5 Reasons to hire a language graduate
1. Your role will be a dream job. Learning a language to a good business level as a native English speaker takes an ENORMOUS amount of effort, breaking down barriers and putting ourselves out of our comfort zone. So, after all this effort, of course we want to use our degree when we finish uni.
Many language grads' idea of an ideal role is one using their second language every day. Whether that be in customer service or telesales, communicating in a foreign language every day is fulfilling and fun.
This is what we went to university for, so there is an appreciation for going to work and using those hard-earned skills. For you as the employer, having a happy and fulfilled employee is only going to be beneficial!
If only I could have found a job speaking Russian when I graduated... :(
2. Retain staff longer. Petty much what I said above. If a languages graduate is using their language every day and that their skills are making a difference, I believe they will stay with the business longer. They won't feel as compelled to move on before the 2 year mark.
3. It’s great for brand image. If you are an online retailer or British manufacturing business, having native British customer service or salespeople in your team can bring a lot of ‘British personality’ to your brand.
If a European customer receives excellent service, your brand will be talked about as the British brand with British people who speak their language. It is still rare for English natives to speak other languages. When they do, this gives your brand personality and memorability!
Some retailers do tell me that they prefer to hire native German speakers in customer service, because the customer most often calls customer service when they are annoyed. So they get more annoyed if their language is not understood. However, with a bit of trust and training, a language graduate will soon be up to speed within 2 or 3 months.
Their fluency will improve rapidly when constantly immersed in the language. Just trust in this process.
4. Language grads have LOADS of unexpected skills– Language graduates are clever people. A languages degree is hard and requires huge discipline and dedication. Here are some strengths I think are common to most language graduates:
Resilience, willingness to leave their comfort zone, intelligence, tolerance to different cultures and races, kindness, open mindedness, dedication! I really am yet to meet a language graduate who isn't a pleasant and intelligent person... It just attracts nice people.
5. More choice of candidates and quicker hiring time. Although there’s not that many Brits who study language degrees compared to other degrees, there are still plenty of language graduates to go round, who are so ready to use their degree in a business like yours!! ??
You will definitely hire miles quicker if you can see the benefits of considering these uniquely talented people.