Find Out How Learning Spanish Can Make You More Valuable to Your Employer

By Ryan Thomas


Learning Spanish as a second language has many benefits that can be an asset to your business life as well as your personal life. The number one thing that employers look for in a qualified employee is their communication skills. A valued employee has the ability communicate effectively with co-workers, employers and potential customers. In order for businesses to survive in the ever-changing global markets they need to be able to adapt. They are doing so by becoming more diversified and reaching out to target audiences around the world. Being able to communicate effectively in a second language will make you a highly valued and more versatile employee!

1) In North America today, there are approximately 528 million people. Of this number there are roughly 154 million people who speak Spanish. That's 29% of the total population. With that number in mind, wouldn't it make sense for a company to expand its target market into the Spanish speaking community? Almost every product that you buy in a store in today's market place has both English and Spanish written instructions. Knowing Spanish as a second language gives you a competitive advantage over your co-workers and other applicants. It tells your current or future employer that you have a talent that is essential to your company's success both in the domestic and the global market places.

Currently, the United States has one of highest unemployment rates in its history. This means that there are lots of highly qualified prospective employees hunting for any job they can get their hands on. So do everything you can, while you can, to keep your hard earned job. There are many benefits to knowing how to communicate effectively in Spanish. When a company decides to target the Hispanic community for a new product release then knowing Spanish will place you in a position to get a job at that company if you are currently UN-employed. If you currently work for this company, know how to speak Spanish, and are a sales representative then doors will open for you to make more sales and improve your overall quality of living through increased commissions. You may also find yourself reaching new bonus plateaus and bringing home a bigger pay check in regards to that format.

Cultural awareness is essential for a company to survive in the global market! They need to know how to interact and communicate with every aspect of the product line, from productions to consumers. For a company to do this, they need to have talented individuals on staff that know how to speak multiple languages and are well aware of cultural differences. This is where your multilingual skills will come in handy. By having these skills you will be setting yourself up to take on new job opportunities and where there are new job opportunities there are pay increases. You never know where and when a new opportunity will present itself and the only way to take advantage of an unknown opportunity is to prepare for it before it presents itself.

For any company to be successful they need to have their priorities in order! The number one priority for a company should be the one that keeps the lights on and the one that keeps the lights on will always be the company's customers. Customer relations is the department that can make or break a company and having talented individuals who can communicate across language barriers is a must! Another thing that I have noticed when dealing with a different culture is cultural pride. People value who they are and where they are from and being able to communicate with a customer while maintaining those elements is very important. This is often accomplished very simply by being able to communicate with that customer in their native language. A bonus to having a happy customer is when that happy customer tells others about their good experiences with your company via word of mouth. This is so valuable because people trust people they know!

Another way that knowing how to speak Spanish can make you more valuable to your company is through department-to-department communication with in your company. Suppose your company is a multinational company and you need to communicate with another department in another country in order effectively complete a project. If the other department is in a Spanish speaking country then knowing how to speak Spanish will be a vital skill to have. I am sure your employers will notice your valuable skill and keep that in mind if the company ever has to do some restructuring. This means that you are more likely to keep your job verses someone who lacks multilingual skills.




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