Looking for jobs with English? Go online

Looking for a job in Luxembourg? Jobhunters should considerwhat languages they speak before perusing job adverts in the local paper, a university study suggests.

The working paper published in June by researchers at the University of Luxembourg, analysed job adverts found on the website jobs.lu and in the Luxemburger Wort for the language requirements. 

Different markets

While the number of jobs posted requiring candidates fluent in English fell in the Wort since 1999, on jobs.lu they accounted for the majority, at 89 percent of adverts.

The study authors concluded this was because the two media were directed at different markets, with the Wort aimed at a more local working population and jobs.lu at an international jobseekers.

That said, jobseekers should not expect to rely on English alone if they want to increase their chances of landing work. The report found that French was the most requested language in job adverts in the Wort, accounting for 90.4 percent in 2014.

The report authors said that the predominance of French in job adverts was rising.

Trilingual candidates

In 2014, almost two thirds of job adverts in the Wort (72 percent), requested one or several foreign languages.

Meanwhile, four in every 10 adverts requested trilingual candidates, compared with just two in every 10 in 1984.

In the majority of cases, the three languages requested were Luxembourg's national languages: French, German and Luxembourgish.

The report authors said this was not necessarily an indication that employers were becoming more demanding. They said: “It wasn't necessary to mention this competency in the past because it was implicit”.

To view the report (in French), visit http://orbilu.uni.lu/handle/10993/21300

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