Hiring for Healthcare in 2020

female doctor attending mature male diverse

In the healthcare field, employing skilled and competent caregivers who are able to meet the diverse and growing needs of our communities is more important than ever. In a 2018 study commissioned by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, it was reported that 41% of healthcare and social assistance employers say that they rely “a lot” on employees with foreign language skills.

The report goes on to state that employers in the healthcare and social assistance sectors are significantly more likely than employers in any other sector to have a higher demand for foreign language skills now than they did five years ago (65% and 61%, respectively). With a five-year outlook, employers in the healthcare and social assistance sectors are the most likely to expect an increase in demand (64%).

Why this increased demand for multilingual and multicultural skills and communication in healthcare?

Because 65 million U.S. residents speak a language other than English, and 40% have limited or no English proficiency at all. We all agree that a big part of patient-centered care is language access.

How do healthcare providers meet these demands? What is the most valid and reliable way to certify the language skills needed from healthcare workers providing services to patients when English is not their first language?

Hiring staff to provide the best-in-class healthcare services begins with ensuring that your workforce reflects the diversity of the patients in your community. Responsible healthcare providers use valid and reliable assessments when hiring multilingual staff, especially the workers who are on the front lines and who make up the biggest part of a care team in any hospital or health center.

Multilingual healthcare workers such as interpreters, translators, nurses, and patient care technicians are uniquely qualified to provide optimal care to patients with limited English proficiency (LEP); however, not all self-proclaimed multilinguals have the appropriate level of language skills to interpret or translate medical information. 

Miscommunication and medical misinformation can be detrimental if not deadly. 

Language certification is essential. Being multilingual is not enough; the appropriate level of language proficiency needed, particularly for anyone providing medical care and/or interpretation, is crucial.

Questions such as when and where language was acquired are critical. Did language acquisition come from formal training and education, or was the language acquired at home with family members who are perhaps heritage speakers with limited exposure to medical terminology?

As a hiring manager for healthcare, consider requiring that candidates take language assessments as part of the interview process. Assessments will provide proof of their language proficiency.

Take the guesswork out of hiring multilingual staff in 2020. The demand is clear. Ensure that your organization is prepared to best serve your growing community and mitigate risk.

http://https://youtu.be/yJu0qcFSrYA

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About Language Testing International

Since 1992, Language Testing International (LTI), a Samsung company, has been the leader in the development of language proficiency testing for more than 120 languages, globally. In partnership with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), we proudly offer our corporate clients valid and reliable reading, writing, speaking, and listening tests. Each test is designed to properly determine the specific proficiency level of an individual and ultimately to provide a valid and defensible language credential.

From Fortune 500 corporations to small and midsize companies, LTI works closely with your human resources department to identify the appropriate level of language proficiency required for the position you are looking to fill. Once your needs have been identified, we will help you qualify the right candidates with the language skills needed to be successful.

Contact us today for a free consultation on best practices for hiring multilingual talent!

Lead the Way With World Languages in the Workplace

meeting room table hands working paperwork global businessWe are living in a global society; there is explosive growth nationally and internationally. Our clients, prospects, and staff are diverse, yet one in three businesses report a gap between the language skills needed and the employees available to fill the need.

As organizations grow, so does the demand for language proficiency in multiple languages. In order to thrive in an evolving marketplace, consider these steps to meet the opportunities that are ahead. 

Assess Your Needs for Language Proficiency 

Conduct a survey of your current organization to determine the strengths and weaknesses, and identify the current and future language needs to help your company meet the demands of an increasingly global marketplace. Analyzing where you are today will help you create clear goals for hiring multilingual talent and developing the skills of current employees. Work with an expert to help you take stock of the skills needed internally and externally to meet the demands of your business. 

Take Inventory and Capitalize on Talent

Do you have multilingual talent? Have you taken inventory of the skills they can offer your organization? Have you used a valid and reliable measure to confirm what they can do with their language skills? Are your multilingual workers in the appropriate roles to help your business grow? Have you mitigated the risks of miscommunication by ensuring employees language abilities verified and certified? Take the guesswork out of the equation, and use assessments developed by subject matter experts to help you understand where you are and where you need to go. 

