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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Engineering
They are talking about this topic: Occupation-Specific Skills
The quotes below are about this issue:
With more firms doing international work, candidates with international experiences are an asset. This includes travel experiences, fluency in other languages, and cultural sensitivity.
| "As we're growing, we're doing a lot more international work with technology. We finished a project down in Venezuela. We could do the engineering here, and just send someone down occasionally. We have a project in Turkey, and another project in Norway, and we're working quite a bit in Canada. So, the language skills are going to continue to be important. I don't know which ones because at least right now our projects are kind of scattered. The mining is the reason we get taken to other parts of the world, the mining tech projects." | Metro |
| "We do look for people that have had internships potentially with large companies, and maybe have traveled. We also get to choose from international students. Students that have come here, that have those skills, and that understand other cultures are a great asset to us." | Metro |
| "A few years ago, we got a request from some of our senior engineers in Miami saying, 'How difficult would it be to do an accelerated Spanish course?' But there are so many different dialects depending on where they're working." | Metro |
| "One project was in Venezuela, but another project was in Spain, so we needed both. And then there is the cultural piece. We brought someone in a year or so ago to talk about doing business in other countries, not just the language piece, but the protocol for who makes decisions and how they communicate about those things. Particularly, I think, in India." | Metro |
| "One of our big projects was with a company, which was bought out by an Indian company. So, we had to switch gears and quickly learn their culture and try to be able to serve them the same way we try serving our Minnesota clients." | Metro |
| "Certainly, they are going to need more skills as they look at expanding their market overseas. Someone else already referenced: When is a deal a deal in Hibbing? And when is it a deal in India? A lot of companies are taking advantage of distribution that works already in places in Europe, Asia, South America, and Latin America. Some are physically opening up a presence in other countries, which is a big jump and a scary process. Some have been successful, and some have not. Some have failed miserably. Others have somehow—maybe in spite of themselves—done it right." | Metro |
| "Yeah, I mean language skills, Spanish. Even in this area, when we go out, we regularly have to use Spanish interpreters. Or a lot of companies will have an employee who is very capable in doing the translations. Sometimes, we've had to bring in translators from overseas to help out because in Minnesota you get the full range. There are a lot of Eastern European languages that are spoken. And what a challenge that is to have a room full of people and have ten people that are Polish or Eurasian, and others that are maybe Hmong. You've got Spanish-speaking people, and then maybe Somali. How do you effectively communicate to a group with that kind of diversity? And, as engineers, who might have the need to talk to clients that may speak different languages, how do you bridge that gap? Those are all challenges." | Metro |