English job ads for Lithuanians are a sign of change in this market
Lithuanian jobseekers have noticed a recent trend: the majority of job offers are in English. Why is it that, when living and looking for a job in our country, a candidate finds an advert written in a language other than his or her mother tongue? Recruitment companies note that there are several key reasons for this change in the labour market.
A visit to the job portals “cvonline.lt”, “cvbankas.lt” or any other portal shows that salespeople, consultants and managers are now in high demand. Opportunities are particularly wide for project managers, programmers or technical professions such as engineers or architects. There are plenty of advertisements, but there are also plenty of people looking for work. Nowadays, jobseekers can find many offers written in English. According to labour market experts, English-language job advertisements can be seen as a message that not only in large countries, but even in countries of similar size to Lithuania, the mother tongue will eventually be replaced by English, which has now become the international language of choice in the working environment. Perhaps the main reason for this is the global business opportunities opening up. An employee who can communicate fluently in Lithuanian, English, Russian or any other language is at an advantage and undoubtedly increases the chances of making business contacts in more than just the local market. In addition, English adverts offer the opportunity to employ foreigners. This can be seen as ambiguous. On the positive side, Estonians, Russians, Latvians and Germans can be invited to work in Lithuania. But on the other hand, the competition for Lithuanians is only increasing. What does this mean? Applicants for the desired position must have the language skills to surpass, or at least be equal to, those of candidates from foreign countries, otherwise there will be only one winner in such situations – the head of the company, who in one case or another will get a qualified subordinate.
English is also useful at work because an increasing number of terms in various industries are being taken over from English-speakers. This makes it possible to assimilate more quickly the specifics of a particular job and new methods, which are understood not only by a small team but also by the most powerful corporations around the world. This raises the level of qualification to a slightly higher level.
How should a Lithuanian react to finding a coveted position and an advertisement in English? Of course, respond in the same language and, preferably, at a similar level to the one written. Grammatical errors and jargon should be avoided. Use expressions and English phrases that are typical of administrative style and do not confuse the meaning of words.
Although English job adverts may initially scare applicants, they should not reject them outright. Very often in such situations, a person doubts whether his or her knowledge of English is not too poor for the job they want, but at the same time they are convinced that they would be able to cope with the task as easily as possible in Lithuanian. It is in this situation of lack of determination that it is worth being honest and explaining to a potential employer that one’s knowledge of English is still average for the job one wants, but that the desire to improve and achieve excellent results motivates one to learn the language again. A smart employer will realise that such a candidate is not afraid of additional training, and knows that with hard work comes good rewards. That’s why they may even invite a person with imperfect or average English to a job interview.
