Employers Ignoring Potential Employees Without Language Skills

Three weeks ago I wrote that learning a language can improve job prospects and the possibility of being more successful in an interview. It now seems that research by CILT, the government-funded National Centre for Languages, has found that the reverse is also true. Companies are ignoring British graduates who do not have additional language skills.

The obvious assumption is that these jobs have a specific requirement for the successful applicant to be able to speak a particular language. Indeed, in a global world, where even small businesses can conduct business on a worldwide level, surely this is not an unreasonable assumption?

CILT made the following statement “Employers view the pool of those with high-level language skills as a global one, with the UK a relatively weak player. Candidates were more likely to come from outside the UK. Indeed, some employers feel our young people are falling behind, or at a disadvantage, in comparison to those from other countries.”

Many companies who bring their business to Britain find themselves having to employ staff that are not British. This is not through choice but by the necessity of needing staff with additional language skills. There are those that may not consider this a huge problem. However, the emphasis once again lands with global corporate communications. A business in operation now, especially a larger one which has a high number of employees, interacts with other companies all around the world using technology. Take, for example, a company such as Google. They have operations in countries all around the world, so when they are looking to take on staff they will consider the ability to speak another language essential. So clearly if a potential employee does not have this skill the employer is going to be more inclined to opt for someone who does.

This point has been iterated by Keith Herrmann, the deputy chief executive of the Council for Industry and Higher Education, who said: “Increasingly, many of our member companies recruit globally and are looking for people who have a global perspective.

“Crucial to that is an expertise in languages. Graduates who have international experience are highly employable because they can demonstrate that they have drive, resilience and intracultural sensitivities, as well as language skills. Young people need to understand that they are not competing against their neighbour, but in a global marketplace.”