Hire the Right Talent for the Task at Hand 

Once you have determined your needs with the help of language proficiency subject matter experts, incorporate best hiring practices for recruiting multilingual talent. Conduct a task analysis with experts, understand the job requirements and the level of language needed, and incorporate language testing in the hiring process to ensure that the candidates are qualified based on the benchmarks and proficiency levels you have determined to be important.

Language Training

Training the best and the brightest! Targeted on-the-job language training is a terrific way to ensure your employees have the appropriate language and strategies for the scenarios they encounter on a day-to-day basis. In many cases, the level of language proficiency may vary. Training helps your employees’ confidence, mitigates risk, and puts your company in a position to delight your clients.

Build Your Pool of Qualified Candidates

The most successful global companies identify and cultivate a pipeline of multilingual talent by partnering with local universities, foreign language programs, or diverse community groups. Consider offering internships to qualified students who are studying world languages and culture; they will welcome the experience and are perfect for your professional pipeline.

Become an Advocate of Valid and Reliable Language Credentials

Nine out of ten U.S. employers report a reliance on employees with language skills other than English, yet studies have shown that there is a huge skills gap, leaving many employers unable to meet their multilingual business needs. Ensure that your organization has a development plan and multilingual recruiting process that allows it to excel  in attracting and retaining talent to serve the needs of your business.

About Language Testing International

Since 1992, Language Testing International (LTI), a Samsung company, has been the leader in the development of language proficiency testing for more than 120 languages, globally. In partnership with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), we proudly offer our corporate clients valid and reliable reading, writing, speaking, and listening tests. Each test is designed to properly determine the specific proficiency level of an individual and ultimately to provide a valid and defensible language credential.

From Fortune 500 corporations to small and midsize companies, LTI works closely with your human resources department to identify the appropriate level of language proficiency required for the position you are looking to fill. Once your needs have been identified, we will help you qualify the right candidates with the language skills needed to be successful.

Contact us today for a free consultation on best practices for hiring multilingual talent!

Hiring Multilingual Workers and Taking Out the Complexities

two women interview

So, you’ve decided to hire multilingual employees, and that makes your organization simply amazing! Why? Because as confirmed by the New American Economy Report, “Americans lose almost $2 billion each year because of language and cultural misunderstandings.” Thus, hiring multilingual talent is clearly a smart business decision.

Now comes the tricky part—how do you find the most qualified multilingual candidate? Who will have the right level of language proficiency to get the job done? How do you do this with a reliable assessment? Who do you partner with? Perhaps, you are not multilingual yourself. Leave it to the experts!

Experienced human resource managers use language assessments to hire multilingual employees and follow these three important steps:

Hiring Multilingual Workers

Step 1: Have a clear understanding of the position and the associated tasks

What are the tasks you will  be asking your new employees to complete in the target language? This is very important in determining the language level they’ll need for the position. 

Many hiring managers make the mistake of assuming all multilingual candidates have the same level of language ability. This assumption can be very misguided. It is important to understand how the language skills were acquired. Did they have formal training in college? Did they live or grow up abroad? Are they heritage speakers who learned the language from family and friends as a child around the kitchen table? Each scenario means a very different level and command of the language. 

Depending on the position, some candidates with lower levels of language proficiency can get by; however, do they have the confidence to get the job done? Will your customers be satisfied with the service they receive? Is it fair to put someone in a role he or she can’t do well?

Some positions prioritize written language skills, and in these cases, a formally educated multilingual candidate is likely the best fit and the most qualified. The level of formality required in the language spoken (or written) may also determine what level of language skill your ideal candidate needs. 

Consider if there is a cultural aspect to the position you’re looking to fill as well. Having a native speaker from the same country as your customer base can help to create trust between them and your company as well as aid your team in successfully navigating what may otherwise end up as costly cultural confusions

Step 2: Test the skills

Once you know the tasks and the level of language proficiency required, it’s time to make it clear to job applicants. This saves you time and money. Candidates will appreciate the transparency. Not sure what the level of language proficiency should be? Check out this great guide to Oral Proficiency Levels in the Workplace.

