Language Qualifications and Jobs

[eido]

If there's any other threads like this, let me know.

I have an intermediate level in Spanish as of this writing. My parents insist I'm fluent, which I'm not. They want me to put "fluent in Spanish" on my resume, which I won't. But what can I put on my resume or say to interviewers that might ask about these qualifications? I'm at an awkward level that's not really useful in an employer's eyes, to my knowledge.

Any advice is appreciated.

[tommus]

Essentially anything you choose will be subjective and approximate, and will depend on other factors such as requirements. One word you might consider is "functional" if you can show that you are indeed functional to some extent for a situation that you could demonstrate. But don't get caught overstating your abilities.

[eido]

But don't get caught overstating your abilities.

I want to be as honest as I can. I don't know what to say other than "B1" but most Americans don't know what that is. Ideally I'd try to be objective, but that's hard when your skills can be all over the place. I didn't put "fluent" on my job application. I only put English as a language I spoke. But I was told saying I had some ability in the language could help my chances. I just don't want to get caught in an interview with a Spanish speaker about Cervantes and cultural impact when I'm the best right now at communicating basic stuff like, "I want you to have a good time. It'll go well if you just behave. Now go out and have fun." Stuff like that.

[eido]

Why not just take a test that shows your level?

I haven't the time to do it now, but it is a good idea. I've avoided it because my speaking can be weak at times, and I'd have to take a day off to take the tests and rearrange my whole schedule to study for the test. I also don't know what test would work for most employers in the US. CEFR? Something else?

[arthaey]

Why not just take a test that shows your level?

Yeah, I don't know of a test that the average US employer knows about in a way that would let you have something succinct on a resume.

Maybe be deliberately vague on your resume, so that you have to have a conversation to clarify what your level is? Something like, "studies Spanish"?

[cathrynm]

I know where you're coming from. Parents will overestimate your ability.

LinkedIn has an option "Elementary proficiency" which I clicked for Finnish. What does this mean exactly? No idea, but whatever. That's what I have, elementary proficiency, I'll own that. I put "Limited Working Proficiency" for Japanese. That all seems ambiguous enough. Mostly nobody cares, so it doesn't really matter for me. (I have other more marketable skills anyway.)

[smallwhite]

Thread: Languages on your resume
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=2475

[Axon]

I really liked reading through the thread that smallwhite linked. Lots of good stuff in there from people who have been the ones making the hiring decisions.

I've interviewed a handful of potential teachers so far at my school. I've only been working here a couple of months but they have me do the interviews to check the English level of the candidates. I don't think any of the non-native speakers have listed CEFR levels. One graduated from a bilingual high school in Europe. The non-natives that I personally talked to really had extremely good English, for example making a single grammatical mistake in fifteen minutes of conversation. We also have an American teacher with very non-standard pronunciation, so little accent things don't bother me at all. Mostly I just look for their teaching experience and how likeable they can be for the kids. Mandarin knowledge is barely considered though I do think it makes administrative things much easier when nobody has to go through translation.

My most recent resume has six languages at Advanced, Intermediate, and Foundational levels. After this year in China I'm hoping I'll be able to read Chinese well enough to bring it up to Advanced along with German. If I were to interview for a job requiring German, I'd be honest about my relatively rusty production but let my translation experience speak for itself. I'm pretty happy with "Foundational" as a better-sounding alternative to "Beginner." I have French and Russian there just to show that I'm familiar with these widely-spoken languages and could dedicate more time to them if a position required. I certainly couldn't hold an interview in them, but I could, for instance, read product listings or compose simple emails.

And yes, parents (all non-language enthusiasts, probably) love to tell you that you're fluent. "Put Vietnamese on your resume!" "I can barely read a menu, Dad."

[rdearman]

If you are B1 you can probably hold a conversation. So why not just put "Conversational Spanish"?

[Deinonysus]

I agree with rdearman. I describe French and German as "conversational" on my own résumé. This will be easily understood by any employer. Americans outside of the language self-learning hobbyist community would probably have no idea what the CEFR levels mean.

LinkedIn uses the ILR scale. This article has a handy-dandy conversion chart for CEFR and ACTFL, which I will reproduce here:

CEFR	ILR	ACTFL
A1	0/0+	NL, NM, NH
A2	1	IL, IM
B1	1+	IH
B2	2/2+	AL, AM, AH
C1	3/3+	S
C2	4/4+	D

The plain English names of the ILR levels are:
0: No proficiency
1: Elementary proficiency
2: Limited working proficiency
3: Professional working proficiency
4: Full professional proficiency
5: Native or bilingual proficiency (No CEFR equivalent)

ACTFL is commonly used by educators here in the Boston area. It may be common nationwide, but I can't say for sure. My wife is the educator, not me. The abbreviations above are:
N: Novice
I: Intermediate
A: Advanced
S: Superior
D: Distinguished

And the second letter, if there is one, stands for Low, Mid, or High.

So a B1 equivalent to an ILR "Elementary Proficiency" or an ACTFL "Intermediate High".