What are employers looking for in 2025? According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), only 23% of employers only hire candidates with degrees in their industry. What gets a resumé a second look are specific skills and attributes, many of which are uniquely developed in language learning. How can you help students see the connection between your course and their career goals?
Towards the top of employers’ wish lists, at 81% is the ability to work in a team. Language learners spend a large portion of their time working in groups, negotiating solutions and solving problems while respecting different viewpoints. From agreeing on a place for lunch to role-playing stakeholders in a mock town hall, language learners are honing negotiation and interpersonal skills at every level.
What activities or projects in your course develop teamwork skills?
Employers also screen resumés for evidence of communication skills, which, like other “soft” skills, can be hard to document. Since language learning intentionally focuses on developing interpretative, interpersonal, and presentational skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, our students can provide specific descriptions of their abilities by referring to the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do statements.
What activities and assessments in your course demonstrate these skills?
Flexibility and adaptability are other soft skills that employers seek. Learning another language demonstrates both of these attributes, along with intercultural competence. Language exchanges, education, and internships abroad or via online collaboration, and volunteering with bilingual and intercultural organizations provide tangible evidence.
Where in your course can students find evidence of their flexibility, adaptability, and intercultural competence?
Now that we’ve identified some of the soft skills language learning provides, how can we help students showcase those skills?
Several approaches can help learners highlight the connections between in-demand career skills and their language learning experiences.
- Embed career skills and attributes in your course and module learning objectives. For example:
- “You will demonstrate flexibility and adaptability by playing different roles in a debate on urbanization versus conservation of rural areas in Japan.”
- “You will demonstrate intercultural competence by writing mock journal entries from the perspective of an American studying abroad in Morocco.”
- “You will demonstrate communication, teamwork, and technical skills by creating a virtual campus orientation for incoming exchange students from Mexico.”
- Build career competencies into evaluation rubrics and explicitly refer to them in feedback. For example:
- “You effectively synthesize ideas from the three videos, which shows critical thinking skills. The clear organization and phrasing of your post also demonstrate strong written communication skills.”
- Consider scaffolding large projects and explicitly connecting each phase to specific career skills. For a great example, see Dr. Paige Tan’s syllabus table, featured on the NACE website.
- DIY: Have learners identify career skills they have developed in key assignments and explain how they can showcase them on a resumé or in an interview. You can do this in the target language, in English, or both!
What other ideas do you and your colleagues have?
Dr. Sandra Watts
Dr. Sandra Watts has loved languages since she met her French-speaking friend Françoise in Kindergarten. She’s learned Spanish, Latin, and French and isn’t done yet! Dr. Watts has taught English in Spain and the U.S. As Teaching Professor of Spanish and Interdisciplinary Studies at UNC Charlotte she enjoys teaching both heritage speakers and those who are new to the language and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world.
