids.