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Tips for Recruiting Bilingual Employees
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Know the specific language requirements needed before starting any search for a bilingual employee. Does the client want the employee to be proficient in both English and Spanish, for example? Do employees need to have proficiency in business or medical Spanish vocabulary?
Have the prospective bilingual employee take an oral exam given by a native speaker of the particular language needed. The oral exam should be on the required subject matter for the position. For example, if working at a customer call center for a credit card company, the oral exam should include questions that deal with credit card transactions.
Administer a written test in addition to an oral exam. Again, this test should reflect the subject matter of the employee's work. Another method to test if a candidate is fluent in a language is to provide the candidate with an employment application in that language.
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How Many Foreign Languages
Do Executives Speak?
Korn/Ferry International asked visitors to its web site the following question: "How many languages do you speak?" Of the 12,562 responses they received, the answers were:
One language (36 percent)
Two languages (31 percent)
Three languages (20 percent)
Four languages (9 percent)
More than five languages (4 percent)
Source: Korn/Ferry
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For example, at Atlanta-based Randstad North America, an employment services firm, employees applying for positions that require Spanish must fill out a job application in Spanish. "If they can't fill out the application in Spanish, then that's a good indication that they don't speak the language fluently," states Jeanne Pardo, regional director for South Florida for Randstad.
Use traditional and nontraditional methods to find bilingual applicants. The traditional method to find bilingual applicants is placing an employment announcement in the newspaper. However, other methods that recruiters often try are participating in an ethnic group's local organizations, joining their Chamber of Commerce, supporting their service organizations or even recruiting at their churches. When going the traditional route, place ads in newspapers that serve particular ethnic groups, for example, a local Spanish language newspaper.
Hold a diversity job fair. Job fairs allow recruiters to bring together a larger group of prospective employees.
Collaborate with English as a second language programs. These programs tend to have individuals from several ethnic groups and can provide a greater language base.
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