Why Learn Spanish? To Improve Your Employment Potential!

By Rob Mathews

Know a second language? Great, you're hired! If you have proven yourself to be a capable employee with just the right job skills AND you speak a foreign language such as Spanish, you are much more likely to land that job of your dreams than if you are monolingual. In fact, many jobs today require a minimum of basic proficiency in another language.

With the world becoming ever more global, contact with people of other countries has increased tremendously in recent decades. Just having a basic knowledge may be all it takes to separate yourself from the crowd of applicants for the job you are pursuing. With the rapidly increasing Hispanic population, there are a multitude of career fields in the US that need Spanish speakers. Among them are nurses, social workers, teachers, salespeople, translators, and many more.

Internationally, people who speak Spanish often have opportunities to work in trade or business fields. Other options include diplomacy, interpretation, and security applications, which all require a sensitivity and proficiency of another language.

You also need to remind yourself that companies today are trying to woo emerging markets in Asia and Latin America--where there are huge business opportunities and plenty of room for the economy to grow. Being able to speak the language used in those emerging markets would certainly be the competitive edge these companies will look for in their employees. Spanish is spoken in nearly half of the world's emerging markets, most notably in Latin America. Show them that you speak Spanish, and you will be considered a valuable asset.

If you work--or are planning to work--in the development sector, then knowing Spanish would also boost your employment potential. Donor agencies like the World Bank or the UNDP are looking for capable people who can work closely with their government counterparts as well as the people at the grassroot level. Research has shown that the ability to speak the native language of a country's government officials would significantly increase the likelihood of co-operation. Meanwhile, the same ability would without question improve the rapport you need to build with the grassroot community you're trying to work with. These development agencies work very intensively in South East Asia, Africa and Latin America. Once again, if you speak Spanish, you cover most of the are of operation of these agencies.

If the chance to show off your skills and be more competitive on the job market doesn't interest you in studying Spanish, perhaps the extra cash will. Did you know that bilingual employees often receive a larger salary than their non-Spanish speaking counterparts? The ability to speak a second language, especially one that is relevant to an organization or a company's field of work, is today considered an extremely valuable quality. And companies will try their best to retain the individuals with such qualities. Hence the bigger paycheck.

In this globalization era, competition is fierce. You need to do everything you can to show that you have more to offer than the average Joe or Jane. Learn Spanish, and you'll get the competitive edge you need to excel.

Rob Mathews is currently working as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He is a language enthusiast and speaks English, Spanish, French, Malay and Indonesian. His review on Spanish language learning software can be seen at Spanish Review