How Learning Foreign Languages Can Help You Get Better Jobs

From the Personal Branding Blog

The more skills you have, the more opportunities you gain for finding better jobs. One thing that can help you to land better positions in your professional career is learning a foreign language.

By becoming a multilingual candidate, you open up your opportunities in multiple ways. Let us explore the topic in more detail.

You can apply for more exciting jobs.

As businesses become more and more globally focused, the demand for professionals who can speak multiple languages is rising.

When you can speak two or more languages, you can access a much wider pool of job opportunities in comparison to monolingual professionals; and when you have access to more opportunities, it is much easier to find a better job.

Opportunities for multilingual professionals are available in sectors like education, banking, retail, public relations, and tourism, to name just a few.

Though, before you begin to start looking into foreign language lessons, it is a good idea to pinpoint which languages are the best to learn. For instance, Spanish, Mandarin, and French are more in demand than Swedish or Thai.

If you opt for French, check out these online French classes. The classes are small so that you can practice speaking and get feedback from a native tutor and lessons are available 24/7 to suit your schedule.

You improve your chances of landing a great job.

Not only does learning foreign languages enable you to apply to a broader range of positions. It also increases your chances of getting hired. This is true regardless of whether your foreign language skills are required for the job or not.

Employers will favor multilingual candidates over monolingual ones because it can always be beneficial to have employees who speak more than one language.

It also indicates to employers that you know how to study, learn, and apply skills. So, learning another language, or several, can help to boost your chances of landing a better job.

You increase your earning potential.

Seeing as multilingual professionals are in demand, if you work in a sector in which the demand is high, you can command a higher salary. Typically, people who speak more than one language earn up to 15% more than monolingual professionals. In some professions, it can be much higher.

For instance, bilingual or multilingual employees of the U.S. government can earn an additional $1,000 per month for speaking more than one language. Better jobs mean better pay, so if it is your intention to command a higher salary, learning a foreign language can allow you to achieve your goal.

You can climb the career ladder more quickly.

When you can speak a foreign language, you increase your career advancement opportunities. Bigger companies, especially, require professionals who can travel overseas and communicate effectively with local operation managers and establish new business relationships.

If you are looking for a better position within the same company, learning a foreign language can help. It can fast-track you to get promoted, take on more responsibility, and see the world.

Even if you are not fluent in another language, you can still move up the career ladder. Many companies, in addition to hiring translators, require people with basic foreign language skills for things like meet-and-greets with overseas investors.

You can become a better communicator.

Often, the key to getting a better job has to do with effective communication. When you have excellent communication skills, you increase your chances of getting hired and climbing the career ladder.

There are several ways you can enhance your native language communication skills. One is to learn a foreign language!

When you learn another language, you learn how to break down sentences and grammar structures. In turn, without even realizing it, you become more aware of such things in your own language. That in turn can lead to better communication skills.

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