As a young adult preparing to enter the professional world upon graduation, the ability to speak a second language is a great skill. From social media to participating in a globalized economy, interconnectedness is rapidly becoming one of the defining characteristics of the 21st century, and by speaking another language, you will be able to access and interact with more communities than you would as a monolingual speaker. To a potential employer, your ability to communicate with manufacturers in Asia or target Spanish-speaking demographics here in the United States is a valuable asset.
For certain majors and related career paths, bilingualism is a no-brainer. However, even if you aren't a political science major specializing in Russia and the former Soviet Union, it's very likely that a second language will still come in handy. In the United States, the need for Spanish speakers is quite strong in the communications and media industries.
How Speaking A Second Language Can Help Your Career
WPP, one of the world's largest advertising companies, has an agency dedicated solely to creating advertising campaigns tailored to Hispanic people. Fox launched MundoFox, a Spanish-language network, nationally this past August. As a communications major, solid Spanish-speaking skills can lead to opportunities with companies eager to expand their reach by developing products that appeal to Hispanic people.
Speaking another language can also be beneficial in the liberal arts, such as literature and art history. As a literature major, having a second major in another language can help you obtain a position at a publishing house as a translator, thus enabling you to enjoy work in a writer's native tongue and challenging you to help communicate the author's sentiments to an English-speaking audience.
For art history students, proficiency in a second language not only enhances your studies while conducting research into primary sources, it also gives you a leg up when applying for jobs at art magazines, galleries and museums. Language provides direct access to culture, so the ability to speak another language exposes you to otherwise inaccessible insights and fleshes out your understanding of a writer's or an artist's work.
Obviously, if you want to work as a translator at Random House or as a research associate in an international department at the Council of Foreign Relations, you should be proficient, if not fluent, in your second language. For other positions, conversational speaking skills are perfectly fine. For students, this means that while pursuing a double major in your main area of focus as well as a second language would be ideal (get your money's worth).
If you can't fit the extra courses and workload into your schedule, don't worry! A minor can still help you sharpen your speaking, reading and writing skills. You can also look into the study-abroad programs offered in your major's department and see if there are any programs in countries where you can further cultivate your language skills. Joining relevant language and culture groups on campus can also help you work on your speech outside of the classroom.
For companies that regularly deal with international clients, bilingualism is an extremely attractive trait in a candidate. They like having an employee on hand who can engage clients with relative ease. Bilingualism also appeals to companies interested in entering new markets, which is becoming increasingly common in this age of start-ups. Simply put, speaking a second language can help your resume stand out in a sea of qualified applicants.
This article was written by Social Media Outreach Coordinator Melissa Woodson on behalf of CAREEREALISM-Approved Partner, 2tor — an education technology partner that partners with institutions of higher education such as Washington University in St. Louis to deliver their LLM degree in U.S. Law.
The leaves are changing, the kids are back in school, and that familiar chill is in the air. You think it's the perfect time to look for a job, and it is! But are your job search fears preventing you from making that leap?
It's not uncommon to feel lost when embarking on your job search journey. After all, school teaches us everything except how to get a job. What should you put on your resume? What questions should you ask in an interview? How can you stand out in the hiring process when there's so much competition?
Are you feeling spooked yet?
Believe it or not, there's no need to be afraid of the job search process! You can land your dream job with the right tools and strategy. You can find a job that won't give you nightmares. Here are three spooky secrets every job seeker should know as they look for a job this fall.
1. An Effective Job Search Starts With An Interview Bucket List
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Despite your fears, you've decided to take the plunge and look for a new job. You might be asking yourself, "Where do I start?" The answer is simple: start by creating an interview bucket list.
An interview bucket list is a list of 10-20 companies you'd love to work for. Are you passionate about a company's products or services? Do you feel connected to its mission? Can you relate to its values and beliefs as an organization? If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, that company probably belongs on your interview bucket list.
Once you create an interview bucket list, you'll be able to conduct a targeted job search, one with direction and a foundation upon which everything else will be built. An interview bucket list helps you focus your job search and networking strategies on the right opportunities, making it easier to get your foot in the door at one of your dream companies.
2. Your Job Application Needs To Disrupt Hiring Managers
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In order to stand out in the hiring process, you need to disrupt recruiters and hiring managers. You accomplish this by doing two things: optimizing your resume and writing a disruptive cover letter.
A well-optimized resume includes keywords from the job description. This ensures your resume gets past the ATS and into the hands of the hiring manager. Once it's in front of the hiring manager, it needs to grab and keep their attention. Quantifying your work experience—adding numbers to your bullet points—will make you stand out from other applicants. Hiring managers will want to know more about you and your accomplishments, and that's how you land a phone interview.
Before that, though, a hiring manager will read your cover letter. To disrupt them, you need to write a disruptive cover letter (obviously!). A disruptive cover letter gives you the opportunity to tell a story about why you feel connected to the company you're applying for. It's that storytelling aspect that will stand out to hiring managers and compel them to pick up the phone and give you a call.
3. Employers Hire You Based On 3 Things
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You can't get hired unless you know what employers are assessing you on in the interview process. While your skills and expertise matter, companies actually hire for three things: personality, aptitude, and experience (in that order).
Most job seekers don't realize how important it is to demonstrate their personality, aptitude, and experience in an interview. You could have the right experience for a job, but if the hiring manager doesn't think your personality is a good fit for the company culture, you probably won't get a job offer.
Make sure you demonstrate your soft skills and learn how to answer behavioral interview questions to prove you're the best candidate for the job you're applying for, not just the most qualified.
Want To Learn More Job Search Secrets?
As you look for a job this fall, it might be helpful to know some more spooky secrets so you can get over your job search fears and finally take control of your career.
We know the job search process can be scary. However, it's important to get clear on what you want to do next and focus on conducting a strategic job search, or what we refer to at Work It DAILY as job shopping. This is the only way to effectively market yourself to employers. If they can't see exactly where and how you add value, then that's going to decrease your chances of landing the job.
The competition is fierce, and there are a lot of factors that are out of your control. But the one factor you can control is your job search strategy, the tools and tactics you use to land a job.
If you want to learn the secrets to conducting a strategic job search, sign up for our Job Search Bootcamp, a two-hour, on-demand video workshop that comes with a free workbook.
In this video workshop, you'll learn:
How to use backchanneling to get directly to hiring managers.
The secret to using a connection story to stand out against the competition.
How social media can be your secret weapon to get job interviews.
The resume format that is getting job seekers more job interviews.
