2009 – it has been a tough year for the majority of us recruiters. And when times get tough, business development becomes a priority. Where can we get new business? What other markets can we tap into? Over the past year it seems that a lot of recruiters have been asking themselves these questions and coming up with the answer – languages.
Over the past year we’ve seen a lot of generalist agencies set up language divisions in the hope of getting some new business in what has been a long and difficult recession. Too many consultancies are jumping on the bandwagon and professing to recruit linguists when in fact they don’t have the expertise to do this.
At Euro London, we specialise in languages because that’s what we’re good at. All of our consultants are fluent in at least two languages, which range from Japanese to French, to Italian, to Polish. They have also spent time living in the countries where those languages are spoken. But why does this matter? It means that whatever the role and whatever the language, we can source the ideal candidate – and we have the resources to test their language ability. Not only that, but our consultants have the cultural knowledge, allowing us to understand our clients and our candidates. How else would we have advised our client about IT qualifications in France? Or educate our candidates about working in the UK?
We have definitely entered the age of the specialist. At the moment when time to hire has reached several months, it’s crucial that organisations are hiring the right people with the right skills. And the only way to make sure you’ve got them is to use a specialist agency that has the facilities, the expertise and the experience to do this.