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THE plight of the foreign language graduate who is seeking a job is of genuine concern to career counselors as well as foreign language teachers. The historical background of the current employment situation is well known, and the present state of the job market cannot readily be changed. However, the graduate's particular approach to job hunting is of utmost importance, and difficulties in this area can be remedied. Whether to present oneself as a foreign language major or as a skilled individual is the main problem that each student must resolve for himself. A crucial factor affecting this decision is geography; many authorities, including Lucille Honig and Richard Brod, Mary H. Jackson, and Alan C. Bedell, have noted that most jobs of interest to foreign language majors are located in large American cities. 1
For graduates who decide to seek employment in business or manufacturing, as many do in a state like Connecticut, the second approach to job hunting, which places the emphasis on skills, may prove more successful than the first. While it is true that foreign language skills are useful to companies with international interests, knowledge of another language often is considered an ancillary qualification for job placement. For example, in a survey of leading manufacturers with international exports, it was learned that thirty-one percent of the firms in Connecticut needed individuals with foreign language skills. 2 In every instance, however, proficiency in a foreign language was considered supplemental to knowledge in a specialized field, such as marketing or engineering. Therefore, the foreign language major who wishes to pursue a career in business or manufacturing must be prepared to demonstrate additional technical expertise.
The graduate who cannot offer such expertise may feel thwarted in the job search and begin to doubt his or her ability to find employment. This lack of self-assurance may stem from the tendency of college students to align employment potential with academic major. Their self-perception, in fact, focuses on what they studied rather than on the innate abilities that led them to that field of specialization in the first place. This is placing the cart before the horse: instead of realizing that they studied a language because they have a penchant for communication, many students believe they have come by their ability as a result of studying a foreign language. The talent was always there; the language was only a vehicle for its development. So often we hear someone say, “I am a Spanish major” or “I am a music major.” Such self-descriptions imply that the individual's identity is derived from the subject area. This kind of thinking creates a paralysis in job mobility, limiting the person's choice of employment opportunities.
On the other hand, the more skills the graduate can identify, the more convinced he will become of his capacity to perform in a variety of occupations. In actuality, it seems to make no difference what one's college major is as long as the field chosen is commensurate with the individual's talents and interests. Interest in and enthusiasm about a body of knowledge are the prime motivations for studying it; love for a particular art or science seems to be the essential, sustaining ingredient for completing four years of advanced schooling. Yet graduates tend to believe that the discipline itself is all they know. Seldom do they realize that a love of French literature and culture is, in reality, a love of people, communication, and life.
There comes a point at which we need to translate our interests into real, marketable skills. “It is, after all, a group of activities, not an occupation, that one is hired to perform.” 3 A job candidate must convince an employer that long before he ever opened a German textbook he was a person who enjoyed organizing A, planning B, budgeting C, writing D, speaking to E, researching F, computing G, and so on. These action verbs tell an employer, “I can repeat these past successes for your organization today.” The more successes or accomplishments an applicant can emphasize, the more confident an employer will feel in hiring him. A list of specific skills goes far in minimizing an employer's fear of risk.
It is ironic that most scholars who have bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees probably had a higher self-image before they attended college. Did they not all take some mathematics or science? Were not the same mental exercises applied to the abstraction and analysis of literature? Graduates tend to forget their ability to perform a variety of tasks. The academician who is intimidated by the thought of entering the business world would be surprised to learn that, according to a national study, fewer than one in five business men and women actually majored in business subjects. 4 The foreign language graduate seeking alternative routes of employment must be prepared to market his or her potential—not just a competence in foreign languages. But before convincing an employer of that potential, one must first convince oneself.
