Foreign Language Proficiency Exam

[gcalvin]

I've worked mostly for smaller companies, but I spent 11 years with the US division of a multi-national corporation that does about half a billion dollars a year in US sales -- nearly two billion dollars worldwide. I worked in the IT department, starting as an application programmer, and wearing various hats during my tenure there. I was also involved in many employment interviews, as the company typically wanted my opinion of candidates -- especially my evaluation of their technical skills. Admittedly, these were all positions that asked for "bachelor degree or commensurate experience" -- a degree was not strictly required -- so maybe things are different for jobs where a degree is a requirement (but I doubt it, for reasons I'll explain later).

I don't recall a transcript ever being requested. Rarely was the school discussed, except in rare post-interview cases where someone (not me) might say something like "wow, that's a good school -- he might want more than we're willing to pay." The things we were looking for were:

1) Relevant experience
2) Attitude and work ethic
3) Signs of general intelligence and problem-solving skills
4) Personality (will the candidate fit in with the existing team?)

Now if someone did not have work experience, but their educational experience was relevant, we would of course consider that. But we never got into comparing degrees or schools, let alone comparing electives on a transcript. Someone with several foreign languages would have received special notice, but not because of a college transcript -- there was a space on the application form asking about languages.

So that's my experience for what it's worth. I haven't gone out on any interviews with my new degree yet, but if I do run across any companies that are biased against Excelsior or the Big 3, or that compare college electives from one candidate to the next, I'll consider myself fortunate to land in their reject pile.

-Gary-

[ali4nia]

[SIZE="2"][COLOR="Navy"]First, I must say that the comments you made to Jennifer (and everyone else for that matter) were really uncalled for. She spends a significant amount of time on this forum. She is a strong asset, and she offers insightful suggestions to people who really appreciate her effort. I would hardly say that her actions display the "who cares" mantra that you openly accused her of supporting. It is important to remember that one of the best parts about this forum is the diverse group of people we have here. Generally we can exchange ideas and feel comfortable doing so. Here is my two cents on the rest:

Fortune 100 companies drop literally millions of dollars every single year in an ongoing effort to recruit people who have broad knowledge in at least one of three main categories, which include the following: math, science, and cultural diversity. Quite frankly, a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics is one of several degrees that are highly coveted in the business world. So how would I know? That would be because I work in human resources for a Fortune 100 company. In fact, I was a recruiter for three years before I started working on this consulting team. It may be helpful for me to mention to you that emotional intelligence and good written communication skills (to include solid grammar) are also very important skills that recruiters actively seek in potential candidates.

I have personally never asked for a recap of the electives one selected during his or her undergraduate studies. I will admit that I would find a recruiter who did anything like that to be a little spooky too. However, assuming that this actually happened at any point in time, I cannot imagine that a recruiter who was worth half the paycheck he or she was receiving would ever think that an elective in sociology or psychology was worth more than knowledge of multiple foreign languages! Actually I would even go so far as to say that I would go out of my way to brag about my electives if they were comprised of foreign languages.

Rarely does a company request copies of your transcripts at all. Most of the time companies either take your word for it that you have a degree from university of XYZ, or they have a pretty little database that will happily inform them of whether or not your credentials are legit. In any case, your electives are all yours to choose and your recruiter is unlikely to give a rip, even if you were to take all of those in Personal Enrichment categories.

Lastly, you mentioned that we live in a very competitive era. That is the one statement you made that I think is a true fact in every way. Having said that, I think you may agree that in a competitive environment, setting ourselves apart is invaluable. The truth is that nearly every undergraduate in the world is going to take psychology or sociology. In many cases, with my educational institution included, both of these courses are actually required in order to earn a bachelor's degree. It is also noteworthy to mention that a good percentage of college educated people deem introductory courses in sociology or psychology to be "EASY As" - hardly an impressive achievement. What on earth makes that so special? :confused: [/COLOR][/SIZE]

I will answer your question really simply without telling you all my life story (or Jennifer's life story as you did) by the way I helped alot of people too but I dont need to bring that up to prove my point.. anyway I think you forgot that I mentioned that I speak 3 other languages beside English and never said its not useful to have those type of skills(for some jobs they are useless though) however What I said its '' I would mention my language skills ON MY RESUME '' did u read this? thats what Resume's are for, to answer your last question specifically: I would be way more impressed by someone speaking 3 ,4 languages mentioned on their resume and having a decent general education (English, history, arts and yes even basic psychology and sociology) rather than someone who just took 2 languages exams and filled up his degree with 30 credits or more, is this that hard to understand for you people?? JEESSUS personally me and some of my friends have been in certain interviews for jobs and school and we have been speciafically questioned about our general education background, If you didnt use to do it while you were a recruiter,thats your choice, it doesnt mean no other recruiter does it !! looks like general education reqs are so worthless to some of you guys, for me its one of the most important and probably the most useful (generally speaking) part of a degree regardless of your career choice!! hope you get finally my point ! JEEEESUS help this people to understand the value of education rather than obsessive academic validation!!

