12 Days of Christmas Job Hunting Tips

Merry Christmas one and all! Yes. We know we’re not quite there yet, but we’re well on our way and there’s nothing the Omicron variant can do about it… is there? Oh, there probably is. That’s all the more reason to enjoy ourselves now then. 

In this, the final Linguistica Recruitment blog of 2021, we’re going to provide you with a few top tips to help you beat the January jobs rush, delivered in the format and (very occasionally) to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas, famously sung of course by John Denver and The Muppets. 

 Yes, we know it may be tempting to put off your job hunt until after Christmas, but put the work in now and you’ll reap the rewards in the New Year. So without further ado…

On the 1st day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, now is the perfect time to update your CV (and portfolio with the best examples of your work from 2021). 

On the 2nd day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, high employment levels and skills gaps in many industries mean that hundreds of employers are still hiring even in the run-up to Christmas, so stay tuned to those jobs boards.     

On the 3rd day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, spend your time productively and benefit from the reduced competition to increase your chances of landing your dream job. 

On the 4th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, hiring managers generally feel happier at this time of year and are maybe more receptive to a speculative enquiry from an eager jobseeker.

On the 5th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, the holiday season is a great time to revisit your LinkedIn profile and check that it ticks all of the right boxes. Update it with the most recent and relevant information and ask your colleagues for recommendations if yours are out of date. Here are a few other tips to keep your LinkedIn profile recruiter ready.

On the 6th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, now’s a good time to make sure you’re looking at the best jobs boards for your skillset. Generalist jobs boards can be fine for some roles but if you have niche skills, such as bilingualism, then more specialist jobs boards can be a hugely valuable resource. 

On the 7th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, make good use of the time you have off over the festive break to improve your interview skills. 

On the 8th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, if there aren’t any roles that you are actively applying for, take the time to refocus and set specific professional goals for the year ahead and write down the necessary steps to get there. 

On the 9th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, now is a great time to research your salary. Sites like Check-a-Salary can give you a better idea of what you’re worth so you can make informed decisions in the new year.   

On the 10th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, use all of those personal and professional events you’ll be attending as an opportunity for networking. It’s always worth mentioning that you are job searching as you never know who may be able to help.

On the 11th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, take this time to reflect on your job hunt before relaunching your efforts in the new year. Talk to a careers advisor, discuss your plans with family and friends and think about all of the contacts you have built up in the past. 

On the 12th day of Christmas my recruiter said to me, contact Linguistica Recruitment and send us your CV.

At Linguistica Recruitment, we find talented candidates for rewarding and well-paid bilingual jobs across the UK. Give us a call on 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-recruitment.com to discuss your job search with our team. And above all else, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  

 

Remote Bilingual Jobs are on the Rise

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a spike in the number of remote job listings for translators, interpreters, market researchers, interviewers and other roles that require bilingual skills. That’s probably not surprising given that the pandemic has transformed the working landscape for so many, taking them away from offices and shared workspaces and back into their homes. 

Remote bilingual jobs increase by a third

According to the latest data from one of the world’s biggest marketplaces for flexible jobs, there has been a 30 percent year-on-year increase in the number of remote bilingual vacancies, with almost a third more listings now than there were at the same time last year. 

With more than 1,700 jobs currently listed, bilingual jobs are now the eighth biggest category of remote jobs, up from eighteenth just two months ago.  

What type of remote bilingual jobs are available?

As the economy has rebounded after the initial Covid shock, organisations are on the lookout for workers who can help them capitalise on overseas opportunities in an increasingly globalised world. This has coincided with the dawn of the streaming era, accelerated by the various lockdowns and restrictions, which has made it easier for businesses to communicate seamlessly with people from all corners of the globe. 

To fill this growing need, businesses, charities and public sector organisations are advertising for all forms of remote bilingual jobs, with contract, freelance, part-time and full-time roles available in industries such as communications, education, finance and marketing.  

A quick scan of the remote bilingual jobs that are currently available reveals vacancies for communications managers, customer service specialists, creative writers, healthcare recruiters, software developers, executive assistants, proofreaders and editors, digital marketing analysts and more.

How much can bilingual workers expect to earn?  

According to Salary.com, bilingual workers can expect to earn between 5 percent and 20 percent more per hour than those at the same professional level who only speak one language. However, you could stand to earn even more than your monolingual counterparts if you work in a sector where employees with professional experience and the necessary languages are particularly difficult to come by.  

