Pros
-A stepping stone into the interpreting world, since their only screening procedure is "do you think you can do this?" -Experience you can leverage elsewhere. -Can pass the time if you're a bored bilingual and want some pocket cash.
Cons
Everything else. I don't know where to begin, so let's start with 1. Outrageously low pay. When you show up to their orientation session they'll dazzle you with a figure that sounds alright - but when you figure in the uncompensated driving to and from the interpreting location, the time it takes to fill out their ridiculous invoices, and the fact that as an independent contractor you have to pay 15.3% in self-employment taxes on top of your the rest of your income taxes, you could easily end up netting only $7.50 an hour for your time - with no benefits or anything else to sweeten the deal. Of course, since most newbies have little to no comprehension of what their services are worth or what costs "doing business" incurs them, they are more than willing to accept the terms Ad Astra forces on them. I can only assume that their project managers are also paid peanuts, because none seem to last there for more than a year. 2. Blatant lying from Ad Astra. Ad Astra's website advertises that all interpreters are "certified" and "accredited" by a host of agencies. The reality is that perhaps 5-10% are, and the rest are not skilled interpreters but recent "language major" graduates picked up from college recruiting events who have a rudimentary understanding of their target language, bored foreign housewives who want some way to pass the time, or bilinguals of god-knows-what skill level who just want some extra pocket cash. Do you seriously think Ad Astra checks how proficient their applicants are? Not a chance! If you apply, they ask you if you think you can do it, and if you say yes, you're in. They don't check references or anything. I encourage potential clients to forge a resume and hand it to Ad AstraI guarantee you they'll accept it and take you on board, especially if you speak a less common language. Ah, but what's that? You read that their interpreters are certified? Well that must mean they're competent, right? WRONG. Ad Astra "certifies" interpreters by running them through a day long training session in which they are taught how to cover their arses and not act like morons in hospitals. That's it. Figuratively, that's how Ad Astra certifies interpreters. Of course, rarely does anyone catch interpreters making mistakes, since that would require an on-site interpreter evaluator. For all you know, the interpreter is talking to the patient about baking an apple pie and using visual clues to feel out what answers seem right. When you order an interpreter from Ad Astra, you are playing Russian roulette. Of course, since the agency advertises themselves as being "55% cheaper" than the next agency, you shouldn't have particularly high expectations. It's fine and well that the company itself has membership in all these (formerly) prestigious translation and interpreting associations (that shilled themselves out to bottom feeders a good 10 years ago anyways), but that doesn't mean anything for their interpreters. Does that even make any sense? That's like saying my company is a certified lawyer, but my employees are just yo-yos I pulled off the street. Hello, is anyone home? 3. Putting "getting the job" above everything else. Interpreters can be thrown in some awkward circumstances by a short-sighted greedy company like Ad Astra. For starters, PMs rarely have any idea what kind of assignment you're being sent to, even after you ask them to find out for you. You could be interpreting for a child getting a regular physical or someone with a rare genetic disease that only 12 doctors in the world are qualified to treat. You'll find out when you get there, but finding out you have no idea what's going when the spotlight is on you can be an incredibly embarrassing experience, and even potentially cost lives. That doesn't bother Ad Astra in the least. I guess this is why they advertise that they fill “an unprecedented 99%” of their orders, because as far as they're concerned, anyone that can speak two languages is good enough for the job. (Still, with as many “stop canceling last minute and show up on time!” emails as they send out, I have to wonder if they mean they said yes to 99% of their orders or that they actually had an interpreter show up to 99% of their orders...)