Will language skills help you stand out in the job market?

That was the question posed by the Guardian newspaper in a Q & A Discussion that took place on Thursday 29 March. What resulted was a lively discussion that raised a lot of good points and highlighted some great career advice for language graduates. It's well worth a read, but here are a few points that came out:

The idea that the British are rubbish at languages is actually a bit of a myth. True, linguistic ability is not nearly as common as it should be in the population, but these discussions (and lots like them) demonstrate that there are some very capable linguists out there, and we're not just talking about holiday French, we're talking high levels of linguistic ability.

A language degree in itself is not enough for a career using languages. If you want a job where you are using your language skills as an integral part of the job you need other skills to complement your languages. That takes us to another point...

Universities that offer language degrees need to do more. Employers see language ability as an additional skill but still want graduates to be skilled in other areas. This is hugely frustrating for language grads. Maybe universities should offer more elective modules in topics such as marketing, business administration, engineering etc so that graduates can sell themselves more positively to potential employers.

And finally, one of my greatest pet hates - employers need to stop paying rubbish wages for language skills. If an employer truly values the language skills of their workforce they will pay a wage that reflects that. None of this nonsense about advertising for highly qualified staff for little more than the minimum wage. You do not just pick up a foreign language - it is learnt and it requires hard work over a long period of time.