Apply for remote bilingual jobs today

At Linguistica Recruitment, we fill office-based, hybrid and remote bilingual jobs across a wide range of sectors and industries. Just submit your CV and one of our recruiters will be in touch.

5 Tips for Hiring Bilingual Candidates

Have you decided that the time is right to start hiring bilingual candidates for your organisation? The truth is that hiring top bilingual talent is a challenge and you will need to alter your usual recruitment process to get it right. However, with the benefits associated with hiring bilingual candidates, ultimately, it will all be worth it. 

So, what steps should you take to attract and hire the best bilingual workers? Here are our five top tips. 

1. Write a job description in two languages

To attract bilingual candidates, you need to show that you are a multilingual organisation that is language inclusive and makes the effort to build other languages into everything that you do. Writing the same job description in two languages will help you do that. It’ll also increase your reach dramatically by making your post appear in job searches using native language and second language terms.   

2. Advertise on local and foreign job sites

While posting on local job sites is very important, you’re just as likely to find a bilingual speaker who is fluent in English by advertising on sites in countries and regions where your target language is spoken. While hiring candidates who do not currently live in the UK has been made more difficult by Brexit, you could become a Skilled Worker Sponsor to hire workers from the EU and outside the European Economic Area (EEA).   

3. Be specific about what you’re looking for

Despite the demand for bilingual candidates, there still seems to be some ambiguity about the terms used to describe an applicant’s level of language proficiency. Terms like ‘intermediate’ and ‘business level’ are commonly used, but can mean different things to different people. Therefore, it’s important to decide on the requirements of the role and to be specific when communicating them.  

Ask yourself:

  • How much will the candidate use the language in question?
  • How proficient should they be?
  • Will they primarily be communicating orally or in writing?
  • Will they be speaking to customers, clients and internal teams with different dialects?  

Once you have a thorough understanding of your specific language needs, you can then include a detailed list of the skills required for the role as part of the person specification.

4. Make it immediately obvious what language you’re looking for

The biggest mistake a lot of organisations make when hiring bilingual candidates is not leading with the fact that it’s a bilingual job or including the language they are looking for right at the top of the posting. Burying this information makes the job more difficult for bilingual speakers to find and prevents it from grabbing their attention.

5. Test language skills before inviting applicants to interview

The simplest way to vet bilingual candidates is to ask them to complete online English and target language proficiency tests before you invite them for an interview. There are plenty of language tests to choose from that are quick and can be taken remotely and submitted online. If a candidate passes the test and has a great CV, then it’s time to schedule an interview.

Let us do the hard work for you

At Linguistica Recruitment, hiring bilingual candidates is our bread and butter. All of our candidates are reference-checked and undergo comprehensive written and spoken language tests to check that their language skills (both English and their second language) are of the required standard. Find out more about our process and call 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-recruitment.com when you have a multilingual role to fill.

How Breaking Language Barriers Improves the Employee Experience

Conversations about gender and ethnicity and their roles in boosting the diversity of big businesses are now commonplace. But one dimension of inclusion that seems to have been forgotten is language. 

English is widely accepted as the lingua franca of multinationals for everything from everyday emails to client meetings and presentations, and despite the increasingly globalised world, that doesn’t look like changing anytime soon.

To highlight the extent of the problem, of the 1.35 billion English speakers around the world, only a little over a third of those (37.5%) are native speakers. The rest are asked to perform at their best in a language they do not naturally think or communicate in. They are asked to adapt all day, every day, and their struggles to understand nuance and local idioms can make the workplace a difficult and frustrating place.   

‘Just the way it is’

As a native English speaker, it’s easy to dismiss this situation as ‘just the way it is’. However, if native English speakers were forced to make a phone call or write their next email in a non-native language, they’d very quickly discover just how stifling it can be. Understandably, the impact it can have on the employee experience and the business can be dramatic. 

The business impact

Businesses that adopt this single language mandate can expect to experience several detrimental effects. Firstly, organisations that do not engage with employees in their native languages could see levels of staff engagement and retention rates fall. In turn, this could lead to a loss of key talent and an increase in retention costs. It could also damage the business’s reputation as a good and inclusive place to work, and that could make it more difficult to hire the best people in the future. 

There’s also the risk that businesses that overlook the importance of language skills are more likely to hire native-speaking candidates over non-natives in the future. That could come at the cost of creative thinking and problem-solving skills that are an important asset for any team. 

If language skills continue to be ignored, then potential foreign business partners may start to look elsewhere and overseas opportunities could be missed. If these issues relating to workplace culture and the loss of key talent continue to go unchecked, then ultimately, the success of the business could be at risk.

