5th Edition Linguanaut

Why Languages will be even more in demand post Brexit - what the recruiters are saying

Post Brexit, European language skills may be in ever increasing demand as British companies wishing to do business with European customers may not be able to rely on employing EU candidates as easily as they have in the past. This is sure to shake things up a bit in the for the recruitment sector. Even as top recruitment agencies in London may be worrying about a possible exodus of European compa- nies, according to experts it seems unlikely that multinational companies will not want a base in London even if they have to move staff between their European offices.

Recruiters struggle to fill roles requiring language skills

If however over the longer term it becomes more difficult or even less desirable for an EU citizen to come to the UK, it will be increasingly important that recruitment candidates for PA and Secretarial jobs in London should brush up on their language skills – this is one thing which will go a long way toward supporting those European companies which are based in London.

And recruitment agencies in London have long lamented the lack of good candidates with language skills, one of the hardest position requirements to fulfil according to Senior Consultant Natasha Greely at RMS Recruitment.

Britain lags behind the rest of Europe

According to reports, over half of Europeans speak a second language and in many countries like Sweden, Luxem- bourg and The Netherlands, it is over 90%. This is in stark contrast to estimates that only 25% of British adults speak a second language in spite of all those years of French lessons at school! The age-old excuse that “everyone speaks English” no longer holds true. In fact it is estimated that over 70% of the world’s population does not speak English and particularly so in emerging economies like China, Brazil and the Middle East. Having a second lan- guage under your belt could help set you aside from the other recruitment candidates. British companies wanting to prove to European customers that they still want to do business with them may need to pay more attention to the linguistic skills of their recruited workforce. And it’s not just the senior executives who need these language skills, many administrative roles go unfilled due to the language deficit. Multilingual staff can be instrumental in securing overseas contracts. The idea that a UK company would buy products or services from an overseas company which tried to sell to them in a foreign language would be unthinkable but this is exactly what some UK companies have expected the rest of Europe to do! Multi-lingual staff will give companies the edge

Which languages are most in demand

The British Council highlighted the 10 most important languages for the UK economy over the next 20 years as Spanish, Arabic, French, Mandarin Chinese, German , Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Turkish and Japanese based on UK business needs, overseas trade targets, diplomatic and security issues and Internet usage. Plenty to choose from in that case! If you speak one of these languages and are seeking recruit- ment opportunities, you could be in luck!

From RSM recruitment at : https://rmsrecruitment.com/news/why-languages-will-be-even-more-demand-post-brexit

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