The One Skill That Will Get You a Job in (Almost) Any Career Field
Some career opportunities arise seemingly out of nowhere, when you expect them the less. More often than not, I had to put this down to one skill that I have been polishing since an early age.
After spending a good couple of years reading German Language & Literature at college, my adventurous side was tempted to see if all that time invested in comprehending the grammar rules of a picky language really had been worth my while. Granted, the school taught all other subjects in German, as well, so surely those language skills could be utilised in the “outside” world, right?
Hence I got a language-speaking job and moved abroad to test this theory. And boy was it tough at first! Before I had never been exposed to such a variety of accents, so even just understanding what people were saying was a challenge sometimes. Nevertheless, I eventually grew into my techy customer service role.
Then after a few months I quit, because it genuinely bored me and I could feel my brain turning into mush with each passing day. Not cool. Instead, after waiting out my luck and applying for roles I was quite regularly under-qualified for, I eventually ended up landing a job in accounting.
THE HOW
With no background in finance, this came as a surprise to many, including myself. The trick here was that I spoke three languages, and they came as an unusual, unique combination — simply hard to find. So the company, who were very much in need of those language skills, enthusiastically agreed to train me in anything and everything finance necessary for the job.
THE WHY
If you enter a specific language in a job search engine, you will find lots and lots of different roles popping up. Because this skill takes quite a lot of time to master, it comes as a massive bonus to numerous employers — often willing to offer technical training in return for them. This way, it is quite possible to land a job in the particular field you are interested in, as long as you meet this one requirement.
My language skills have allowed me to get a taste of so many different career opportunities, it’s almost unreal. Apart from finance, I’ve also done plenty of translation work up to legal level, gained smaller and bigger experiences in multiple areas from logistics to human resources, and the list keeps expanding — all thanks to being multilingual.
THE WHEN
Keep in mind, that whilst lack of one year experience can be overlooked, if that job description says you need to have five under your belt, chances are you won’t succeed just with your Chinese. You need to stay realistic, regardless of how many languages you speak — but if the position is either junior or intermediate, trying your luck is hardly a bad idea.
Just make sure to tailor your previous and relevant experience to the job you are applying for, and emphasise your multilingual talents they are after.
My lesson learned, now I know that becoming proficient in shiny, new languages has probably been the best investment of my life. It took me around five years each to master one at a time, and the process wasn’t simple or easy, but it was definitely worth the effort. The only question now is, which next?
Thank you for reading! If you liked this post, don’t forget to visit my website Wanderess.org, where I share my musings on career, books and healthy living amongst else.