How can businesses better support their non-native workforce?

The first step is for businesses to create an understanding workplace environment that welcomes, values and encourages discussions and education around different languages and cultures. Introducing internal initiatives such as workplace language and cultural training to upskill English native employees could be a great place to start. 

Offering secondments and placements to branches and departments in other countries is another way to enhance the education around languages and encourage teams to embrace new cultures. This type of experience can be extremely rewarding for employees in terms of morale and engagement and hugely beneficial for the business, with skills swaps helping to build more complete teams.

Simply displaying more empathy for non-native English speakers could also improve the employee experience dramatically. Asking employees whether they’d prefer to complete tasks in their native languages and using subtitles for presentations and video calls could immediately enhance accessibility and help employees to overcome the challenges they face. 

Take a more inclusive approach to language

Is your business ready to take a more inclusive approach to language? Then contact Linguistica Recruitment today. We have a pool of talented multilingual candidates who are ready to broaden your horizons and take their next career step in the UK.

Read more about how we work with our clients and call 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-recruitment.com to discuss your skills gaps with our team. 

 

Become a Skilled Worker Sponsor and Grow Your Business’s Language Skills

Are you struggling to find talented bilingual speakers to fill specialist roles in your business? Then perhaps you should consider becoming a Skilled Worker Sponsor, which will allow you to hire skilled workers from the EU and outside the European Economic Area (EEA). 

As long as the candidate you want to hire meets certain criteria and the position features on the government’s eligible occupations list, this could be a very effective way to find the talented candidates you need.

What is a Skilled Worker Sponsor? 

With freedom of movement between the UK and the EU now a thing of the past, becoming a Skilled Worker Sponsor allows you to access talent pools outside of the UK so you can continue to grow your business. The Skilled Worker Visa has become the main visa route into the UK for non-British nationals. However, foreign workers cannot apply for a Skilled Worker Visa until they have had a job offer from a UK company that wants to hire them and is prepared to become a Skilled Worker Sponsor. 

What are the eligibility requirements to become a Skilled Worker Sponsor?

Becoming a Skilled Worker Sponsor might sound like a big deal, but it’s actually a solution that’s appropriate for all sorts of businesses of just about any size. As long as the business is operational and you have a genuine need for an employee, then you’re free to apply to become a sponsor. 

When assessing your application, UK Visas and Immigration will want to see evidence that a genuine vacancy exists and that people with the necessary skills are not available locally. They’ll also want to see some evidence that you have suitable HR processes in place.  

What do you need to become a Skilled Worker Sponsor?

The good news, if you’re thinking of taking this route, is that the whole process is quite straightforward. You will have to submit an application along with certain documents that show that you operate a genuine business that’s currently trading. This includes:

  • a bank statement;
  • evidence of the business’s premises;
  • a VAT certificate; and
  • evidence of employer’s liability insurance.

You’ll also be required to answer a few straightforward questions, such as: 

  • What sector do you operate in?
  • What vacancies do you plan to fill with foreign workers?
  • What will their duties be?
  • What is the minimum salary you will pay for the role?
  • Where does the job sit in your business’s hierarchy?
  • What qualifications, skills and experience are required for the role? 

Once you have applied to become a Skilled Worker Sponsor, it will typically take between three and eight weeks for UK Visas and Immigration to make a decision. 

The benefits of becoming a Skilled Worker Sponsor

Hiring workers with foreign language skills is becoming increasingly difficult as demand rises and the number of quality candidates falls. By becoming a Skilled Worker Sponsor, you can hire as many EU and non-EEA workers as you need, as long as the role you want to fill appears on the eligible occupations list. Meeting the criteria is relatively simple and the process is open to even the smallest businesses., which makes it a very effective way to access larger talent pools and bring in-demand language skills into your business. 

Hire skilled bilingual workers here in the UK

Here at Linguistica Recruitment, we can help you hire talented bilingual speakers who are already here in the UK. Find out more about the process for our clients and email info@linguistica-recruitment.com or call 02392 987 765 today.  

 

Demand Soars for Multilingual Candidates in the UK

The recovery of the UK economy paired with skills shortages in just about every sector means that multilingual candidates in the UK are now more in demand than ever before. Add to that the fact that 1.3 million overseas workers have left the UK over the last year and it’s clear to see why workers who speak foreign languages in the UK are now worth their weight in gold. 

