NATION Looking for a job? Being bilingual helps, experts say

Communication technology puts workers in closer touch with foreign lands.
CBS MARKETWATCH
SAN FRANCISCO -- English-only speakers will find themselves at competitive disadvantage for a growing number of U.S. jobs in coming years as employers ply global markets.
Being monolingual is about as American as football, but foreign-language fluency is an increasingly significant asset, even for workers who never intend to set foot in another country.
Cheaper communication technology is putting more employees in direct contact with suppliers, customers and colleagues in foreign lands.
"You're likely to be in touch with people from all around the world, even if you never leave your office," said Thomas D. Zweifel, chief executive of Swiss Consulting Group, a New York-based cross-cultural coaching firm and author of "Culture Clash" and "Communicate or Die."
Meanwhile, the explosive growth of Spanish-speaking residents within the United States makes it likely that even the most basic jobs will require, or at least be enhanced by, bilingual skills.
About one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home, and the number of Spanish speakers rose 62 percent, to 28.1 million in 2000 from 17.3 million in 1990, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Essential in some areas
"If you don't speak Spanish in the southern part of the U.S., you're basically not marketable in the tourist trade," said Fariborz Ghadar, director of the Center for Global Business Studies at Penn State University. Transportation and manufacturing companies also often seek Spanish speakers.
For instance, Ghadar said, an Akron, Ohio-based insurance company for which he does consulting work is seeing its Spanish-speaking customer base blossom.
"If you look at the insurance policies they have to write, the small businesses that are being established, the medical services they have to serve, more and more their audience is becoming Spanish speaking," he said. "If you are an insurance company [in the U.S.], you can't afford not to speak Spanish."
In fact, job seekers or switchers in a wide range of industries and professions -- from insurance, transportation and tourism to sales and marketing, Web site developers and graphic designers -- will find foreign-language fluency an increasing necessity as companies realize the importance of understanding other markets' cultures.
"The important thing about speaking another language is it allows you to stand in the shoes of that other culture and see the world from their point of view," Zweifel said. "You really have to be cognizant of how your product will be received."
Learned the hard way
That's been a hard-learned lesson for some. Microsoft's decision to have Taiwanese programmers translate Windows software for sale in China backfired when the programmers inserted pop-ups with phrases such as "take back the mainland" and "communist bandits," Zweifel said.
The Chinese government decided to back Linux instead, jeopardizing Microsoft's presence in a market of about 1.3 billion people, he said.
And Clairol's "Mist Stick" curling iron didn't sell well in Germany, where mist means "manure." "It was an unfortunate term for a curling iron. No one wanted to use the manure stick," Zweifel said.
As companies realize the need for foreign-language fluency, job seekers without that skill may find themselves relegated to the status of also-ran.
"Most of the big corporations have applicant tracking systems," said Mark Mehler, co-author of CareerXroads, a directory of job Web sites. "If they need someone who speaks Spanish and you don't have it on your r & eacute;sum & eacute;, you're not popping up. You don't pop up, you don't get hired."
Learning just about any language is likely to aid you in a job search, some say, because job applicants can sell themselves by saying "I'm more open-minded with a broader world view than a typical applicant," said Kevin Donlin, president of Guaranteed R & eacute;sum & eacute;s.