Foreign Language Skills and the International Job Market

February 23 - Dozens of students gathered in the College of Staten Island's 1P's Recital Hall as representatives from the United Nations, Italy's RAI TV and CSI's own faculty and staff spoke in detail about the importance of foreign languages in today's global job market.

The event, organized by CSI's Modern Languages Media Center's Valeria Belmonti, gathered together figures from the campus' Modern Languages Department and staff from the The Career Center and The Center for International Service. The Keynote speakers however, were Naima Charafi from the United Nations, Donatella Saroli from RAI Italian Television, and Alberto Prieto from Bilingual Resources.

After a few cursory remarks and thanks from the dean, Assistant Spanish Professor and International Studies Program Coordinator Jane Markus-Delgado took the podium to briefly talk about her employment experience. "Every single job I've ever gotten," she said "has been because I speak another language."

Minutes later Charafi, the United Nation's Head French Teacher, took the podium. Focusing on the specific details one goes through to get a job at the U.N., she described a number of tests. "We have to assess your writing skills, language skills and production," she said. According to Charafi, recruitment involves three stages: a personal history profile, an international competitive exam, and an interview. Since, as she states, the "U.N. staff is interested in upgrading their foreign language skills," a second Language Proficiency exam is required. For those of us who aren't the best test takers, Charafi also noted that certain short-term contracts are available without taking the exams. She pointed interested parties to jobs.un.org for more information and available positions.

Next up, was Donatella Saroli from Italy's Rai Television. By pointing out the lengthy credits at the end of an Italian television program, she illustrated the number of people necessary create TV content, and thereby the many positions potentially available at RAI for college graduates with a working knowledge of Italian. She also cited her own personal experience in getting her first serious job, before she had even completed her Doctorate. "Thanks to the language skills" said Saroli, "I had the bridge to two worlds: the world of academia and the corporate world." She pointed interested parties to RAI's web site, where they could find a telephone number and an address where they could mail applications.

Alberto Prieto spoke next about his experiences founding and running his own company for more than a decade. His New York-based Bilingual Services provides personnel to international companies in the Metropolitan area. Among other things, he emphasized the importance of an impeccable resume geared to the needs of each employer, and noted that multilingual skills can also be "a good way to move up in a company."

The final handful of speakers stressed options available to current students who wish to improve their chances in this global marketplace by enrolling in the study abroad program, through international internships, or even simply visiting the campus' Career Center. According to the Center's Joanne Hollan, "the majority of jobs are gotten through networking." She also noted the importance of a good resume. "Resumes are your calling card" said Joanne, "and a good resume isn't going to get you a job, but it will get you an interview."

Minutes later, the speakers and faculty guided students into the lobby for refreshments and an informal question and answer period. Mingling with the speakers, many students eagerly asked about specifics, and handed speakers their resumes, hoping to take advantage of the person-to-person opportunity.

The event was enough to make this reporter wish he'd paid a little more attention to his language classes when he had the chance, or had signed up for the study abroad program before he was about to graduate. As any one of the speakers from this event would tell you, in today's global economy, whether you hope to work here in New York, or halfway around the world, second and even third language ability is likely to be a major asset in obtaining a lucrative job. So if you find yourself drifting off during your language classes, fantasizing about that dream job, snap out of it! Pay attention to what your professor is trying to teach you about conjugating those irregular verbs and you might land that dream job sooner than you think.