Interpreting is a low-agency job. That is, as interpreters we have little ‘standing’ within the setting’s jurisdiction and among those service professionals we work alongside. Working in a low-agency job also means that our contributions, efforts, our successes, and failures often occur without a knowing witness. There are few who can provide “testimony” to our work.

Perhaps many of us became interpreters due in part to the low-agency nature of the work – we like working alone, behind the scenes, or being a fly on the wall. Yet, as we age and move through proposed stages of career development, we might find the low-agency nature problematic. O’Neil and Bilimoria (2005) proposed that at the late career stage of reinventive contribution (~age 45 to 65), we begin to review and take stock of our careers, seek further opportunities to add value, and further our professional growth.

Two problems emerge when low-agency work intersects with reinventive contribution: 1) The low-agency nature of the work confounds the question of contribution. 2) Continuing professional development CPD offerings do not take stock of or seek to counterbalance the low-agency effects of the work. As such, the developmental needs of career review and continued growth becomes a challenge for late-career interpreters.

This presentation explores the application of transformational learning (Mezirow, 2004) and job crafting (Wrzesniewski, et al., 2013) as a means of supporting mid-to-late-career interpreters. Both frameworks offer interpreters more options as they account for their career contributions and seek further growth and opportunity.