According to research, candidates may misrepresent their abilities on resumes, and language proficiency is certainly a skill that can be tested and measured reliably. Thus, there is no reason to take chances.

Multilingual candidates tend to overestimate their language skills, perhaps not intentionally, but unless you are a native speaker yourself, you probably won’t find out until there are issues with performance on the job. Protect yourself from making costly hiring mistakes by testing candidates’ language skills prior to hiring.

Step 3: Don’t skip importance steps the process

We all know the importance of process when recruiting talent. Organizations spend more time than they’d like on hiring, and unfortunately, hiring mistakes are costly. Language testing during the hiring process makes it efficient to find qualified candidates to fill multilingual positions. You will spend less time reading resumes of candidates who mistakenly self-assess and less time conducting interviews with unfit candidates, ultimately reducing the time and money spent on hiring your new employee.

Assessments during the hiring process also lower your turnover rates and even increase productivity, as quality communication skills can nearly always be correlated to higher sales volumes and happier customers.

About Language Testing International

Since 1992, Language Testing International (LTI), a Samsung company, has been the leader in the development of language proficiency testing for more than 120 languages, globally. In partnership with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), we proudly offer our corporate clients valid and reliable reading, writing, speaking, and listening tests. Each test is designed to properly determine the specific proficiency level of an individual and ultimately to provide a valid and defensible language credential.

From Fortune 500 corporations to small and midsize companies, LTI works closely with your human resources department to identify the appropriate level of language proficiency required for the position you are looking to fill. Once your needs have been identified, we will help you qualify the right candidates with the language skills needed to be successful.

Contact us today for a free consultation on best practices for hiring multilingual talent!

Reflection on ACTFL 2019: Learning to be an Advocate

My experiences at the annual ACTFL convention are always a little different from a “typical” ACTFL attendee. Given my district role as a program supervisor, I am fortunate to start ACTFL Week on Tuesday, when the National Association of District Supervisors for Foreign Language (NADSFL) convenes for its annual meeting. By the time ACTFL convention rolls around, my brain is full and I have to recharge quickly so I can focus on interesting and timely presentations. This year was no different.

As part of the pre-ACTFL time, NADSFL members are able to participate in the Assembly of Delegates (AoD), a one-day meeting sponsored by ACTFL where delegates from state and partner organizations meet together to hear about and discuss issues facing world language programs. This year because ACTFL was in Washington DC, Howie Berman and staff organized a Capitol Hill Day for the AoD delegates. For me, this turned out to be one of the highlights, not only of this convention, but of any convention I have attended.

ACTFL did a great job of soliciting information from delegates ahead of time so that meetings could be pre-arranged. As we checked in early on Thursday morning, we received a schedule that reflected our visits for the day. After a quick orientation on Capitol Hill where we were given talking points and suggestions on how to approach the visit, we set off with our state delegations.

For me, I visited my two state senators followed by my representative. I freely admit that the first visit was a little overwhelming and intimidating. This was something that was very much out of my realm of experience. Fortunately, one of my fellow Texans had participated in visits before so our entire group deferred to her experience. By the second visit, we were all feeling a little more confident and chimed in with comments.

In none of the visits did we actually meet with elected officials, we only met with staffers but that’s not unusual. Most visits happen with staffers; they are the ones who take issues and concerns back to the senators and representatives.

My third visit was all on my own since I was the lone representative from San Antonio but by the time I arrived, I was ready, although still a little nervous! On my walk to the Longworth House Office Building, I went back over our talking points and requests. Part of it was easy, we were discussing the importance of world language instruction and asking for support. As educators, we all know why world languages are important for the economy, for national security, for being an educated 21st-century global citizen. Specifically, we were asking for support of the Title VI International Education Programs in the Higher Education Act; support for the house-passed funding amounts for Title VI and Fulbright Hays Foreign Language Instruction Programs; and, support of America’s Language Caucus, a bi-cameral and bi-partisan initiative to ensure adequate resources are pushed to world language learning (ACTFL Assembly of Advocates Congressional Meeting Talking Points, 2019).