A massive recovery of jobs

The latest Labour Market Outlook Survey from the CIPD has found that all sectors are currently experiencing a massive recovery in jobs with prospects on the rise. The latest survey, which canvassed more than 1,000 UK employers, found that optimism in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021 was soaring among employers, with hiring intentions having increased by over 100% when compared with Q1. 

As a result of the increased demand, there was also good but still modest news on pay, with salaries expected to rise by between 1% and 2% over the next year. However, the top candidates, and particularly those with language skills, could expect to see their pay rise far more than that given the skills shortages in many industries and the loss of so many talented multilingual candidates.

Overseas workers pack their bags

The combination of the coronavirus pandemic and the UK’s decision to leave the EU has led to an unprecedented exodus of foreign workers. A study by the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence has found that more than 1.3 million overseas workers have left the UK over the last year, with almost 700,000 having vacated London alone.

A litany of mistakes meant that the UK performed badly in both economic and health terms during the first wave of the pandemic. That left many migrants with a simple decision to make: either to stay in the UK with no job, expensive accommodation and a higher risk of catching COVID; or to return home to family, with lower costs and a reduced risk of catching COVID. 

Another survey found that one in 10 EU nationals currently living in the UK are considering leaving after 30 June, which is the deadline for applications to remain in the country post-Brexit. Common reasons cited for choosing to leave the UK include a lack of trust in the government and the sense that the UK is a less welcoming place than it used to be.

A perfect storm for multilingual candidates

Nine out of 10 employers say that they rely on their workforce to have language skills other than English. The majority (56%) also said that they felt their foreign language needs have increased over the last five years and will continue to do so. 

While the recovery of jobs and the exodus of EU workers does not bode well for employers trying to fill their skills gaps, it is excellent news for multilingual candidates who intend to stay in the UK. Their stock has never been higher, and with language skills more in demand than ever before, a rise in the pay packages for foreign nationals with fluent English is inevitable. 

Find well-paid bilingual jobs in the UK

At Linguistica Recruitment, we can help you find rewarding and well-paid bilingual jobs in the UK. Call 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-recruitment.com to discuss your requirements or submit your CV today.  

The Intra-Company Visa: Transfer Talented Workers to the UK

Are you struggling to find the talented workers you need to fill a bilingual vacancy in the UK? If you run the UK branch of a multinational organisation and would like to transfer workers from other branches outside of the EEA to the UK, then the Intra-Company Visa could be an option for you. 

In this article, we’ll take a look at the Intra-Company Visa from an employer’s perspective and see what requirements must be met to successfully transfer an overseas worker to the UK.

What is an Intra-Company Visa?  

An Intra-Company Transfer Visa is a scheme that allows candidates to temporarily transfer to the UK from an overseas branch of a UK company. To be able to apply for the visa, the employer must be able to demonstrate that the role cannot be filled by a UK resident worker and that the salary is appropriate for the role. 

There are currently two types of Intra-Company Visas. They are:

  • Intra-Company Transfer Visa – This visa is available to established workers of multinational companies who do a job that’s on the list of eligible occupations and are paid at least £41,500 a year.
  • Intra-Company Graduate Trainee Visa – This visa is available to workers who are taking part in a structured graduate training programme and are paid at least £23,000 a year.   

How long can workers on Intra-Company Visas stay in the UK?

That depends on the type of visa the candidate will be on and how long you want to sponsor them for. 

  • Candidates applying for an Intra-Company Transfer Visa can stay in the UK for a cumulative total of five years in any six-year period if they earn less than £73,900 a year. If they earn more than £73,900 a year, then they can stay for a cumulative total of nine years in any ten-year period.  
  • Candidates applying for the Intra-Company Graduate Trainee Visa can remain in the UK for a maximum of one year. That period must correspond with the structured training programme they are on.

What are the main Intra-Company Visa requirements for employers?

As a UK employer, there are several requirements that you must meet to be eligible to sponsor an intra-company worker.

What type of candidates can be transferred?

If you think that the Intra-Company Visa could be an effective way to bridge a skills gap that you cannot fill with workers from the UK, it’s important that you know which candidates are eligible.

  • They must have worked for a foreign branch of your company outside of the EEA for at least 12 months (unless they will be earning a UK salary of at least £73,900).
  • The role must be at the relevant skill level – typically NQF level 6 or above (equivalent to bachelor’s degrees with honours, graduate certificates and graduate diplomas).
  • Applicants must possess sufficient skills and experience for the role.
  • The applicant must be paid at least £41,500 p.a.
  • The applicant must have enough funds to maintain themselves (£1,270) if maintenance is not certified by the sponsor.

