FEATURES
A work in progress
ON THE JOB: JGU German students
What has been achieved?
The team has already developed a model for
accrediting placements and integrating them
into courses. A placement handbook for
universities, students and employers is ready
to be translated and adapted to meet local
needs. Employers able to offer placements
will shortly be able to register online.
There are challenges to overcome. Some
students need to be convinced of the
benefits of a placement abroad – and
although most employers are willing to pay
interns, funding is not always sufficient.
Matching languages and employers can be
problematic; Polish students have not yet
found placements with UK employers.
All partners would like to see the scheme
develop beyond its current two and a half
year lifespan. EGPS provides a model which
can be replicated across other European
Higher Education (HE) institutions, and we
hope that others will take part once we have
completed the pilot stage.
EGPS partners would like to hear from
employers, students and HE colleagues who
would like to get involved. See www.e-gps.org
or email helen.astley@skillscfa.org for details.
Notes
1 www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/
translation/graduateplacementsch.html
2 www.e-gps.org
3 www.cbi.org.uk/media/2119176/education_
and_skills_survey_2013.pdf (26)
Vol/52 No/6 2013
Pactera is a Chinese-owned IT consultancy
with 23,000 employees worldwide. The
Barcelona office has 30 staff members
and a translation team of eight. Pactera
has an active internship programme and is
one of the first companies to take part in
the European Graduate Placement
Scheme (EGPS).
Director of European Operations, Ana
Guerberof, was in charge of setting up the
translation team in Barcelona, where they
work in French, Spanish, German, Italian and
English, although the company's global
operation requires many more languages.
Ana needed two junior translators to work
from English to German and contacted
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB),
where she teaches some modules on the
Translation MA course.
Although the project was at an early stage,
Olga Torres at UAB saw this as an ideal
opportunity to pilot the process of organising
the first European placements. Johannes
Gutenberg Universität (JGU) in Germersheim
sourced two Translation MA graduates, who
were successfully interviewed and given a
one-year contract at Pactera, with an
opportunity to extend. Ana is impressed
with the quality of the candidates, and
pleased with the recruitment process, which
was repeated in September 2013.
According to Ana, students can be a
great asset. Companies often use
internships to train students before offering
them a position. As they are initially slower
and less experienced, they are normally
SUCCESSFUL PLACEMENT
Ana Guerberof with Rebecca and Jessica, the
interns at Pactera's Barcelona office (above)
paid less. However, this was not the case
with the German students sourced through
the EGPS partner network, who were hired
almost at once. Though no longer interns,
they are continuing to work with their tutors
and employers using the framework set out
in the EGPS handbook.
Mobility issues and a tight budget are key
challenges for Pactera in terms of recruiting
translators. Spain's relatively low salaries can
be a deterrent, and it is not always easy to
attract established, professional translators
who may have families and find it hard to
move. Opportunities abroad and short-term
positions may be more attractive to
students, who tend to have greater flexibility.
Ana sees links between universities and
employers as really important, 'to explain
what we do in the real world'. However, she
suggests that it is not always easy to
convince employers that the links are a
worthwhile investment, so universities need
to invite them in. Career fairs provide good
opportunities. Universities can also develop
a network of employers with an online
database, where they can advertise.
There are potential opportunities for
students to work in other Pactera offices
across the globe, and Ana would like to
develop the programme further.
Michelle Brassell, External Evaluator of
the EGPS project
DECEMBER 2013/JANUARY 2014
The Linguist
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