[ali4nia]

ali4nia,

Please refrain from using so much sarcasm and be more respectful of your fellow IC members. You have made your point, and I think your posts are getting way too rude.

JoAnne







[/B][/I]

this is for you JoAnne and your friend sgloer who sent me a message saying that I have ''insulted'' people!! Sarcasm and rudeness/insult are two different things, Please look up both definitions, one can help and do more good than harm and other is completly uselss and harmful. I was sarcastic in my suggestions and brought a lot of attention to this post but again rememeber we are in U.S.A (you know United States of America, country of freedom of speech) so last time I checked we had the right to do that thank you, I m going to forgive your ignorance this time but next time I will take it as a clear and unacceptable violation of First Amendment rights and will act accordingly.

[ali4nia]

I was told that the freedom of speech doesnot apply to internet and private forum so my bad !!sorry !! at least I learned some thing

[samsgan]

I was told that the freedom of speech doesnot apply to internet and private forum so my bad !!sorry !! at least I learned some thing

take your meds.

"........personally me and some of my friends have been in certain interviews for jobs and school and we have been speciafically questioned about our general education background........"

uuuhhh, really, hhhmmmm.

[lrgaul]

I will answer your question really simply without telling you all my life story (or Jennifer's life story as you did) by the way I helped alot of people too but I dont need to bring that up to prove my point.. anyway I think you forgot that I mentioned that I speak 3 other languages beside English and never said its not useful to have those type of skills(for some jobs they are useless though) however What I said its '' I would mention my language skills ON MY RESUME '' did u read this? thats what Resume's are for, to answer your last question specifically: I would be way more impressed by someone speaking 3 ,4 languages mentioned on their resume and having a decent general education (English, history, arts and yes even basic psychology and sociology) rather than someone who just took 2 languages exams and filled up his degree with 30 credits or more, is this that hard to understand for you people?? JEESSUS personally me and some of my friends have been in certain interviews for jobs and school and we have been speciafically questioned about our general education background, If you didnt use to do it while you were a recruiter,thats your choice, it doesnt mean no other recruiter does it !! looks like general education reqs are so worthless to some of you guys, for me its one of the most important and probably the most useful (generally speaking) part of a degree regardless of your career choice!! hope you get finally my point ! JEEEESUS help this people to understand the value of education rather than obsessive academic validation!!

[SIZE="2"][COLOR="Navy"]You are in so far over your head that it is completely ridiculous!

1) You seem to be taking every comment someone makes as a personal attack on you. I couldn't care less how many languages you know how to speak - perhaps that is why I "forgot that you mentioned that". My point was that filling a number of your educational credits with foreign languages would generally be a SMART thing to do. Furthermore, if you are so inclined to say that your general education requirements are of the utmost importance when evaluating your degree program, why wouldn't you just get an associate's degree? In essence this little theory of yours would render the majority of bachelor's degrees to be right next door to useless, unnecessary fluff.

2) Do you frequently apply for "administrative assistant" positions? If so, that may very well be why they are asking about your "general education" background as it applies to an academic degree. However, in the professional world, this simply doesn't happen. I would like to clarify that I am not insulting the "administrative assistant" as a valid human being in business. What I am doing is stressing the fact that recruiters are certainly trained to ask lower-level questions to people who are being considered to fill positions that require relatively menial work.

3) I would hardly say that the four brief sentences I dropped about Jennifer's general character on this forum would equate to an entire life story, but I guess that is somewhat relative since some people's life stories would indeed be quite brief. Case in point: You are highly effective when it comes to ostracizing yourself from an entire group. Your keen ability to rant and rave about nothing, while truly believing that your points are valid is almost impressive if it wasn't so pathetic. Unfortunately, there are not enough general education credits in the world to save you from that. Perhaps you should consider putting this on your resume.

For the first time, you have a bit of something you can take personally. Based on what I have seen so far, I can imagine that this will be enough to drive you into a profound "Prozac moment."[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[lrgaul]

[SIZE="2"][COLOR="Navy"]First, I must say that the comments you made to Jennifer (and everyone else for that matter) were really uncalled for. She spends a significant amount of time on this forum. She is a strong asset, and she offers insightful suggestions to people who really appreciate her effort. I would hardly say that her actions display the "who cares" mantra that you openly accused her of supporting. It is important to remember that one of the best parts about this forum is the diverse group of people we have here. Generally we can exchange ideas and feel comfortable doing so. Here is my two cents on the rest:

Fortune 100 companies drop literally millions of dollars every single year in an ongoing effort to recruit people who have broad knowledge in at least one of three main categories, which include the following: math, science, and cultural diversity. Quite frankly, a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics is one of several degrees that are highly coveted in the business world. So how would I know? That would be because I work in human resources for a Fortune 100 company. In fact, I was a recruiter for three years before I started working on this consulting team. It may be helpful for me to mention to you that emotional intelligence and good written communication skills (to include solid grammar) are also very important skills that recruiters actively seek in potential candidates.