Find the skills you need here in the UK

At Linguistica International and Recruitment, we’re confident that we can find the outstanding candidates you need right here in the UK. As a specialist recruiter of bilingual candidates, we know where to turn to find talented linguists with leading qualifications in a range of professional fields.

Call 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-recruitment.com to discuss your skills gap. We’ll scour our database of experienced bilingual workers and actively search for qualified candidates that meet and exceed your requirements. 

Want to Work in the UK? These are the Practical Steps to Take

Before the Brexit deal was done and the transition period ended, working in the UK for EU residents was as easy as packing your bags, getting on the plane and starting the job search in the UK. These days, it’s not quite so simple. 

Despite the impact of the pandemic, the UK has the second most powerful economy in Europe and a jobs market that, although currently suppressed, will bounce back quickly once the pandemic is under control. Perhaps even more important than that, given the current climate, is the fact that the UK’s coronavirus vaccination rollout is also well ahead of every EU country, so it should get back to business as usual more quickly. 

With all that in mind, the UK remains an attractive prospect for many people currently living in the EU. This is our guide to the practical steps that you now need to take to work in the UK. 

The EU Settlement Scheme

If you have visited or lived in the UK six months before the date of your application, you can apply to live and work in the UK via the EU Settlement Scheme. This allows citizens from the EU, EEA and Switzerland to remain in the UK beyond 30 June 2021. 

To apply for the EU Settlement Scheme, you will need:

  • a digital photo of yourself;
  • a valid passport;
  • A mobile phone number; and
  • proof of when and how long you visited/have lived in the UK. Proof can come in the form of a bank statement that includes a UK transaction, a utility bill, a tenancy agreement or a boarding pass that shows the UK as the destination. 

If your application is successful, you’ll be granted either ‘Settled’ or ‘Pre-Settled’ Status (depending on your circumstances). There are some important differences between the two.

Pre-Settled Status

If you receive Pre-Settled Status, you will have the right to live, work and receive NHS healthcare in the UK. After five years of living in the UK with Pre-Settled Status, you’ll then be able to apply for Settled Status.

Settled Status

If you are granted Settled Status, you will have the same rights to welfare, NHS healthcare and to live and work in the UK as a British citizen. You will be able to live in the UK indefinitely and leave the UK for up to five years without losing your Settled Status.

Apply via the Skilled Worker Visa/Sponsorship Route

The main route into the UK for skilled workers who are not eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme is the Skilled Worker Visa. It allows workers with a job offer for a role that pays at least £25,600 per annum (although exemptions exist and it can be as low as £20,480) to work in the UK. All applicants must also meet the English language requirements and score 70 points on the UK visa points test to be eligible for a visa.

To be able to apply via the skilled visa worker/sponsorship route, you will need:

  • to be sponsored by a business that has invested in a Sponsorship Licence and Certificate of Sponsorship;
  • to have a formal job offer in writing;
  • to receive a minimum salary of £25,600; 
  • to pass the English language requirements;
  • to score at least 70 points on the UK visa points test;
  • to have at least £1,270 available in funds to support yourself in the UK; and
  • to pay an immigration health surcharge of £624 per year.

Find bilingual jobs in the UK

Whether you already live in the UK or hope to move to the UK to work, we offer a broad range of bilingual jobs for workers from the EU and beyond. Take a look at our current vacancies, submit your CV or call 02392 987 765 to discuss your requirements with our team. 

 

 

  

How to Ace a Competency-Based Job Interview

You’ve made it past the application process and the initial telephone interview, but next comes the moment many jobseekers dread: the competency-based interview. 

Competency-based interviews are often used by hiring managers to get an insight into the past experience and skills that candidates will bring to the role. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at the competency-based job interview and provide a few top tips to help you succeed. 

What is a competency-based job interview? 

A competency-based job interview, sometimes called a situational or behavioural interview, asks candidates to provide examples of situations they have been in professionally and personally and the skills, knowledge and behaviours they used to achieve results. With past behaviour being an excellent indicator of future performance, the purpose of this interview technique is to give hiring managers a better idea of how candidates will behave in the role and the outcomes they will achieve. 

