Translating your Skills into other languages
Posted on October 6, 2011
If you are looking for work in international locations, you will need to know how to showcase your skills and achievements in a manner that is familiar to an overseas employer or manager. Translating your experience also applies when you are looking for a job in your home country but are changing career paths or industry.
Translate your Resume/CV
It might be tempting to copy and paste your resume or CV into an online translator tool but this can be a risky approach if you aren’t familiar with the target foreign language. Find a native speaker who can review and comment on the initial translation. It is very likely that what you thought your were saying in your resume has been interpreted differently than you intended.
You can also look at hiring an translation service but consider looking to make a connection with someone from the culture or country you are looking to work in. Making a new contact is an excellent opportunity to learn more about another culture and give you some practice in appreciating another point of view when it comes to discussing work experience.
Provide an interpretation of your skills
Depending on the management and work cultural of any country, your achievements need to be seen as offering a “good fit” for a company or organization. As part of your research into the culture of an overseas work environment, take some time to consider what is valued.
For example, you might have exception entrepreneurial talent and multiple skills to work independently on a project to bring it to completion and success. However, if a local culture views team collaboration as a critical element for an organization’s success, your ability to function more independently might be perceived as disruptive rather than an advantage. In this scenario, you might alter the description on your resume to mention how your entrepreneurial abilities include establishing strong relationships that ensured success for your efforts as well as your colleagues or partners.
Recognize how your skills relate to other job roles
If you have previous experience from a job or training while completing a degree, you can also consider how to translate that experience into skills that apply to other job roles. The skills categories on O*NET offer a user-friendly way to look for skills descriptions and then match them to related job descriptions.
Once you have a better understanding of how your skills relate to other jobs, it can be easier to modify your resume or CV to become more tailored to job opportunities you find online.
Improve your ability to use other languages
If you are interested in working outside your home country foreign language skills are usually beneficial, and in some cases, required.
For international development and nonprofit work overseas, language skills are critical as the project work typically occurs in locations where the host country languages are the only ones spoken by residents. In an article on Devex entitled “Foreign Language Skills in International Development: What’s in Demand” (login required), the author describes the variety languages that have seen a growing demand for capable speakers for both development work and humanitarian relief.
You can learn more about resumes and CVs for international destinations on Going Global’s website.
The Goinglobal.com team is comprised of individuals representing many different nationalities who all have one experience in common—we have all lived and worked outside of our home countries. Goinglobal.com is committed to providing “grassroots intelligence” through our team of in-country researchers.
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