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When do you put languages on your CV? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5326 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 86 09 April 2012 at 6:36pm | IP Logged |
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Or to ask the longer version: at which level do you think it is relevant to put your languages on your CV?
So far I have said that I am fluent in French, Spanish and English ( since I am somewhere in the C- range ) and that I speak some German and Italian ( since I am somewhere in the B-range). I have so far never written a language where I am just at A1 - A2 level, but I am actually considering to put Russian on my CV even if I am just at an A2 if it were relevant for the position I was applying for. Extremely few Norwegians speak any Russian at all, so even if I would obviously be very careful to describe my level in a modest way, I think I might do it. Do you do that, and have you had any feed back from employers? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6589 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 2 of 86 09 April 2012 at 7:17pm | IP Logged |
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I'm not sure it's a good idea to be modest. Employers are used to believing only half of what they hear, so to them a modest A2 will equal "almost nothing".
At least make sure to state how long you've been studying it. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6077 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 3 of 86 09 April 2012 at 8:15pm | IP Logged |
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I think listing those skills might be better than just A2 or B1. "Practical knowledge of Russian" or "working knowledge of Russian" might be appropriate, but you could be more creative than that by highlighting either spoken or written skills, depending on what you think is important.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Pisces Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4614 days ago 143 posts - 284 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish*, French, SwedishC1, Esperanto Studies: German, Spanish, Russian | Message 4 of 86 09 April 2012 at 10:02pm | IP Logged |
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I don't put languages I don't know well either.
Is anyone who knows a lot of languages inhibited from putting many languages because they feel it might seem odd in the employer's eyes, or because they are afraid the employer might think they are lying? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6117 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 5 of 86 09 April 2012 at 10:20pm | IP Logged |
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If I pass the N2 (the Japanese Language test) I might put down Japanese. As of right now, my resume is English only.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5524 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 86 09 April 2012 at 10:21pm | IP Logged |
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I've interviewed programmers in the US, which is probably very different from, say,
interviewing managers or sales people in Norway. But in general, there's a handy rule of thumb: If you can explain how a language skill (or anything else) would help your employer make more money, feel free to tell them. :-) In some retail jobs, even a 200-word vocabulary and some basic grammar might be useful. Just be clear about what you can and cannot do. Of course, a prospective employer may hire an external consultant to interview in your foreign language(s). I suspect that many people around here would smile and think, "Hey, free practice!" 8 persons have voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6695 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 86 10 April 2012 at 12:22am | IP Logged |
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Luckily I haven't had to write a CV lately (actually I haven't written one since the mid 80s), but if I lost my job and had to try to find a new one I'm not even sure that I would try to find a language related one.
If I did I would of course mention those of my languages which were relevant for the job, but only make a short remark about having studied a few other languages. I am fairly sure that prospective employers would see a long list as bragging and probably faked whereas 4-5 languages might be seen as a qualification. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| s0fist Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5038 days ago 260 posts - 445 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Sign Language, German, Spanish, French | Message 8 of 86 10 April 2012 at 12:53am | IP Logged |
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On a side note, I'm not sure putting a CEFR level is wise, unless you are sure that your
employers and the HR staff are familiar with the fact that C is good and A bad -- a notion that might be counterintuitive in many respects. Edited by s0fist on 10 April 2012 at 12:54am 10 persons have voted this message useful |
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