At the end of the day, I was tired, but I felt fulfilled. I had advocated for something I passionately believe in and I had directly participated in the democratic process. Will it make a difference? Time will tell. But after the AoD experience, I have a much clearer idea of what advocacy entails, as well as what it requires. I am ready to participate whenever I can in organized advocacy days at both the local, state, and national levels. And, maybe, I’m ready to take on some advocacy all on my own.

Save Time, Money & Hire Qualified Job Applicants

qualified job applicants

Imagine what it would be like if finding qualified job applicants were fast, easy, and cost effective? While that might be a far-off dream, there is one foolproof way to save yourself time and money when hiring multilingual candidates.

Save Time and Money, and Hire Qualified Applicants

Language Certification is the answer to ensuring your multilingual job applicants are qualified and have the appropriate level of language ability for the job at hand. 

How does it work?

Simply add “ACTFL Bilingual Certification Preferred or Required” to your job postings. Then point potential candidates to www.languagetesting.com, where they can pre-certify their level of proficiency in the target language. It’s an effective screening method, which ensures that all candidates you choose to interview are highly-qualified to speak, understand, read, and write in the target language. 

Secure and Convenient 

Through our remote proctoring service, we offer candidates the ability to securely test their language skills anytime, anywhere. We visually verify identifications and monitor the entire test, ensuring valid, reliable results. Candidates who choose to pre-certify organize and pay for their exams directly with LTI. 

Besides saving you time and money, pre-certification and language testing provides you peace of mind and a verifiable language credential that confirms the appropriate level of language skills to get the job done. It also confirms the candidates commitment to the process, the benefit to you—you’ll spend less time sorting through applications and more time recruiting qualified candidates. 

Contact us and schedule a time with an assessment specialist to learn more about how Language Testing International (LTI) can assist you with your language proficiency testing needs.

Language Proficient – October 2019

Language Proficient

Brought to you by Language Testing International — Your Global Partner in Language Testing, Training, and Learning.

3 MILLION Multilinguals strong and growing!

Companies all around the world depend on multilingual talent in order to grow and scale their business. Employees with the appropriate level of language proficiency eliminate communication barriers and mitigate risk when conducting business. The list of companies that have announced hiring initiatives to fill the gap in their multilingual talent pool is growing—from call centers in Honduras to corporations in the United States such as Progressive, Nielsen, and Disney. CEO and Founder of Monese, Norris Koppel, spoke on his purpose, “We operate in 8 languages with more to roll out, so having the insight of those who are bilingual or multilingual not only helps us to achieve our goals but also to understand the nuances and cultures of each country and our customers.” (Gentle)

The impact of having a multilingual proficient workplace in the corporate sector bolsters both economic and social psychological effects. A one language fits all approach to business “could impoverish innovation and creativity, leading to business monoculture and standardized patterns of thinking” while a multilingual approach allows a company the opportunity to look at achieving their goals through multiple lenses (Yanaprasart, 2016, HRPub). Implementing a multilingual approach provides a strong infrastructure for engagement, for suppliers to customers to coworkers, with which otherwise nuances in language would be lost (Kraniotis).

The consequences of continuing on with this one language fits all approach have become indisputable. In the UK, 11% of contracts are lost annually “…because SME’s are unable to conduct business in a language other than English. That’s the equivalent of 945,000 lost contracts”(DCU Language Services, 2013). Overall in the United States, 1 in 6 U.S. businesses are losing out due to a lack of language skills and cultural awareness in their workforce. In Australia, a high profile case, in particular regarding 7-Eleven, the convenience store chain, was ordered to pay $57 million in wages to overseas workers who were unable to communicate workplace issues because of a language barrier (Bushell-Embling). Clearly, language proficiency is a worldwide matter.

As the role of technology evolves, it is important to embrace the highly adaptive means of evaluating language proficiency in the workplace (Kraniotis).

Language Testing International (LTI) administers language assessments to hundreds of thousands of candidates every year and is one of the largest and most respected foreign language proficiency test providers in the world. We offer the highest level of client service as well as convenient online test scheduling and reporting over secure client networks. Not sure what level of language is needed for the task at hand? LTI offers comprehensive assessments to help you every step of the way!

Contact us today to get started!

