A good command of the English language is one of the most obvious skills demanded of PAs in the UK; being able to communicate effectively in writing or when liaising with others underpins the role.
However, people who can do the same in a second or third language can find a whole new range of job opportunities open to them, recruiters say.
For a start, bilingual and multilingual PA’s are in demand and can achieve a significant salary boost, says Kamal Ladwa, the Managing Partner at Oak Tree Recruitment, a specialist languages recruitment agency: “If you have English and one or two other languages you are looking at a 15 to 20 per cent premium on top of what you would normally expect in a position of that responsibility.”
But a short language training course or even an A level will not cut it, he adds. “We expect people to speak another language to a native level. It’s not enough just to have a GCSE or an A level in French.”
Ladwa estimates that 85 per cent of Oak Tree’s language-based jobs need a European tongue – particularly German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages – although demand for Chinese and Arabic is growing. “This will continue as these markets expand. We may also see demand for Hindi,” he says.
While many jobs will demand professional PA experience as well as language skills, it is possible for candidates to use their second language to get them in the door.
Sanna Jordansson, 30, did just that and is now PA to the UK head of Handelsbanken, a Swedish bank. She speaks three languages fluently, has a degree in social geography and initially worked in recruitment – placing multilingual candidates in PA roles – when she came to the UK from Sweden nearly three years ago. “I kept seeing all these great jobs coming through and thinking ‘that’s what I want to do’.”
Being Swedish set her apart from other candidates as it meant that she understood both the business culture and the language. “The company is Swedish so we have a lot of Swedish people in our London office and a lot of the correspondence that I deal with is in Swedish,” she says.
“You could probably get by with just English for most things but I do find that I use Swedish every day. For example, when we have visitors from our Stockholm office they are more comfortable speaking Swedish, even though they can speak English.”
While multinational businesses are the most obvious employers of bilingual PA’s, there is also demand from ultra-wealthy individuals and their families. A number of Oak Tree Recruitment’s clients, including Russian businessmen based in London, need executive assistants who can help as translators.
“They will need someone who is fluent in English to help them in the UK but also in Russian. These are very hands-on roles and they can be quite demanding because you have to put in the hours, but they do pay very well and you get to travel and live a life of luxury. There are a lot of perks.”
For further information, please contact Kamal Ladwa on +44 (0) 203 008 8636
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