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When do you put languages on your CV?

 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work Post Reply
86 messages over 11 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 1 ... 10 11 Next >>
Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5319 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 
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 6582 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 
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 6070 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 
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 4607 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 
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 6110 days ago

910 posts - 1232 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Japanese, Finnish

 
 Message 5 of 86
09 April 2012 at 10:20pm | IP Logged 
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 5517 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 
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 6688 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 
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 5031 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 
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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