Research shows that more and more employers are beginning to recognise the crucial role of languages in making the UK more competitive in an international job market. The CBI Education and Skills Survey 2009 showed that 74% of UK employers are looking for conversational language skills, while 36% are employing people specifically for their fluent language skills. To read the full report, visit CBI’s website.

Language skills can benefit employers from across a wide range of sectors. Organisations which are actively looking to recruit linguists include the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, British Airways, the BBC, Herbert Smith, HSBC and Novotel Hotels, to mention just a few. For more examples, please download the list of companies who are currently taking part in CILT’s Business Language Programme.

You can also find examples of people using their languages skills across a range of sectors in the case studies section of our Languages Work website. The website contains a wide range of information about careers with languages and is certainly worth a browse.

A good place to start would be to visit the websites of one or more recruitment agencies dedicated to supplying organisations with multilingual employees.