The market for foreign languages started developing after escaping the communist regime with the start of foreign investment.  Along with it, the University courses started growing and expanding their expertise towards languages more difficult and exotic. At this moment in Romania over 95% of pupils are learning one or two foreign languages since secondary school.

According to Eurobarometer, English is the foreign language that most Romanians speak – 31%, followed by French – 17%, German and Spanish – 3% each. Also, the study indicates that 8% of Romanian citizens surveyed indicated the Hungarian language as their mother tongue. However, in different areas of the country, as a result of the social structure, there are other languages that are also taught in school: Czech, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Slovak or Croatian.

In Romania, the Universities offer study programs for more than 44 languages starting from more accessible ones to languages that require a longer preparation such as Neo-Greek, Korean, Swedish, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, Dutch and Chinese.

How well are foreign languages paid?

At the moment, since the foreign investment market is growing and more corporations are starting to bring their headquarters in Romania, the foreign languages skills are becoming more required. With English “by default”, the second foreign language becomes more important, and the biggest demand is for German and French. Right after that follows Italian, the Ibero-romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan), the northern languages (Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian), Turkish, Polish, Czech, Russian and the regional ones (Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian).

The salary levels in the BPO and SSC sectors depend on the foreign language capabilities and their work experience, the rare and most required languages being generally better paid. Besides the work experience, most of the hiring managers focus on the candidate’s soft skills, compensating the lack of hard skills through training. Examples of monthly net salaries in Bucharest are: English (430-650 EUR); French (430-750 EUR); German (750-1100 EUR); Dutch (up to 750-1100 EUR).

What motivates the employees?

Every candidate has different motivation factors for choosing a job. Some people work because they really enjoy their activity; others work for personal and professional fulfillment; other people like to accomplish goals and feel as if they are contributing to something larger than themselves, something important, an overarching vision for what they can create.

If Maslow was to design his pyramid from scratch today to explain what motivates people at work, beyond the basics, what would it look like? The base of the pyramid would be defined by the financial side, the way the job meets their salary expectations, the second row is occupied by the security of the job, the third one is all about the work environment, the team and how efficient is their communication. The last rows are represented by the employee’s need for opportunities to develop his skills, to learn new things and professional growth opportunities that recognize individual contribution and performance.

While the purpose of a business isn’t to help each team member self-actualize, an employer with a company culture that doesn’t help facilitate advancement toward that goal is at risk of losing star performers.  There are 8000 hours per year that people spend working, who would want to spend their time in a toxic environment? Workplaces that put a premium on recognition and rewards, communication, transparency, and leadership will have few problems hitting the right notes with appreciation and feelings of security.

What do employers look for in a candidate?

On the other side, employers value employees who understand and possess a willingness to work hard. In addition to working hard, it is also important to work smart. If we had to make a profile of the perfect candidate, he should be a person with an academical background in the domain, he must be able to work in a team and to understand the benefits of doing that, but most important is his willingness to learn. And that means to learn how to be efficient and to find the best methods to solve problems and to deal with day to day tasks.

No matter what the job, employers want people who have certain qualities that will be a perfect match for the organizational culture. Some skills and qualities employers seek in all their employees, regardless of the position, are great communication skills in the process language, the motivation to develop professionally within the company, growing the return of investment and, most importantly, their willingness to learn.

If you are interested in working in this industry, visit our Careers page and chose the job that suits you the best.

*For more information about this topic you can visit our partner’s website (www.absl.ro). They have amazing reports about the BPO & SSC industry.