For an employer, proficiency in French is more important than English

In modern languages, especially in English, we often have the image of the recruiter. However, according to a recent Ipsos survey for the Voltaire project released on Monday, October 25, proficiency in the French language appears to be a major issue for human resources in companies.

For this survey, Ipsos distributed its questionnaire to approximately 2,500 selected people, mainly targeting executives, managers and human resource managers of small and large companies, across all departments.

Key recruitment criteria

This questionnaire revealed that mastery of the written and spoken language of French is a real priority for employers: 86% of employers consider it an important skill in the field of operation, which reaches 91% among HR managers.

The quality and spelling of verbal and written expression are in the top 5 recruitment criteria (69% and 59%), at the same level of technical competence (71%). When reading a cover letter, an HR manager assumes that spelling, grammar or coupling errors are 83% preventable.

“Those who make a lot of mistakes lose credit and are less noticed.”

By comparison, 80% of recruiters will reject applicants with defects in French writing and 30% of them will reject applicants with defects in English. During an interview, difficulties in expressing themselves orally in French were 33% and 73% in English.

Great challenge in business

If the French language is so important, these employers believe, 76% of them, that their teams are experiencing written expression and / or verbal spelling deficiencies, “unfortunately a frequent problem”, on a daily basis, the survey notes. . This defective expression is unreliable to employers, neglected and a bad image for the company. Employers point out in the questionnaire that “the person who makes a lot of mistakes loses credit and is taken less”, which “refers to the idea of ​​someone being tough and tough”.

“This often creates errors in communication and interpretation”

As a result, the company suffers: “It often creates communication and explanatory errors”, “vague letters, inaccurate phone answers” and the like. Therefore, 93% of decision makers consider that defects in the writing and / or verbal expression and spelling of their groups have a significant impact on external relationships (customers, suppliers, etc.) in their credibility. In addition, 65% of employers believe that exposure failures have a significant impact on a company’s financial decisions.

This observation has increased with the development of teleworking, where the quality of written and oral expression is even more important for good internal communication.