Hi I was just wondering how everyone that has reached a high level in a language for example B2 would show this to an employer?
Recently started a new job and found out that if I can get my Spanish to a business level I would have my salary increased by 10% and that they would pay for me to go to university to learn it
Would I need to take some kind of test or simply speak to someone from a Spanish department for example.
how has everyone else incorporated their languages in their job?
I think the main factor here is how fluent your employer is in the language. If s/he’s fluent, s/he’ll just talk with you for a few minutes. That’s more than enough for someone with a good knowledge of the language to gauge your level.
If, on the other hand, your employer’s level’s so-so, they’ll insist on a test or on you showing a certificate of some kind
I agree with this assessment, though you might want to ask at your job what they mean by that so you can work toward it. At the very least, if your Spanish is at “business level,” then what’s the point of going to a university class after that?
I have also heard that if the language is required, but the interviewer doesn’t speak it, often times a brief phone conversation can take place to assess your level.
I used to work in Human Resources for P&G, which is a major multinational, in the early 2000s. Back then, for US hires, knowing a second language didn’t have any influence in the initial hiring process. The HR managers at the time talked about trying to keep the process objective and unbiased, and post-interview decisions were based purely on a scoring rubric-- if it wasn’t a factor on the rubric, it couldn’t influence our decisions to offer a job to candidates. So we threw traditional notions like “did the candidate dress professionally?” out the window because it was a non-factor.
I have no idea if knowing other languages meant much for US based employees taking international assignments later in their career. On the global side, I don’t know if English knowledge was a requirement to get hired for all positions. This may have been just needed for some select positions. I do know that the job application process was multilingual, as I helped test the Spanish and German versions of the applications. And, when I did have meetings with co-workers outside the US, those employees had B2/C1.
Some (but not all) major companies and NGOs require certifications via broadly accepted, standardized testing-- submitting scores from English tests like TOEIC, IELTS, or TOEFL during the application process. If you get to interview stage, you may be required to interview bilingually.
So having said all this, if Spanish is your target for your current (or future) employer, as first step you might want to certify with a standardized exam for Spanish like DELE, which would be roughly analogous to the TOEIC. It doesn’t hurt to have a standardized score on your resume/cv/linkedin. Having said this, some corporations accept DuoLingo tests!