Go Global, Grow Your Business, and Get Certified!

world globe puzzleGlobalization creates unlimited opportunities for industries worldwide. How can your organization go global and ensure that your efforts are successful? Your company’s potential customer base is virtually endless when barriers are broken down, including, but not limited to, language barriers.

Is your organization prepared to communicate, serve, and delight your customers?

Have you certified the language skills of your employees who are front and center?

An opinion article in the Training Journal indicated that “language learning will become an integral part of a company’s corporate strategy” as a means of improving international negotiations and relationships as well as internal business operations. This article is part of a growing body of evidence that suggests that corporations are in need of global language expansion in order to succeed. This goes hand in hand with recent reports that the demand for bilingual workers has doubled in the past five years (New American Economy, 2017, March).

Successful global companies assess the language proficiency of their employees and unlock the potential of key global markets by using language assessments to certify the skills of their bilingual employees. Studies have shown that customers prefer to communicate in their native language, and “56.2% of consumers said that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price.”

Language assessments allow you to better understand your employees’ actual language skills so that you can assign your team tasks that are the best fit for their level of language ability. Language testing is an essential part of any company’s global strategy.

Contact us and schedule a time with an assessment specialist to learn more about how Language Testing International (LTI) can assist you with your language testing needs.

Go Global, Grow Your Business, and Get Certified!

Why Language Proficiency Assessments Are Good for Employees and Employers

professional woman with headset in front of computerWhy Language Proficiency Assessments Are Good for Employees and Employers

Whether you have multilingual employees, plan to hire those who are, or want to encourage your staff to pursue a second or third language, it’s critical to consider certification of their language abilities. Certifying your employees’ language skills brings credibility to your company’s multilingual talent, and it has a positive effect on your employees’ morale and their ability to confidently do the job. You might be asking, do I also test current employees, or do I just test new candidates?

Here are some reasons why companies test every multilingual employee with a valid and reliable language proficiency assessment.

Employee Retention: Your employees are guaranteed to have the right level of language for the task at hand.

Language testing demonstrates the value you place on your employees’ talents and language ability. Certifying their skills ensures they have the appropriate level of language for the task at hand, giving them confidence and protecting you —the employer— should you ever need proof that skills are certified, qualified, and confirmed by a trusted and reliable source. Language certification is valid for two years.

Foreign Language Incentive Pay: Be fair to your employees and take the guesswork out of your assessment of language ability.

Many organizations offer foreign language incentive pay. How can you as the employer fairly determine who is eligible for additional compensation or a promotion? What happens when you have multiple candidates that self-select their eligibility? How do you make a fair assessment of an employee’s language proficiency and award incentive pay or even a promotion? Well-informed hiring managers and HR professionals use a third-party testing partner who specializes in language testing and rating.

Serve Your Multilingual Customers at Home and Abroad: Go global and grow!

Customers want to be understood, whether they are stateside or abroad. They are even willing to pay more if you can service them in a language they understand. Seventy-two percent of consumers spend time on websites in their own language. Sectors such as education, healthcare, and financial services actually require you to serve clients with limited English proficiency in their native language. Certifying your employees’ language skills will give you the peace of mind that they can indeed communicate in the required language, thus ensuring that your clients and partners are well-served.

Assess with Confidence, Fairness, and Equity, Language Testing International (LTI) administers language assessments to hundreds of thousands of candidates every year and is one of the largest and most respected foreign language proficiency test providers in the world. We offer the highest level of customer service as well as convenient online test scheduling, remote proctoring and secure reporting in customized client portals. Not sure what level of language is needed for the task at hand? LTI offers consultative services as well as validate and reliable research provided by subject matter experts to help you every step of the way!

Contact us today to learn more!

How will I share the AAPPL results with parents?

