Is Your English Good Enough for a Job?
Looking for a job in a new country is a challenge because of new standards, traditions, and rules – and because of the new language. Many immigrants believe that their English is not good enough to find a good job, but this is often not true. We prepared ways to assess three dimensions of your English language proficiency: basic, academic, and professional, along with useful tips to improve your skills.
Job search has always been stressful, but looking for a job being an immigrant woman, having to speak and read really advanced English, and doing all that in the middle of a global pandemic, that is a challenge no one has ever faced before.
A lot of immigrants feel frustrated when entering the job market. New culture, standards, rules, and traditions may be very confusing. When an immigrant asks themselves, “Am I good enough?” what they really mean is often “Is my English good enough to apply for this job?” Unfortunately, too many answer “No” to this question before assessing their skills. Too often, immigrant women with valuable and relevant experience limit themselves, staying in low-wage positions which offer no career perspectives for years or even decades.
How do I know if my English is good enough for me to be hired? Here are some tips for you:
- Start with the basics
Checking your basic English skills is simple: living in the U.S. tests them every day. Do you feel comfortable speaking English in stores, banks, and transportation? Can you have a small-talk at the bus stop or give directions to a stranger? Do you read or leave reviews (if you don’t, you should! It is a great language practice) or chat? How about skimming articles and non-fiction? If all your answers are yes, it looks like your basic English skills are in great shape! To double-check this, talk to a person who can give you honest and respectful feedback: your neighbor, co-worker, or teacher. You can also take a free online test at:
- Level up!
Basic English is essential. It supports your everyday life and makes a big part of your communication with your colleagues. However, you will need academic English skills to be successful at work. Reading instructions and contracts, writing formal letters and emails, making impressive presentations — all these activities require more advanced grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation rules that are often overlooked in a regular ESOL classroom. You can get an idea of what academic English looks like by reading business or scientific articles and blogs or watching lectures and presentations. TED talks are great for improving English skills and learning something new from expert speakers. But don’t forget to practice and apply what you learn if you want to keep it in your toolbox. Essays, emails, audio or video records will help you digest new information and track your progress.
- Be job-centered
You can bring your English skills everywhere you go, but each industry has its own specific language. Professional terms, jargon, acronyms may be the same or vary from one country to another. The good news is that you can learn professional vocabulary right in the workplace. The bad news is that, if you don’t have any knowledge of it, you may not be able to answer questions during an interview. You can learn what employers expect by reading job postings. Take a look at 10-15 of them and you will definitely notice recurrent words and phrases. But industry-specific literature and courses will take your professional English to the next level. For example, Coursera and Udemy offer a wide range of free and low-cost professional courses, projects, and specializations in which you can gain new knowledge and skills, improve your vocabulary, and get a certificate from one of the hundreds of schools, colleges, and universities from around the world.
There are many ways to assess your English skills before an interviewer does it and even more ways to improve them if you are not satisfied with the results. The worst mistake you can make is not using double negative or messing up your subject-verb agreement, but saying “no” beforehand to all the opportunities in the United States that are waiting for you!
