Unemployment: Do they force translators to take courses in IT/other areas? [ESPECIALLY IN SPAIN] Thread poster: Prozfesional
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Hello all,
I am a Spanish freelance translator with 10 years of experience as a linguist and 10 years of previous experience in IT.
In the past, I have taken about 6 free unemployment courses (from SEPE, previously INEM), but I always was looking for a job in IT during these period, so it was a normal situation. Some of these courses were suggested to me by the unemployment office under the threat of suspending my benefits.
But what happens if you start rec... See more Hello all,
I am a Spanish freelance translator with 10 years of experience as a linguist and 10 years of previous experience in IT.
In the past, I have taken about 6 free unemployment courses (from SEPE, previously INEM), but I always was looking for a job in IT during these period, so it was a normal situation. Some of these courses were suggested to me by the unemployment office under the threat of suspending my benefits.
But what happens if you start receiving unemployment benefits ("the freelance unemployment", "el paro de los autónomos" in Spain) as a freelance translator and register yourself as "looking for a job as a linguist"? Because I have checked and there are simply no courses related to this (only short foreign language courses in German, Chinese and other languages).
I was wondering if anyone here has experienced this. Do they force you to take courses in other areas, such as IT? There are dozens of IT courses, and I'm afraid I will be forced to take one if I am in this situation in the future. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adieu 
Ukrainian to English
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| How does that even work for a freelancer? | Jul 27, 2021 |
Are you expressly prohibited from taking on any paid jobs, however small? Or, on the contrary, technically promising to take on any paid work that comes your way, even at Indian Agency rates?
Is there a cut-off that you can earn?
How do the various promises and/or realities of payment 30-90 days from invoice, during which you're not actually entirely confident if this is happening at all or when with a new client work regarding unemployment? Do you stop getting paid onc... See more Are you expressly prohibited from taking on any paid jobs, however small? Or, on the contrary, technically promising to take on any paid work that comes your way, even at Indian Agency rates?
Is there a cut-off that you can earn?
How do the various promises and/or realities of payment 30-90 days from invoice, during which you're not actually entirely confident if this is happening at all or when with a new client work regarding unemployment? Do you stop getting paid once you get a certain (or any) payout or does it technically have to end once you are starting to EXPECT to get paid, whether or not you know when or if that's going to happen???
How many days after a last job from a client until you are "unemployed" again? Or are you unemployed every morning until employed on a specific project?
Imho so many questions there and so few of them have anything to do with mandatory IT courses.
[Edited at 2021-07-27 18:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Adieu wrote:
Are you expressly prohibited from taking on any paid jobs, however small? Or, on the contrary, technically promising to take on any paid work that comes your way, even at Indian Agency rates?
Is there a cut-off that you can earn?
How do the various promises and/or realities of payment 30-90 days from invoice, during which you're not actually entirely confident if this is happening at all or when with a new client work regarding unemployment? Do you stop getting paid once you get a certain (or any) payout or does it technically have to end once you are starting to EXPECT to get paid, whether or not you know when or if that's going to happen???
How many days after a last job from a client until you are "unemployed" again? Or are you unemployed every morning until employed on a specific project?
Imho so many questions there and so few of them have anything to do with mandatory IT courses.
[Edited at 2021-07-27 18:17 GMT]
I'm mostly looking for answers from Spaniards that have been in this situation, but I will gladly answer your questions.
In Spain, freelancers are allowed a monthly unemployment income (up to 2 years if you've worked for 4 consecutive years) if they prove that their income as freelancers has descended 10% or more over the last year compared to the previous year.
When you register in the unemployment offices, you choose the job you want to perform, but that's only considered as the "preferred one" and never the only one by them, so they can suggest you other jobs and courses.
Of course, the ideal situation for a Spanish freelance translator would be:
1) If there are courses available related to my job, maybe I can take some while I look for a new, big client so I can be a "full time freelancer" again
2) If none of the courses is related to my job, hopefully I can receive the monthly unemployment income while I look for clients and do sporadic work*.
*In Spain, you can still do freelance jobs and invoices as "sporadic work" if you earn 25%, 50% or maybe 75% of the minimum wage by registering only with the Tax Office and not with the Social Security, also avoiding the €300 Social Security fee.
However, the reality is like this:
1) There are no courses related to translation, interpretation, subtitling or anything related, only regular, 1 month foreign language courses. And, of course, dozens of courses in other work areas, including IT, marketing or plumbing.
2) I strongly suspect they are forcing unemployed translators to take courses related to other areas, not because they want to help these people, but because they need to have a minimum of people attending each course to receive the money from the EU and sometimes there are not enough people interested in every single course for their numbers. If someone perceiving an unemployment income rejects a course, they cancel the income for that month the first time, they cancel the income for 3 months the second time, and I believe they cancel the income completely the third.
So my question (especially for translators living in Spain) stands: do they force you to take courses in other areas when you're an "unemployed freelance translator" in Spain?
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I think it might be a good idea to post your question in Spanish as colleagues based in Spain are likely to have the knowledge and experience of the system there.
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| I'd take marketing | Jul 28, 2021 |
Translators can benefit from intro courses to fields that generate a lot of potential business.
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