Multilingual graduates are increasingly in demand as UK companies look to overseas markets in order to boost business during the downturn, according to a report.
Multilingual experts Euro London Appointments said more and more firms are looking for exotic language skills, especially within the finance and sales sectors.
It explained that while Dutch, German, Japanese and Russian continued to be popular languages within finance, there has been increased demand for Arabic, Gujerati, Polish, Czech, Cantonese and Korean as companies look to develop new and alternative markets.
And demand for multilingual sales staff has also sky rocketed as organisations look for ways to boost sales both at home and abroad. The online gaming sector continues to grow and is seeing continuing demand for linguists, while companies - especially in north-west England - are facing a lack of IT and engineering professionals with language ability, mostly driven by a drop in the number of foreign nationals coming to the UK.
Steve Shacklock, from Euro London, said: "With the economic picture and the recruitment market varying so much across the globe, organisations in the UK are realising the importance of maximising on relationships with their customers overseas.
"This is not only in Europe but increasingly across Asia too, making language ability an even more valuable skill than ever."
