If you speak more than one language, then you can use those skills as a reason for a hiring manager to choose you over another job seeker. Language skills are heavily in-demand, especially in areas where language proficiency with a specific non-English language could help you serve significantly more customers. If a second language is part of your skillset, then you should include it on your resume. Here’s how you can do that.
A bilingual resume is simply a resume that showcases your knowledge of a second language. It is not a resume that uses more than one language, but instead, one that shows you know another language, like Spanish, English, French or Arabic, besides your primary spoken language h. This type of resume will still include all the other sections of your resume, like your education section and your professional experience, but it will focus more on the fact that you speak another language.
Even if you have years of experience speaking a language, you need to show the hiring manager that you truly have these skills. Here are a few ways you can prove your bilingual nature to a hiring manager through your resume:
Additionally, if you have any college education surrounding your second language, then you can mention it. This includes everything from just taking a few classes in college to holding a bachelor’s degree in the language.
When listing your bilingual skills on your resume, there are a number of potential options and methods of making your resume template really show off your language proficiency.
First of all, if you speak one or two languages outside of English or your primary spoken language, then it’s probably best to include your language skills in your skills section. These are, after all, skills, and they’re commonly used as customer service skills and communication skills. In your job search, you should typically include language skills in your skills section.
However, if you speak three or more languages, then you may want to consider creating a separate “Languages” section on your resume. This is a resume writing tactic that draws a potential employer’s attention to the fact that you have these skills, which can be helpful to many employers in your job search.
Next, it’s important to show off the experience and achievements that you’ve acquired from demonstrating these bilingual skills. Bilingual candidates often have stories of doing better in jobs with these skills. On your resume, use those stories to explain why being bilingual is such an important part of getting a new job title. You can include those stories in your experience section, as part of your job descriptions, and in your cover letter.
It’s also a good idea to remember that while speaking more than one language is always a great skill, extra languages will be more beneficial in some fields than in others. A bilingual customer service representative will typically be in higher demand than a bilingual software developer. Someone who works in a call center can use these skills more than someone who does data entry all day.
Lastly, mention the fact that you’re bilingual as early as possible in your resume. One of the best ways to do this is to start your resume summary with your bilingual nature. “Spanish-speaking customer service representative” immediately showcases your language skills, which allows you to ensure they’re always front and center.
Most of the time, you’re going to submit a professional resume in English if you’re submitting a job application in the United States. However, if the job posting itself was written in a non-English language, or you know the company mostly speaks a non-English language, you might want to write a non-English resume and submit it in that language. Only submit a resume in a non-English language if you have a very strong command of the language.
Yes. If you learned a foreign language from your parents, nanny, or within a community that spoke it, you could still include that information on a resume. The same holds true if you took college or high school language courses. As long as you can assess your proficiency level just like any other speaker, then include it on your resume.
No. Nationality is a protected characteristic and by including it on any section of your resume, you could negatively impact your ability to get a job with the resume you’re writing. Many companies discard resumes that mention protected characteristics as it may open a company up to liabilities and lawsuits in the future otherwise. Just put your language skills on your resume.
