Business sector: Recruitment Consultancy
Number of employees: 85 (4 UK offices, 6 European
offices)
Language(s) supported: German, Spanish and
French
Established in 1990, Euro London Appointments has grown to become
the largest specialist independent language consultancy in the UK.
With offices in London, Windsor, Frankfurt and Paris, Euro London
Appointments is expanding all its operations throughout Europe.
Euro London Appointments was shortlisted for a 2009 BLC award.
Summary of engagement
Euro London managers visit several London schools
and universities five time a year. They give presentations to
students about why languages are important and the types of job
opportunities available to people that speak another language.
Types of engagement include employee volunteering, hosting student
workplace visits, and developing and supervising language
activities for students and employees.
Objectives of employer engagement:
- To enthuse and inspire students about
languages so that they pursue their language learning at GCSE level
and beyond. As a business that is based on languages, Euro London
recognises how important they are to the business world and always
make a conscious effort to put time aside to promote this in
schools.
- To demonstrate to students that, in world
where businesses of all sizes can operate in the global
marketplace, the challenge is being able to understand the needs of
potential customers and suppliers around the world.
- To illuminate for students the diverse career
options available to them if they have another language, and
emphasise that it is not limited to just teaching or translation as
many students may think.
Engagement activities:
- School visits
Employees introduce
themselves in both German and English and talk about how they
learnt their languages. This is followed by a Q&A
session.
Staff talk to students about the benefits of language learning (in
conjunction with the Stratford City Project) based around local
preparations for the Olympic Games in 2012. Employees give examples
of previous projects undertaken by students in German to promote
Stratford to German speakers.
Ahead of students choosing their GCSE options, employees deliver a
presentation to Year 9 classes about the kinds of jobs people take
on after studying languages at degree level. As recruiters, they
are able to show students what languages were most popular in the
world of employment, the areas of work most popular among linguists
and the variety of jobs with languages that students didn’t even
know existed.
- Workplace visits
Groups of Year 9 and 10
students hear about the importance of languages for their future
career development. Employees show pupils how to write a good CV
both in English and in German, using laminated cards with the
titles of each part of the CV in the target languages.
Students have the opportunity to sit in on real candidate
interviews conducted in German to see what an interview is like and
to see how languages are used. Employees discuss the diverse
careers available with languages, from computer games testing to
selling private jets.
Impact on school and
students:
- Feedback received shows students have found the sessions very
helpful and insightful.
- The group offices visits have been really interactive and every
student gets a chance to sit in on a real interview.
- Euro London has presented to various year groups of various
sizes, sometimes up to 200 at a time.
Teacher quote:
"Our students thoroughly enjoyed the experience – I think
that they were very surprised at quite how many opportunities would
be open to them if they could offer a foreign language to
employers. It was great for them to have the unique opportunity of
seeing real-life interviews, as this is something that we cannot
provide authentically at school. They were initially a little
nervous, but their conversations afterwards showed just how much
they had got out of the experience. I think it has definitely
opened their eyes!" Catherine Butler, German teacher
Impact on business
Being involved in the BLC scheme
is a significant part of the corporate social responsibility that
promotes Euro London as a responsible and forward thinking company.
It has also enabled them to gain press coverage surrounding
our work with the schools.
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