The People Bulletin

A survey by specialist language recruiter, Euro London Appointments has indicated that language skills improve employability. The agency polled 228 employers of whom 86% felt that languages were an important skill set.

‘Languages are the key to flexibility within a global workplace’, said one respondent, a learning and development manager – ‘they have given me the flexibility to manage HR functions across Western Europe and train people almost globally. I speak Spanish and French which has given me the flexibility to work in South America, the West Indies and Africa.’

‘Organisations are finding it necessary to provide information, services and products in two or even three languages in order to reach increasingly important customer demographics’, said another respondent, an employee development manager. ‘These trends are not going to reverse and xenophobes will find themselves more isolated and relegated to the lower rungs of the employment ladder’.

The majority of respondents  (74%) cited the traditional western European languages of French German Spanish and Italian as the most useful with over a third (37%) expressing an opinion those more exotic languages such as Mandarin and Arabic would grow in demand in the future – particularly in areas such as the financial services sector.

However, there were some interesting industry and geographical specific languages highlighted by respondents.  Those organisations that had US headquarters cited, not surprisingly, that Spanish and French were the most useful. In the import and export arena, Chinese languages were seen as key while Urdu, Filipino and Russian were seen as useful in shipping. Norwegian and Arabic were cited as being helpful within valuable in the oil and gas sector.

‘While the recession may be ebbing away and organisations are scaling up their hiring activity, it is still a competitive market out there’, said Steve Shacklock, Managing Director of Euro London Appointments. ‘Being able to speak another language in what is now a truly global marketplace can be a key differentiator when it comes to employability.’