What kind of support do you need?

No matter where you are in your career, the advice and encouragement from working professionals with on-the-job experience is priceless. ATA offers mentoring options so you can choose one-on-one support, coaching in small groups, or both!

Experience is required

The ATA Mentoring Program and ATA Mastermind Program require two years of experience for participation. If you’re not there yet, we recommend following The Savvy Newcomer for everything you need to know—from getting started to finding clients and more. There’s something here for everyone!

Mentoring Program

Offering matching services to members at different stages in their career, mentees and mentors benefit from this mutually rewarding program.

Mastermind Program

Having difficulty running your businss alone? Working together in small peer groups, you will benefit from a combination of brainstorming, education, and support.

What our members say about ATA mentoring

The biggest impact on my professional development was the sense of empowerment, confidence building, and progress achieved.
- Katherine J.

I learned to sign up for webinars of interest, negotiate with clients, and establish myself as a
businessperson—something I never saw myself doing!
- Teodosia R.

When I made the switch to working for myself, I felt a bit like a fish out of water. There was so much to learn—how to attract direct clients, get my foot in the door at agencies, juggle a large number of jobs with different expectations. I wanted advice from someone who had been in my shoes. My ATA mentor turned out to be just what I was looking for.
- Jessica H.

My mentor was very generous with his knowledge and experience. I always left our sessions with a sense of purpose and concrete strategies to reach my professional goals.

- Karla S.

My mentor encouraged me to trust my instincts when it came to marketing and networking, regardless of what the “how-to” articles say. And she reminded me to be patient with my business. There is no short-cut to getting clients. Really, she helped me in so many ways. It’s hard to sum it all up!

- Molly Y.

My mentor showed me what he did to succeed in a competitive, but high value, segment of the market. Even though I had been running my own successful translation business for nearly four years, there was a lot to learn from how someone else handled the challenge of finding new clients.

- Ben K.

Mentoring: Get As Much As You Give

By The ATA Chronicle | February 12, 2023

The following was originally published on Next Level: The ATA Business Practices Blog. This initiative by ATA’s Business Practices Education Committee provides information for both freelancers and company owners to…

Becoming a Mentor: Giving Back and Leveling Up

By The ATA Chronicle | March 22, 2022

Mentoring someone isn’t just about sharing wisdom, passing along expertise, or supporting the development of (future) colleagues. Mentoring is also expected to benefit the mentor. Whether you’re working with a student, a new professional, or a colleague, the interactions you have as a mentor will lead you to reflect more critically and deeply on your professional practice.

Starting Out in Translation? Find a Mentor!

By The Savvy Newcomer | October 13, 2020

This post originally appeared on sciword and it is republished with permission. I was reading one of Kevin Lossner’s blog posts from 2010, titled “No Monkeys!”. He gives 12 pieces…

Mentoring and Beyond: Business support by and for peers within ATA

By The Savvy Newcomer | February 25, 2020

The American Translators Association (ATA) set up its current mentoring program in 2011, and since then an estimated 240 mentor/mentee pairs have worked together to jointly explore the business side…

The Benefits of Mentoring

By The Savvy Newcomer | August 6, 2019

Photo Credit: Pexels This post was originally published on the Ben Translates blog. It is reposted with permission from the author. This week, I was informed that I have been…

Tapping into the Expertise I Needed: My Experience as an ATA Mentee

By The Savvy Newcomer | February 12, 2019

Have you ever wondered what the ATA Mentoring Program entails, who joins, and what they get out of the experience? With the application deadline for this year’s program approaching, I’d…