Workforce Language Services

Hiring managers and job-seekers alike are very aware of the addition of language skills in the list of required or preferred qualifications in job descriptions.  Being bilingual, most commonly in Spanish, is fast becoming a huge asset when looking for jobs.  This is true in a variety of professions and jobs: from police officers to customer service representatives to medical services. 

John Peoples is a managing partner at Global Lead Management Consulting, which focuses on enhancing workforce productivity with an emphasis on diversity. Being multilingual, he said, makes an employee more valuable in the workplace now more than ever before.

“For many organizations, it’s been part of the dialogue for more than a decade,” he said. “But in the past couple of years, they’ve gone from talk to implementing it.”

Global Lead works primarily with retail, health care and financial services companies. Such “direct-to-consumer” fields, including the hospitality industry, are where much of the need for bilingual employees exists.

From tourists to immigrants, even if they speak a functional amount of English, the people calling and coming into those offices are increasingly likely to speak another language better or more comfortably. That ease makes for more meaningful interactions and accurate problem-solving.

The article also makes the point that, although bilingualism is a skill to be marketed and capitalized upon, it is also a skill that needs to be honed.  It’s not enough to simply speak the language, but candidates must also either know or be able to learn the specialized vocabulary inherent to different fields.