Examples of competency-based interview questions

Competency-based interview questions are used to assess a whole range of skills and behaviours, including the following:

  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Organisation
  • Leadership
  • Problem-solving
  • Adaptability
  • Decision-making

Below are a few examples of the type of questions you could be asked:

  • Tell me about a time when your organisational skills helped you to deliver a successful result.
  • What is the most successful team you have been a part of and how did you contribute to its success?
  • Describe a time when your communication skills helped to resolve a situation.
  • Give me an example of a time when you made the wrong decision. Why did you make that decision and what should you have done differently?
  • Describe a time when you had to deal with a challenging employee. What did you do?
  • Tell me about a time when you developed an innovative solution to a problem?

Our tips for competency-based interview success  

Needless to say, thorough preparation is key if you want to ace a competency-based job interview. To do that, you should go through the job description and person specification for the role you’re applying for, identify the skills and behaviours the employer is looking for and think of a time when you have exhibited those skills and behaviours successfully. However, that’s not all you can do:

1. Use the STAR technique 

If you’re not familiar with the STAR technique, then it’s well worth doing a little extra reading. The STAR technique helps you split your answers to competency-based interview questions into more manageable and memorable chunks.

  • Situation – Describe the situation you were in and set the scene for the interviewer.
  • Task – Explain the challenge or goal you were working towards. Ideally, you should include a task that is relevant to your prospective new employer.
  • Action – Explain what you did to overcome the challenge or achieve your goal.
  • Result – Describe the outcome, explain how your actions contributed to it and ideally use numbers to quantify the result.

2. Take your time

One of the most common mistakes candidates make when answering this type of question is diving into their answer before they’ve taken the time to properly digest the question. An interviewer will not expect an immediate answer, so take a few seconds to make sure the example you’re about to give is relevant.

3. Be yourself   

Preparation is vital if you-re going to ace a competency-based job interview, but don’t rehearse your answers to the point that your personality can’t shine through. Provide honest, confident and genuine responses to give yourself the best possible chance of success.

Find bilingual jobs at Linguistica Translation and Recruitment

Looking for a bilingual role in the south of England? Then take a look at our current vacancies, submit your CV or get in touch on 02392 987 765 or email info@linguistica-recruitment.com to discuss your requirements with our team. 

January Dip Hits Language Sector Recruitment Activity

The latest data from the Slator Language Industry Job Index shows that language sector recruitment activity has fallen slightly in January 2021, as the industry undergoes its usual seasonal dip. The figures are consistent with previous years’ trends, and despite the ongoing global pandemic, this year represented the smallest annual contraction since the index was launched in 2018.

The index, which collates data from a range of sources including LinkedIn, job aggregation sites and direct company data, fell to 108.45 in January 2021, from 109.38 in December 2020. However, despite the slight dip, January was still up on November’s figure of 105.43, showing that the language industry is continuing to rebound despite the ongoing restrictions. That’s good news for candidates who are searching for new roles in the sector. 

Levels of hiring and demand are largely stable

The Language Industry Job Index was designed to track employment and hiring trends in the global language industry. As the index was launched in 2018, the baseline figure is taken from July of that year, and this is the point from which all language sector recruitment activity is measured.

October 2020 was a milestone month for the industry, as that is the first time that levels of language sector recruitment activity rebounded above the baseline since the first Coronavirus lockdown in March 2020. Now, the index stands at around the same level as March 2019, which shows that a recovery is well underway.  

The contraction in January is the result of a seasonal dip that occurs every year. In 2021, there was a small decrease in the number of language job advertisements found on some of the platforms monitored by the index. Other platforms showed a slight increase in the number of job ads, but that was not enough to offset the decline. 

Job hunting in a pandemic

Language industry professionals such as translators have been largely protected from the fallout of the pandemic as they have been able to continue most of their operations remotely. However, interpreters – many of whom work with their clients in person – have not been so lucky, as the severe restrictions and the impact of successive lockdowns have taken their toll.  

If you find yourself in the position of searching for a job during the lockdown, there are some strategies that can help you succeed.

  • Recruitment agencies and many firms are now conducting telephone interviews and using video conferencing software, so download popular platforms such as Zoom and Skype and know how to use them.
  • Be prepared to diversify your search. Although most industries have contracted during the pandemic, other opportunities may be available. For example, if you cannot find a role in translation right now, companies may be more inclined to hire someone for a communications position during the crisis.
  • Networking online and getting in touch with previous colleagues and contacts can help you unearth roles that might not be advertised. Joining professional groups on LinkedIn is a good place to start. 

Find your next language job today

At Linguistica Translation and Recruitment, we offer a diverse range of rewarding language jobs across the South of England. Take a look at our vacancies, submit your CV or email applications@linguistica-recruitment.com to discuss your requirements with our team.