Hundreds Attend the 2023 Virtual Job Fair for Interpreters!
On November 14th, nearly 500 language professionals navigated to the Found in Translation website to attend the annual Virtual Job Fair for Interpreters – a free event hosted by Found in Translation in collaboration with CCCS and UMass Chan Medical School. This year’s event was also sponsored by the Health Care Interpreter Network.
For three hours, at least 484 attendees logged on from 38 different countries and 46 different states. This is a huge increase of nearly 200 people from the 2022 event! The event was especially well-attended by Found in Translation graduates from all classes, and interpreters based in New England (203). Anywhere from 30 to over 100 individuals visited each organization’s virtual booth over the course of the evening.
Since 2020, the Virtual Job Fair for Interpreters has grown into Found in Translation’s largest and most successful annual event, connecting our alumnae and hundreds of other professionals to language services employers seeking valuable linguistic talent. This achievement is made possible thanks to the efforts of our event committee volunteers and co-hosts, Gaye Gentes (CCCS and Found in Translation board member) and Lisa Morris (UMass Chan Medical School), who have dedicated countless hours over the past three years to outreach and planning for these events.
Hosted on the Found in Translation website, the 2023 Virtual Job Fair for Interpreters was open to interpreters in Boston and around the world! This year, 18 different organizations participated, representing local and national language service providers. In addition, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) was present to provide information to attendees considering pursuing national certification credentials. See below for our full list of participating organizations.
675 individuals completed the free online registration ahead of the event, nearly 100 more than 2022. This year there was an especially strong interest in this event from local language professionals, as 152 registered from Massachusetts alone – including 48 Found in Translation alumnae! Amongst registrations, 43 languages were represented, from Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese to Urdu, Swahili, Ukrainian and Tagalog.
With a few adjustments, the event model built upon the success of the past two years. Registered attendees received access to a unique landing page on Found in Translation’s website, which served as the event “lobby.” On this page, all participating organizations (and their relevant hiring information) were listed in alphabetical order. Each organization hosted their own video conferencing room (most used Zoom), which was linked on the homepage for easy access. Attendees were able to “visit” any organization by clicking these links, then return to the homepage to enter another room.
2023 Participating Organizations
Post-event surveys reveal that the event was well received, and indicated strong interest in participating in another event in the future. Here are some of the comments we received from attendees and vendors:
I got to meet some fabulous interpreters!
Organization representative
[One thing that worked well was] being able to connect with the different company reps by Zoom and reading their key info beforehand.
Attendee
The virtual format worked well for us by giving us the flexibility to participate from our own offices/homes. Candidate flow was steady and the quality of some of the candidates was quite nice. The tips given at the orientation prior to the event were also very useful, especially for first timers, such as myself and my colleague. It was also nice to have access to the contact information of attending candidates. Organizers were also responsive and it was reassuring to know that there was a helpdesk set up during the event.
Organization representative
Now I have many more choices than before if I want to start a full time job as an interpreter.
Attendee
Thank you again to all who attended the event, to this year’s participating organizations, to our sponsor HCIN, and especially to our fellow event organizers, Gaye Gentes and Lisa Morris! See you next year!
Is your organization interested in participating in our 2024 Virtual Job Fair for Interpreters? Email [email protected] for more information.