I have personally never asked for a recap of the electives one selected during his or her undergraduate studies. I will admit that I would find a recruiter who did anything like that to be a little spooky too. However, assuming that this actually happened at any point in time, I cannot imagine that a recruiter who was worth half the paycheck he or she was receiving would ever think that an elective in sociology or psychology was worth more than knowledge of multiple foreign languages! Actually I would even go so far as to say that I would go out of my way to brag about my electives if they were comprised of foreign languages.

Rarely does a company request copies of your transcripts at all. Most of the time companies either take your word for it that you have a degree from university of XYZ, or they have a pretty little database that will happily inform them of whether or not your credentials are legit. In any case, your electives are all yours to choose and your recruiter is unlikely to give a rip, even if you were to take all of those in Personal Enrichment categories.

Lastly, you mentioned that we live in a very competitive era. That is the one statement you made that I think is a true fact in every way. Having said that, I think you may agree that in a competitive environment, setting ourselves apart is invaluable. The truth is that nearly every undergraduate in the world is going to take psychology or sociology. In many cases, with my educational institution included, both of these courses are actually required in order to earn a bachelor's degree. It is also noteworthy to mention that a good percentage of college educated people deem introductory courses in sociology or psychology to be "EASY As" - hardly an impressive achievement. What on earth makes that so special? :confused: [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE="2"]Yep. All of this, plus I would like to add that ali4nia knows how to speak four different languages.[/SIZE]

[ali4nia]

[SIZE="2"][COLOR="Navy"]You are in so far over your head that it is completely ridiculous!

1) You seem to be taking every comment someone makes as a personal attack on you. I couldn't care less how many languages you know how to speak - perhaps that is why I "forgot that you mentioned that". My point was that filling a number of your educational credits with foreign languages would generally be a SMART thing to do. Furthermore, if you are so inclined to say that your general education requirements are of the utmost importance when evaluating your degree program, why wouldn't you just get an associate's degree? In essence this little theory of yours would render the majority of bachelor's degrees to be right next door to useless, unnecessary fluff.

2) Do you frequently apply for "administrative assistant" positions? If so, that may very well be why they are asking about your "general education" background as it applies to an academic degree. However, in the professional world, this simply doesn't happen. I would like to clarify that I am not insulting the "administrative assistant" as a valid human being in business. What I am doing is stressing the fact that recruiters are certainly trained to ask lower-level questions to people who are being considered to fill positions that require relatively menial work.

3) I would hardly say that the four brief sentences I dropped about Jennifer's general character on this forum would equate to an entire life story, but I guess that is somewhat relative since some people's life stories would indeed be quite brief. Case in point: You are highly effective when it comes to ostracizing yourself from an entire group. Your keen ability to rant and rave about nothing, while truly believing that your points are valid is almost impressive if it wasn't so pathetic, and there are not enough general education credits in the world to save you from that. Perhaps you should consider putting this on your resume.

For the first time, you have a bit of something you can take personally. Based on what I have seen so far, I can imagine that this will be enough to drive you into a profound "Prozac moment."[/COLOR][/SIZE]

If a therapist prescribed you Prozac, it doesnt mean you can go ahead and prescribe it to every body,(remember you are only a recruiter) instead of telling your life stories on here and praising other members to attract sympathy, go do some thing productive and move on with your life..get over it !! who cares about reading your novels?? 1)...2)... hilarious

[samsgan]

If a therapist prescribed you Prozac, it doesnt mean you can go ahead and prescribe it to every body,(remember you are only a recruiter) instead of telling your life stories on here and praising other members to attract sympathy, go do some thing productive and move on with your life..get over it !! who cares about reading your novels?? 1)...2)... hilarious

Just a question...do you constantly put the hilarious in yours posts so we know when we are SUPPOSED to laugh.

[lrgaul]

If a therapist prescribed you Prozac, it doesnt mean you can go ahead and prescribe it to every body,(remember you are only a recruiter) instead of telling your life stories on here and praising other members to attract sympathy, go do some thing productive and move on with your life..get over it !! who cares about reading your novels?? 1)...2)... hilarious

[SIZE="2"][COLOR="Navy"]I would like to apologize for the things I said in my previous post. I think it was pretty crappy. Occasionally three glasses of wine can turn otherwise nice people into real jerks.

I concede.[/COLOR][/SIZE]