Translation Jobs?

["Steven J. Owens" <puff -at- netcom -dot- com>]

Folks,

     I've seen enough traffic on the topic of translation go by to
know that we have some list members familiar with the topic here.  I'm
posting this request on behalf of two friends, Craig and John, both of
whom are considering getting into the translation field on a
professional basis.

     Generally I'm looking for any and all information and advice on
the translation field, translation jobs, resume issues, translation
software they need to get familiar with and where they can find it,
ideas on how they can get a start in the field, and so forth.

     Craig speaks Mandarin and just got back from a year in China,
attending the Bejing Second Foreign Language Institute, after
graduating from a US university with a baccalaureate degree in
political science (emphasis on asian politics) and certification in
Mandarin.  He's also looking into doing cross-cultural consulting.
I'm putting together a web site for him and he's going after some
freelance work in this field.  If anybody has any experience in that
type of work, I'd love to hear about it.

     John, my other friend, speaks several European languages
(Spanish, Portugese, German, French, etc).  His degree is in early
American history (which generally includes generous dosages of
European history in the same era). He was working on his Master's for
awhile and since then he's been mostly doing multilingual customer
support jobs.

     Both of them are currently in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, but I suspect,
and I've pretty much told them, they're going to have to be
geographically flexible if they want to make a serious career move.
Both of them are good friends I've known for years.  They're smart,
diligent and well-educated.  I know there must be some good career
opportunities for them, but I suspect I don't even know where to start
at this point.

Steven J. Owens 
puff -at- netcom -dot- com