Expanding translation firm Diversity creating eight jobs at east Belfast headquarters
of Northern Ireland’s largest interpreting and translation companies has announced eight new jobs at its headquarters in east Belfast.
Following a significant increase in new business and the awarding of one of Northern Ireland’s largest public sector tenders for interpreting, Diversity is expanding its team to manage the new contracts and the increasing demand for its range of services.
The positions will be based at the company’s headquarters on the Newtownards Road.
The roles will take the firm’s employee count to almost 15, with staff managing an extended network of more than 500 qualified interpreters.
Diversity, which was founded by Paolina Hawthorne in 2010, has grown into a major player in the local translation sector, delivering services to more than 1,700 clients in the past nine years and training individuals to become interpreters.
“As we’re fast approaching our 10th year in business, we’re excited to see the business expand, not just in terms of our team, but our contracts, breadth of interpreters and languages we offer,” Ms Hawthorne said.
“We’re investing in the business, and significant growth and expansion are very much part of our five-year plan.”
In addition to the job investment, the company recently added eight rare languages to its serONE vices, including Hausa, Edo, Twi, Akan and Lgbo.
Diversity now offers clients access to more than 77 different languages, with 70 full-time registered linguistics currently dedicated to the interpreting of Arabic alone.
Ms Hawthorne said this year had been a milestone for the company.
“Our focus on expanding our client base and winning specific tenders has really paid off,” she added.
“We’ve launched new services and we’re committed to growing the team in order to deliver the very best in translation and interpreting services to every one of our clients.”
Earlier this year, the company launched the first telephone interpreting service in Northern Ireland, offering clients access to more than 250 supported languages.
Investing £25,000 in the new service, based on increased interest in on-demand interpreting, Diversity’s telephone interpreting service has been well received by clients in the private and public sector, with this service now accounting for 5% of the firm’s overall business.
Ms Hawthorne, who is orginally from Bulgaria, established Diversity in 2010 when she was 26, following a period of delivering freelance interpreting and translating services for businesses.
The company is an accredited OCN centre that provides professional interpreting services for a wide range of private and public sector clients.
It is also the only business in Northern Ireland to operate a Chartered Institute of Linguistics exam centre.