Why would a business that specialises in language training for business make such an outlandish statement? Simply speaking… because it is true.
Allow us to explain and we will use a large engineering company to illustrate how we came to this conclusion; our relationship with this corporate began with one-to-one training for the CEO who needed to speak French in order to work with a division of the British company based in South West Paris.
While he continues to learn French he has expanded the contract with VICI Language Dynamics to allow a team of managers to also learn French, increasing the number of bilingual staff at the firm.
Now, they are delighted with the training… but while there is a growing demand for French speaking staff they do not anticipate any further language training. Instead they are looking at recruiting French speaking staff that do not require such support.
We are seeing this happen more and more; companies recognise the need for bilingual or even trilingual staff and rather than make a still sensible investment in language training, they are turning to recruitment… which is something else we do here at VICI Language Dynamics.
We are being asked to test and assess candidates to establish their true linguistic capabilities right through to participating in interviews and on both occassions we will use native speakers who will be in no doubt of a candidates true ability, which may not be true of someone who only speaks their native tongue. There is no embellishing of the CV when the VICI team is on the panel!
Admittedly there is sometimes a requirement for further training for candidates who apply with language skills that need upgrading and at least when we are so closely involved in the recruitment process we can identify exactly how much additional foreign language training is required.
Of course we still offer language training and plenty of businesses still require this and this alone, however we stand by our claim that more and more businesses will move straight to recruiting staff who speak a second language in preference to training.
What help does your business need? If you are unsure whether training or recruitment is right for your business then this is where VICI Language Dynamics works as a consultancy, exploring the needs of your business, the skillsets of existing staff and what the best approach is to fulfil your business objectives.