How to recruit the best multilingual speakers for your company

Have you ever recruited a non-native or multilingual speaker into a role, only to realise a short time later that – while the person may be conversationally fluent – they don’t have the language skills required to successfully do their job??

As well as language tuition, we offer language testing to companies recruiting non-native speakers. The tests cover a wide range of languages, including German, French, Spanish, Italian and English, and help you determine which candidate has the best language skills for a specific role.

For example, you might need your candidates to be able to:

• ?Understand financial and logistical details given over the phone
• Verbally explain complex issues to your customers clearly and with very little foreign accent
• Read and grasp the details of technical documents and emails
• Compose accurate and professional emails to customers with minimal language errors?

By testing candidates before you hire them, you can be sure you’re recruiting the right people for the job and maintaining excellent levels of customer service.?

We’ve put together some frequently asked questions about our language testing:

How can you tailor the tests to different roles?

The test we design depends on what role you’re recruiting for. If the candidate will be undertaking research, their reading and writing skills need to be exemplary, so we’d focus on written tests rather than one testing their spoken delivery.?

If you’re recruiting for a business development role, you might want to check if the candidate is confident in making conversation and building relationships in an informal environment. These are completely different skills to the research role, so the test would reflect that.?

Can you give some examples of what you might test?

Yes. An insurance company we worked with recently wanted to recruit multilingual service agents. They needed to be confident speaking to a broad range of customers on the phone, dealing with various queries,, and writing fluent customer service letters. We designed a specific language test which included letter writing, recording policy numbers correctly and role play exercises for typical claim scenarios.?

?

How is this different from other online testing tools?

Many of the online tests available offer multiple choice questions and perhaps a short listening comprehension. It’s very easy to score highly! You’ll find the results don’t accurately represent someone’s actual ability in a specific role.?

?

Surely if we chat to the candidate in their interview, that will flag any issues?

This is useful for checking their conversational skills, but doesn’t always highlight issues with recording names and numbers, spelling native terms or writing fluent business correspondence. A language skills test will clearly highlight their likelihood of success in the actual role.?

?

Do you offer tests for students and graduates?

Absolutely. As many language degrees are literary based, students may have attained a very high qualification, but not have the real world, commercial language skills to confidently take on a role in business. Our tests are relevant and targeted to the skills they need at your company.?

?

How do you create the tests?

We talk to you first about what they’ll be expected to do, study actual materials they’ll need to be familiar with and include specific and relevant terminology. We then create tests based on reading, writing, speaking or listening skills – or a combination.?

Within a few days, we provide you with scores and detailed feedback so you can make a final decision with a thorough understanding of their linguistic strengths and weaknesses.

If you want to reduce the risk of hiring the wrong people and continue offering excellent levels of customer service, book a call with us to chat about language testing for your future candidates.