"What's Your Greatest Strength?"

Job interviews can be nerve-wracking for anyone, especially for individuals applying for a job as a non-native speaker in a foreign country. To help you feel more confident, we recommend preparing answers to commonly asked questions that are likely to come up during your interview.

One of these questions is, "What is your biggest strength?" During this part of the interview, employers are interested in hearing more about the key skills mentioned in your CV or your application, but it's also an opportunity to highlight strengths that might not be included in your application. As a multilingual speaker, you can use this as a great opportunity to showcase the advantages of your language skills.

You can discuss how your language skills have benefited your family, personal life, and professional endeavours. For instance, if you are applying for a customer service role, you could say, "In my previous role as an entry-level customer service advisor, my ability to speak both Spanish and English allowed me to communicate more effectively with global customers. This led to improved customer service, resulting in fewer customer complaints and an increase in Net Promoter Score."

If you are applying for a more senior position, you might want to emphasize how your multilingual skills have played a crucial role in the success of multinational projects. For example, "Whilst working for a multinational IT company, I utilised my ability to speak multiple languages, which improved communication with employees across Europe. This also led to better collaboration within our multinational team, ultimately increasing productivity and efficiency in achieving our business goals. This was evident when we successfully identified and resolved specific issues during a website migration."

We recommend taking some time to reflect on examples of how your multilingual skills have positively impacted your professional life. Focus on how your skillset has helped you overcome common barriers faced by employees and consider the potential value this can bring to your prospective employer, which you are interviewing for. They may not have even considered these benefits themselves.

We hope this advice proves helpful. For more insights, be sure to follow Pearson on all of our social media platforms for further guidance.