How learning a second language can further your career

There are many things you can do to improve your professional career prospects, but few of them will give you more options than learning a new language. The globalization of the world, combined with more work from home opportunities has made bilingual employees more important than ever before.

The ability to speak a second language can set you apart from other candidates and your colleagues. Whether you are looking to move up in your current job or looking to switch career paths completely, being bilingual is a skill that will give you an edge.

Here are just a few of the many ways learning a new language can help you in your career.

Expand your opportunities

Learning a second language opens a host of new possibilities. In nearly every industry there is a growing need for bilingual employees. Whether this is due to business relationships or needing bilingual customer support, having bilingual staff is becoming a priority for many companies. This is true across a wide spectrum of industries, particularly in marketing, construction, retail, hospitality, education, and government.

If you are looking to move into or move up in one of these industries, knowing how to speak a second language can make more opportunities available to you. There are now more positions available that require speaking a second language than ever before.

Make you more culturally aware

Globalization is not only creating more jobs, it is also making workforces more culturally diverse. This means employees are now regularly collaborating with internal teams from around the world, and being culturally aware is becoming more important.

Learning to speak a second language will help broaden your knowledge of other cultures. This is an invaluable skill that can help you become a better communicator and a more productive employee. Being culturally aware will help you interact with your colleagues and move projects forward. As workforces continue to become more diverse, it is essential that you can work well with people from various cultures.

Speaking a second language will give you the cultural skillset that can help you become a leader.

Increase your salary

Like many other skills, the ability to speak a second language can help you negotiate a higher salary. This is true if you are interviewing for a new job or looking for a promotion. Being bilingual is a specialized skill that can make you an invaluable asset to a company, which can give you leverage during salary negotiations.

Because it is a specialized skill, being bilingual can also be the difference-maker for you getting a job over another person with the same qualifications. Even if the position you are applying for does not require speaking a second language, it is a valuable skill that most companies understand is very important.

Give you job security

Much of the population does not speak a second language. For employers, having a bilingual employee makes them indispensable to a certain degree. It is a skill that will set you apart from most of your colleagues and can give you a level of job security that is hard to come by.

There are generally very few bilingual employees in a company. For companies that have a direct need for bilingual employees, it can be difficult to hire. When they do find the right person for the job, they tend to hold on to them, as the hiring process can be both time-consuming and expensive. If you are looking for some job security, learning a second language can give it to you.

Being bilingual provides a wide range of benefits for your career growth. It can give you job flexibility and freedom to change career paths or give you stability and security to continue to move up in your current role. Whatever your career plans are, learning a new language can help you advance.

Best of all, learning a second language has never been easier thanks to online language courses. No matter what language you want to learn, you now have options. From Spanish and English to French online language classes, it is now possible to be bilingual in just about any language.