Recruiters value Swedish language skills

The graph shows how recruiters' value and assess Swedish language skills in simulated job interviews. The researchers used six different film clips with simulated language levels that had been developed by a linguist. Each recruiter watched two films. The figure displays how the recruiters ranked the Swedish language skills and employability on a scale of 1-7 in each language level. The curve with language assessment confirms that they can assess spoken Swedish. The employability curve shows that they prefer to hire applicants with better Swedish proficiency.

Swedish important for recruiters

• Most recruiters think good spoken and written Swedish is crucial for employability.
• 87 percent of the respondents point to a lack in Swedish skills as a challenge when hiring people born outside the Nordic countries.

Good language skills increase job chances

• The probability of moving forward in an interview process increases by on average 50 percent when the written language goes from the lowest to the highest language level.
• The probability of moving forward from a job interview increased by 150 percent when the verbal language level increased to the same degree.