By Francesco L. Fratto, Director of World Languages, Language Immersion, & English as a New Language, LTI AAPPL Educator Panel

Francesco L Fratto

The Herricks Public Schools (NY) believes that monolingualism can be cured! Our small yet powerful district offers Chinese, French, Italian, and Spanish; in addition, we have a K-12 Spanish immersion program. The questions that parents often asked were how well can they speak Spanish and are they making progress? Academically our students do very well based on national, state, and local assessments; as educators we also knew that they were making progress with the Spanish language, but we needed more! AAPPL assisted us in answering the questions parents had! We tested all language immersion students grades three and above with the AAPPL Interpersonal Listening and Speaking. With very little to no preparation, our students responded appropriately to the online questions; the adults were more anxious than students! The friendly student format helped ease tensions. The results came in online and then I asked myself how will I share the results with parents?! Gregg Roberts, the architect of Utah’s Dual Language Immersion Model, shared what Kerrie Neu, Dual Language Specialist for the Granite School District (Utah), does in her district by offering parents a meeting to discuss proficiency and language acquisition. Out of her great idea, I scheduled our first Parent Proficiency Night; I too shared the process of learning a language, but I went above and beyond by including the data from the Interpersonal Listening and Speaking. We used Utah’s benchmarks to assist us in measuring our students’ growth. The AAPPL data was powerful! Parents were able to better understand the AAPPL measures of proficiency reports and left knowing what their children were able to do with the language. We can now speak with confidence about a student’s progress and the levels of proficiency we expect our students to reach at each grade level.

Overall the data has confirmed what we are doing right, but it has also challenged us to do things differently to strengthen the overall program. We are proud of our teachers, students, and parents who ask the right questions. We welcome the updated version of the AAPPL to help us dig deeper with respect to data.

What I Love about ACTFL

Iactft-2018-convention-logot’s always an exciting time right before Thanksgiving…not because of time off, yummy food, and time with family and friends (while those are exciting) but because it means that the Annual ACTFL Convention has arrived! As a district coordinator, my ACTFL week is a bit different from many; my learning starts on Tuesday afternoon. By the time ACTFL arrives, I’m ready to “relax” and take in sessions that I can immediately apply in trainings at home.

What I loved this year…

This year, learning more about the Intercultural Can-Do Statements was a huge theme. From listening to Frank Troyan lead us through how and why genre matters in lesson design to Ruta Couet and Jacque Van Houten sharing with us how the IC can-do’s should be the basis of curriculum. My biggest takeaways from these sessions were questions I could ask when I visit classrooms: what is the can-do? What is the evidence that students mastered the can-do?  How can students use the can-do tomorrow? Very powerful questions when working with teachers.

I am so very excited about the new Language Resource Center at the University of Maryland: Professionals in Education Advancing Research and Language Learning (PEARLL) led by Thomas Sauer. Being a one-person show in my district (i.e. no specialists), I have many ideas but not enough hours. PEARLL is going to be a huge asset to my work in helping teachers to be the best they can possibly be.

I always enjoy hearing Greta Lundgaard. Her session on tips for surviving curriculum revision was just what I needed to get me through the remainder of the school year. Being in the midst of keeping a team motivated while rewriting a framework to be proficiency-based is my daily reality. However, I am challenged by keeping the motivation going long-term and garnering the strength and energy to tackle the revision process once the rewrite is completed. Greta is always inspirational and spot-on with her observations and takeaways.

What I love year after year…

What I love about ACTFL is the generous, sharing spirit that most presenters have. It is such an opportune occasion to attend the sessions from the leaders in the profession. And, if you haven’t had a chance to meet them, it’s easy to go up and introduce yourself or ask a follow-up question. Almost without fail, every presenter is willing to engage in conversation either right then or a bit later. ACTFL is the place to make connections and build your professional learning network. Our work is hard enough; we don’t need to isolate ourselves from others but we need to build bridges so we can work together towards our common goal.

The other marvelous aspect of the ACTFL Convention is the variety of sessions offered. When I have the opportunity to bring teachers from my district, I always advise them to figure out ahead of time what sessions they wish to attend; to choose the sessions that have meaning to them; and, then if they are in a session that doesn’t “speak” to them, move somewhere else. If they leave ACTFL without gaining a lot, it is really their own fault. The sessions are there:  formal sessions, panels, papers, and unconference-type discussions. A variety of input to meet the needs of thousands of educators.

While I am always ready to come home at the end of ACTFL, it’s bittersweet. I have a convention family that I am able to spend time with and learn from for a week out of the year.  That is what I look forward to the most every year.