14-05-2025
Do English speakers still have an advantage in Spain's labour market?
Knowing how to speak English well is a recognised advantage when trying to apply for a job in Spain, but is it enough to stand out still, or are there greater skills and even more linguistic abilities you must prove?
Mónica Pérez, Director of Communications and Research at InfoJobs told El País that 'nowadays, languages remain an important competitive advantage in the Spanish labour market,' but she believes that in many sectors and positions, a strong grasp of the world's lingua franca no longer differentiates you from the rest of the candidates.
According to Pérez, speaking English has become such an integral skill for Spaniards to have in the job market that unless you're applying for a position that needs a native English speaker with an international company, it may not really put you above everyone else.
César Martínez, professor of Human Resources at Comillas Pontifical University claims that "achieving an intermediate level, equivalent to a B2, has become established as the minimum standard for maintaining a professional conversation," so many Spaniards may have this already.
Apparently, many job agency professionals believe that now you have to speak a third language to have the edge over everyone else.
"Speaking a third language can be a great advantage in certain markets. In short, the current labour market values multilingualism as part of a more complete and adaptable profile," Miguel Mercado, national director of Randstad Professional told El País.
German, for example, continues to be highly valued for technical and industry-related fields according to the experts, while French is in high demand in services and international trade.
In fact, German is one of the languages that generates the highest average salary in the job offers published on InfoJobs.
There has also been growing demand in languages like Portuguese due to Brazil's importance in some sectors and Italian in fashion, design, and food industries.
Languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese are also very helpful to get positions in companies that do business in Asia and the Middle East.
All this would certainly suggest that English speakers are no longer viewed as something 'special' in Spain's job market anymore.
Does this mean that speaking Spanish and English can't be the chief reason to get hired in Spain?
According to the general manager of international education company Education First (EF) Spain, Niccolò del Monte, around 50,000 jobs in Spain remain unfilled due to a lack of English skills.
He's also warned that English proficiency among young people in Spain has declined over the last ten years.
In a recent study by the company, they also revealed that one-third of the jobs for professionals over 40 remain unfilled because the candidates lack sufficient English skills.
This would indicate that around 90 percent of the job offers here require a high level of English and only around 33 percent of Spaniards have that.
According to the study, Spaniards have a higher level of English than the French and the Italians, but worse than the Portuguese and the Germans.
Del Monte also agreed though that lots of companies these days are asking for other languages as well as English.
And PageGroup's managing director, José Castellanos, confirmed that ongoing training, such as learning and speaking several languages, "is essential" for advancing your career.
So, if you're looking for employment in Spain and you already have English and Spanish skills, you may want to up your abilities even more and take on a third language to really put you on top.
Nevertheless, your fluency in English may still be the chief reason why you land a particular position.
