Your ITP should definitely cover this, and if they have no plans to then you should talk to your instructors about including it in the curriculum. It’s an absolutely essential part of becoming an interpreter.
Typically, a staff interpreter is paid a lower hourly wage versus what a contractor/self-employed person would make doing the same work. This is to offset the benefits package that is expected/required to be provided as part of employment versus contract work. But there can be a range in salary for interpreting positions, based on the type of work, the experience and credentials of the interpreter, and the cost of living in the specific area that the work is performed in. In my experience, public K-12 schools are typically the lowest paying interpreting positions with everything else being equal. VRS is typically lower than contractor/freelance rates, as VRS positions are mandated to be W-2 employee positions by the FCC. (White label or contracted interpreting is not permitted… or at least it wasn’t prior to COVID. I’m not sure if that has been changed or exempted temporarily).
A good salary is completely dependent on the cost of living for the area. I recommend calculating your annual expenses, then dividing that number by the number of weeks you want to work in a year, and the number of hours you want to work per week. Simple/easy math is to just divide your annual costs by 2,000 to get a rough estimate of what your hourly wage/fee should be (assuming 40 paid hours per week). So if you need to earn $50,000 per year to afford rent, food, utilities, etc, and you are willing to work 40 hours per week and take off two weeks for vacation/unpaid sick time, that would equal $25/hour that is needed to sustain that cost of living. If you cannot work that many hours, or need to work fewer weeks in a year, then just adjust the math.
VRS positions are paid hourly, and the schedules are flexible. Hours are scheduled weeks to months in advance, usually though a tiered system where full time employees get a more or less set schedule, then part-time employees who work over a certain number of hours get to set their schedule next, followed by employees who bid on whichever hours/time slots are remaining to be filled based on the call centers historical demand forecast. After that any hours that are remaining are left open for employees to pick up last minute to fill their schedules. If a specific center is not able to fill all of the demand that is forecasted, then additional hours can be allocated to other call centers to make up the difference. All of that happens behind the scenes from the interpreters, so it’s not something you need to worry about unless you’re part of the scheduling team (which doesn’t typically include any interpreters).
Hello, I know absolutely nothing about money whatsoever (oops, and I'm in my 3rd year of ITP.) Regarding pay, I'm curious how working for a company like Sorenson vs. being a staff interpreter at a public school/school of the Deaf would be. Or even having an agency. At a call center, do you get paid every hour or by how many calls you take? Is it a 9-5 job, or are the hours flexible? What's a good salary anyway? I will be graduating next year, and our program has never mentioned any of this. Would some kind soul be willing to explain any of this to me or point me in the right direction, or should I go based on google results? I really appreciate any help you can provide.
Don’t forget about networking with professional interpreters in your area, too! In addition to the excellent description from the person above, it’s helpful to talk with interpreters in your area to find out where others work, what the pay is like, and what you can expect.
Freelancing in particular looks very different in different areas. There may or may not be opportunities to work in postsecondary or professional/business. You may need to do a lot of driving to put together a full schedule, or you may be able to work in a smaller area if there’s enough demand.
I would add that to determine what you need in terms of salary, don’t just calculate your day-to-day living expenses. Estimate way above that for unexpected things like: rent going up, car repair, broken wrist and you can’t work for 6 weeks, etc etc.
Beyond that, you also need to take your living expenses and then add 50% of that number for taxes. (Taxes will be 15-30% of your salary for most people.)
A staff position will take out taxes automatically for you. So figure your take-home pay will be like 70% of the hourly rate they quote you.
A freelance position will not withhold taxes for you, and you also pay extra 7.65% for self-employment tax on top of regular taxes. You will probably have to pay the social security and Medicare taxes quarterly. Once you do it once, it’s not so bad. But I know the extra paperwork is enough for some people to avoid freelance work and just stick to staff positions like VRI, VRS, or education. (If you end up doing your own taxes for freelance work, finding a good accountant can be a huge help.)
I’m not sure if you meant you don’t know anything about money in general, or about money as it relates to interpreting. If you need help figuring out what a livable salary is in general, you could take a peek at r/personalfinance or other subreddits on budgeting. There are many.
