ELAM's Guide to Language Assessments for Hiring Purposes

Client-centered employment in customer assistance, tech support, and sales are just a few examples of jobs that require excellent language abilities. Assume this is something you expect from your new hires. In that situation, you may be wondering, “How can I assure that my shortlist of candidates has the required language proficiency?” The solution is to include a language evaluation in your hiring procedure. As a result, we’ll go over all you need to know about language evaluations in recruitment in this blog. What they are, how they are tested, the advantages of administering such a test, and, of course, some best practices are all covered.

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What does a language assessment entail in the recruitment process?

The goal of a language assessment in recruitment is to evaluate a candidate’s ability to speak or write in the language they’ll use to connect with coworkers and, more crucially, customers or suppliers in a standardized manner. Language tests are frequently utilized in the pre-selection process (See ELAM’s client’s example here) for customer service and inbound sales positions. If you’re hiring for any profession that requires clear and effective communication, whether oral or written, language evaluations are a good idea.

Standardization

If you need to standardize your interview process, a language assessment service is a great way to start. Your hiring manager may establish the exact competencies required and then efficiently compare the results of the candidates. At a glance, you can identify which applications stand out in terms of language proficiency and start the process of elimination Standardized recruitment tactics are also the most equitable way to hire new external personnel and justify your employment judgments to your internal unionized employees. You eliminate subjectivity from the evaluation by comparing all candidates to the same criteria and grading them objectively.

Additional advantages of assessing language during the hiring process

Some of the benefits of employing language evaluation in recruitment have already been mentioned, but there are more:

• Efficiency

One of the best aspects of language exams is that they allow you to screen candidates right away. It’s much easier to discover high-quality talent early on, so there’s no need to waste time and money on applicants who don’t speak the language well.

• Ensure your job’s success

It is beneficial to the hiring manager’s success to select language-proficient persons for roles where this is a need. Getting the right person means satisfying your internal clients’ hiring needs.

• Reading and writing

A recognized language test highlights the candidate’s business writing, grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension levels. Multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, writing samples are elements frequently used in these types of assessments. Another important factor is a timed written test which allows the hiring manager to see how quickly and efficiently a candidate writes.

ELAM’s Language Audit Analysis

Because there are so many facets to language competencies, it’s best to subcontract a company like ELAM to initially perform a Language Audit Assessment on the various positions found in your organization. Once you have established the competencies required for all positions, then the hiring process is straightforward and transparent.