Languages- key to resume success
July 13, 2012|employees, How to find a job| No comments yet
There are many things that can make your resume stand out from the pile. One of those things is often overlooked. Employers in today’s changing world need people who can speak a number of different languages. This can help an international company with its existing client base. It can also help a smaller company that wants to expand in the coming years. When crafting your resume, you must be sure to highlight your language experience. This can be done in a number of different creative ways by individuals who want to get the most out of their application package.
Why language skills matter in the job search
Imagine that you are a hiring manager at a company. You put out an ad for a new employee. Your company deals with many different types of people from all over the world. You then receive hundreds of resumes for the open position. Each of those individuals has a relevant degree and some job experience. What if one of those people could speak a foreign language? Wouldn’t that make the single resume stand out against the crowd? Language skills give you an edge on those people who are directly competing for the job opening.
Including any and all proficiency
The first rule of resume building is that you must be honest when putting together your resume. The second rule is that you should include anything that might be helpful. This means that you should include language information even if you are not fluent in a given language. It would be helpful if you could speak and write fluently in a language. You should include a resume line even if you have conversational language skills, though. This can help give you an edge on those people around you.
Where to include the language skills on your resume
There are a few different ways to highlight your language skills. Some people will choose to include a separate section for language competency. This is a good idea if you have full fluency in a given language. If you have some skills that you would like to include, then you might include it under the interests section of your resume. That would be the appropriate place for you to include a conversational language component. If your language skills have been an important part of your work history, then you might include the language skills there. This will highlight your talents in a way that shows the employer your worth.
Putting together a good resume requires you to think through all of your different skills and competencies. This means including your language skills if you have them. People who have serious language skills should be willing to feature those skills on their resume. People who simply have light language skills should find a useful place to work those skills into the prospectus. This can give you a huge edge over the other applicants for that position. This has become even more important with the difficult modern economic conditions.