To do this, it is sometimes helpful to infiltrate the ranks of the enemy, so to speak, and learn the needs of the employer. In this manner, a perfect match of the individual's abilities with the employer's needs can be made. Career counselors frequently hear college recruiters describe the “ideal” job candidate. It often seems that all employers are seeking the same person: somebody who demonstrates leadership ability, sociability, communication skills, and enthusiasm for the particular job; only after these qualifications are met, surprisingly, are academic grades a consideration. In fact, it appears that, as far as employers are concerned, the applicant can have studied anything in college as long as his or her self-esteem is fairly high. 5
Indeed, there is ample evidence supporting the employability of language majors. In satisfying employers' demands, foreign language graduates are at a definite advantage. Oral and written skills have been finely tuned through years of training in grammar and literature. Such talents in communication open up a variety of opportunities in media and publishing. Business organizations also require these skills for jobs in their public relations departments and on their in-house organs. One large manufacturing firm in Connecticut recently hired a French major to edit the company newspaper. Although she was interviewed along with seven business majors, her writing skills far exceeded those of the business students. In a study to determine the utilization and value of higher education in employment, which was funded by the College Placement Council and the National Institute of Education, Bisconti and Solomon found that the courses most frequently recommended as occupationally useful were business administration, English, and psychology. 6 In keeping with this recommendation, foreign language majors have every right to equate their skills with those of English majors. (An excellent guide to those skills is Linwood Orange's English: the Pre-Professional Major . 7 The same attributes he describes can be applied to language students, who have also developed skills in communication, interpretation, and analytical thought.)
Another trait often perceived in language majors is their ability to interact with people. A talent for socializing is important in many positions that require customer relations, such as office personnel work or service-related occupations. In a recent interview a personnel specialist at a leading Fortune 100 industrial firm revealed that she had chaired a high school language department before entering the personnel field.
Foreign language graduates often underestimate their analytical ability. In mastering a foreign language the student learns to abstract, analyze, and synthesize large amounts of information. Data processing is one occupation that makes use of such abilities. Many a skilled programmer or systems analyst who has excelled in learning computer languages has a background in foreign language study. Committing to memory the signs and symbols that are the language of the computer is much like the process of mastering a new language.
The self-assessment involved in skill identification requires great commitment; an individual must unveil his or her most basic interests and abilities and prepare to present them in a marketable light. Cervantes advises: “Make it thy business to know thyself which is the most difficult lesson in the world.” 8 The fruits of such a search, however, are rewarding not only psychologically but vocationally as well. Once skills are identified, the individual can begin to examine various career paths. If one can learn to identify one's transferable skills, preoccupation with job titles or classifications will not be a problem. In the face of employment cutbacks or job obsolescence, the individual who has set goals based on personal skills and interests, rather than on the vagaries of current demand, will more successfully make an occupational transition. Jean-Paul Sartre says we are the sum total of our choices. If foreign language majors can at least increase the effectiveness of their career decisions by identifying personal abilities and by discovering the options that are available, they will come closer to realizing their potential.
The author serves as Placement Advisor in the Career Development and Placement Center of the University of Hartford.
1 Lucille J. Honig and Richard I. Brod, “Foreign Languages and Careers,” Modern Language Journal , 58 (April 1974), 157–85; Mary H. Jackson, What and How for Foreign Language Students: What Are the Career Opportunities and How to Prepare for Them (ERIC ED 107 095); Alan C. Bedell, Useful Addresses for Foreign Language Students Seeking Employment Abroad and at Home (Holland, Mich.: Hope College, 1975).
2 Rhonda Dablain LoBrutto, “Career Opportunities for Non-Teaching Foreign Language Majors in Connecticut,” Master's Thesis, Central Connecticut State College, 1977, p. 58.
3 Ann Stouffer Bisconti and Lewis C. Solomon, College Education on the Job … the Graduates' Viewpoint (Bethlehem, Pa.: CPC Foundation, 1976), p. 43.
4 Ibid ., p. 6.
5 Some of the job-hunting strategists who have made job candidates feel better about their potential are: Richard Nelson Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute? (Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, 1977); Richard Lathrop, Who's Hiring Who? (Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, 1977); and Richard K. Irish, Go Hire Yourself an Employer (New York: Doubleday, 1973).
6 Bisconti and Solomon, pp. 4–45.
7 Linwood E. Orange, English: the Pre- Professional Major (New York: Modern Language Association, 1973).
8 Miguel de Saavedra Cervantes, Don Quixote , Pt. II, Ch. 42.
© 1978 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
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