Spanish Language Proficiency Tests: Assessing the Capabilities of Bilingual Job Candidates

Importance of fully bilingual employees

 Every day we read or hear about how companies are targeting and capturing US Hispanic customers. Currently more than one person in seven in the US is of Hispanic origin and this group makes up the largest minority group in the United States, over 41 million people! In 2003, Cheskin Research conducted a survey of 6,000 US Hispanics and found that 76% prefer to be marketed to in Spanish. These consumers reasonably expect that if they read or hear an advertisement in Spanish or receive a solicitation in Spanish, they can respond to the company by telephone or in-person and speak to a Spanish-speaking representative. A qualified and appropriately trained bilingual team can lead to more sales and satisfied customers.

Hiring fully bilingual employees can be more challenging than it appears since Spanish speakers in the US may be immigrants, or first, second or third      generation Americans, for example. Some Spanish-speakers speak Spanish as their first language while others´ first language is English. Some Spanish-speakers were educated in English, but speak Spanish with their families and in their communities or vice versa. Therefore the business dilemma for hiring managers is that they may not be able to distinguish between a casual and a business Spanish-speaker simply by conducting an interview in English and reading the applicant´s resume.

How do companies ensure they are actually hiring qualified bilingual candidates who can communicate professionally in English and Spanish? Recruiting and hiring managers at companies pursuing "Best Practice" US Hispanic customer care utilize language proficiency assessments to test verbal communication, writing and/or translations skills to objectively evaluate the competency of job applicants at the time of the interview.

Spanish-speakers in the US

US Hispanics come from more than twenty different countries and use the Spanish language differently. In addition there are distinct geographic and regional differences of how Spanish is spoken in the US. Just as in the English language, there are diverse dialects, accents and word usage.

A challenging issue for companies servicing US Hispanic customers is communicating in neutral, professional "Business Spanish" to all of its customers. Employees and customers may come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and, therefore, communicate differently both in written and spoken Spanish. To be an effective communicator, companies must become aware of the regional differences in how Spanish is used to effectively service Spanish-speaking customers.

Many people who were born in the US learned to speak Spanish at home and are unable to read or write fluently in Spanish. Their understanding of the Spanish language may be limited. The challenge this provides in the workplace is that conversations at home are colloquial. Speaking to family and friends about sports, television shows, meals, etc., is very different from conducting a telephone conversation with a customer to cross sell a product or service, describe how to make a payment using a check-by-phone service, explain the terms and conditions of a contract or solve a billing dispute.

Challenges bilingual employees face

Many companies are located in areas where there is a short supply of Spanish-speaking job candidates. But even if applicants are abundant, Human Resources managers understand they must determine the proficiency level of Spanish and/or English language skills prior to making a hiring decision. Language assessments that test verbal communication, writing skills and/or translation skills evaluate the proficiency and competency of the Spanish-speaker´s ability to communicate.

If your company is servicing multilingual customers, then they expect equally excellent service in whatever language they speak. For those servicing US Hispanic customers, only the largest or most specialized companies are able to staff entire departments or call centers to handle calls in only one language. Most bilingual call center customer service, telemarketing and collection agents in the US handle both English and Spanish calls randomly throughout the day so that companies can meet service level goals, schedule enough agents during peak times and optimize the use of inbound and outbound call center technology. Therefore, these call center agents must be able to competently communicate in both Spanish and English and be proficient in the specialized vocabulary of your industry.

Challenges hiring managers face

Many recruiters and Human Resources personnel do not speak Spanish or do not speak proficiently enough to be able to assess a candidate´s capabilities; therefore many interviews for bilingual positions are conducted in English only. Without a language proficiency test these managers must base their hiring decisions on trust that the candidate actually speaks Spanish competently and can conduct a professional business conversation in Spanish.

For example, our firm recently assessed the verbal and written skills of a Supervisory candidate. The candidate had previously worked as a translator for a state government office, therefore, it would seem that his Spanish language skills would be proficient. In fact, although the candidate was able to clearly communicate verbally, he failed the written test because he did not use correct grammar or vocabulary to translate a simple paragraph. The English-speaking hiring manager had no idea of this candidate´s deficiencies since he did not speak Spanish. Unfortunately, this is not an unusual situation encountered by companies in the US every day.

Language Proficiency Assessments

The objective of the language proficiency testing process is to assist recruiters and hiring managers in screening and selecting bilingual applicants and to identify additional language training or coaching support that may be needed for the candidate.

The most efficient Spanish language verbal skills communication assessments are handled by conducting a ten to fifteen minute Spanish language telephone conversation of the job candidate at the time of the interview. To objectively assess candidates, assessment professionals use a pre-written survey or questionnaire of open-ended questions in Spanish. Questions that are business oriented and customized for the position will provide the best indication of how a candidate will perform on the job, i.e. call center representative candidates may be asked questions about handling telephone calls while branch personnel may be asked about experiences with face-to-face communication. If the position requires prior experience, then the assessment professional conducting the telephone interview may ask more specific, technical questions about the company and/or industry in Spanish. These kinds of assessments are particularly useful for fields such as consumer credit, insurance, mortgage loans, banking, healthcare, etc.

The candidate is then evaluated based on his verbal communication skills, use of proper grammar rules, correct verb conjugation, utilization of a wide variety of vocabulary, whether or not slang, made-up words or English words are inserted into the Spanish conversation and other objective criteria. The hiring manager receives immediate verbal feedback and a written evaluation report immediately after the telephone interview that scores the language skills of the candidate in specific categories. This information can be used to make or decline a job offer.

Writing skills assessments require the applicant to translate a simple paragraph or answer an open-ended essay question of a general or specific topic related to your company or industry. The candidate must be able to demonstrate he can write grammatically correct sentences, using correct spelling, utilizing a variety of vocabulary and communicate ideas in an understandable manner.

Translation skills assessments require the candidate to have a higher-level understanding of both English and Spanish than a writing test alone. Translation skills tests that require translations from Spanish to English, English to Spanish and corrections of an poorly written piece will best evaluate a translator´s abilities. Depending on the skills required for the position, translation pieces may be of general topics, specific to an industry or technical in nature.

Because many bilingual employees are required to provide services to both Spanish and English speaking customers, assessing the language skills of bilingual job candidates in both languages helps evaluate whether the candidate is truly qualified for a bilingual position. This eliminates bias if this practice is put into place for all bilingual job candidates. Assessment reports provide employers with objective information necessary to decide which position the candidate is most suited for and to qualify individuals for a bilingual pay differential.

Assessment results are the most objective and least susceptible to fraud when the candidate completes the test from the company´s offices instead of calling from home or another location.

Providers who do not require an advance appointment are the most flexible for recruiters and hiring managers since no planning is required and any eligible candidate may be assessed at the time of the interview. Some assessment services provide staffing for job fairs and weekend and evening appointments as well as during regular office hours.

Conclusion

Companies who pay a bilingual pay differential emphasize the importance of conducting interviews in Spanish and testing both the Spanish and the English language proficiency of the job candidates to ensure their verbal communication and/or writing skills are professional and appropriate for a business environment. Currently the amount companies pay for a bilingual pay differential to call center representatives ranges from about $.50 to $1.00 per hour.

Many companies conduct personality tests, clerical and computation skills assessments and drug and alcohol checks to screen job applicants. These employers know that the benefits of pre-employment testing are better quality employees, reduced turnover, money saved and they help weed out unqualified applicants. Now companies who service Spanish-speaking customers have an additional resource available: language proficiency assessments to objectively test the verbal communication and writing skills of bilingual job candidates.