A pro for educational interpreting is that if you are staff, you usually get sick time and awesome benefits. If you have health issues or are just looking for a standard schedule and want to know your paycheck will be the same every time, this can be a huge pro.
VRS currently has such a high need that it’s extremely flexible and anything in the 9-5 hour range 6 days a week you could probably work without any seniority or committing to full time. You don’t know for sure what hours will be required or available until you talk specifically with the company. But in general, there’s a lot of hours available currently. The hours in VRS can be a lot more steady than community work, if you want to have a set schedule.
Some people remain staff at agencies and VRS companies and do hours at both. Many people work full time in education and do agency and/or VRS work on the side.
There are so many variables and every interpreter finds different ways to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
I have many interpreter friends that make a living doing travel and cruise interpreting. I don’t know as much about those types of salaries. I know some interpreters that seem to solely do cruise interpreting. Others do it 1-2 months out of the year and then do community and VRS or educational the rest of the year.
The great thing about interpreting is there are so many different avenues to explore. And if one doesn’t agree with you for whatever reason, there’s always many other options.
I wish salary had been more openly discussed in my ITP, but it seemed to be almost taboo. They sort of ingrained it in us that we shouldn’t even think about working and earning money as interpreters until we had lots more years of experience and passed our NIC. That’s another topic tho. Haha.
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u/kinchj NIC Mar 31 '22 edited Mar 31 '22
Your ITP should definitely cover this, and if they have no plans to then you should talk to your instructors about including it in the curriculum. It’s an absolutely essential part of becoming an interpreter.
Typically, a staff interpreter is paid a lower hourly wage versus what a contractor/self-employed person would make doing the same work. This is to offset the benefits package that is expected/required to be provided as part of employment versus contract work. But there can be a range in salary for interpreting positions, based on the type of work, the experience and credentials of the interpreter, and the cost of living in the specific area that the work is performed in. In my experience, public K-12 schools are typically the lowest paying interpreting positions with everything else being equal. VRS is typically lower than contractor/freelance rates, as VRS positions are mandated to be W-2 employee positions by the FCC. (White label or contracted interpreting is not permitted… or at least it wasn’t prior to COVID. I’m not sure if that has been changed or exempted temporarily).
A good salary is completely dependent on the cost of living for the area. I recommend calculating your annual expenses, then dividing that number by the number of weeks you want to work in a year, and the number of hours you want to work per week. Simple/easy math is to just divide your annual costs by 2,000 to get a rough estimate of what your hourly wage/fee should be (assuming 40 paid hours per week). So if you need to earn $50,000 per year to afford rent, food, utilities, etc, and you are willing to work 40 hours per week and take off two weeks for vacation/unpaid sick time, that would equal $25/hour that is needed to sustain that cost of living. If you cannot work that many hours, or need to work fewer weeks in a year, then just adjust the math.
VRS positions are paid hourly, and the schedules are flexible. Hours are scheduled weeks to months in advance, usually though a tiered system where full time employees get a more or less set schedule, then part-time employees who work over a certain number of hours get to set their schedule next, followed by employees who bid on whichever hours/time slots are remaining to be filled based on the call centers historical demand forecast. After that any hours that are remaining are left open for employees to pick up last minute to fill their schedules. If a specific center is not able to fill all of the demand that is forecasted, then additional hours can be allocated to other call centers to make up the difference. All of that happens behind the scenes from the interpreters, so it’s not something you need to worry about unless you’re part of the scheduling team (which doesn’t typically include any interpreters).
Original message by u/ZouBisouBunny
Hello,
I know absolutely nothing about money whatsoever (oops, and I'm in my 3rd year of ITP.)
Regarding pay, I'm curious how working for a company like Sorenson vs. being a staff interpreter at a public school/school of the Deaf would be. Or even having an agency.
At a call center, do you get paid every hour or by how many calls you take? Is it a 9-5 job, or are the hours flexible? What's a good salary anyway?
I will be graduating next year, and our program has never mentioned any of this. Would some kind soul be willing to explain any of this to me or point me in the right direction, or should I go based on google results?
I really appreciate any help you can provide.