Language Solutions for Personnel Selection

1) Audit of applicants’ language skills

The audit will help you evaluate the actual language skills of applicants in various areas: grammar, comprehension (listening and reading), written and spoken language (a dialogue and a monologue), as well as determine which of the applicant’s language skills are better and which need to be improved. The language audit is an excellent way to reveal an applicant’s communication and interaction skills, as well as the ability to react and reply to various social and business-related questionsissues.

The language audit consists of two sections:

a) The written section, done online, which helps determine the applicant’s level of command of the grammar of a given language. The test is meant not to evaluate what the language user has learned while attending the given language courses, but to evaluate how efficiently he/she uses such knowledge. The duration of the online test is 25–50 minutes;

b) The face-to-face language audit section, which may be held either at the customer’s offices, or at Skrivanek Baltic Language School, at a previously agreed-upon time. In order to determine the applicant’s comprehension, written and spoken language competences:

• several listening tasks are performed: various recordings are played, after which the applicant has to answer questions he/she is asked;
• the applicant is given several short texts of varying complexity; after reading the texts, the applicant has to answer the interviewer’s questions;
• he applicant has to write a text of at least 60 words on a certain subject and within a certain period of time;
• the student is asked several structured questions and, depending on how well the student replies to them, the questions become increasingly complex. In this test, grammar 100% is not the main objective – the emphasis is on the student’s communication skills in the given language. The language user must also give a monologue expressing his/her opinion on a general topic given by the lecturer. The verbal section of the test continues for 10–15 minutes, during which time a number of factors are evaluated, including the student’s language fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation and overall comprehensibility.

The total time necessary for the face-to-face section of the test is 80–100 minutes. The listening, reading and writing tests may be organised for several participants at once; however, the verbal section is organised in individual sessions.

After the completion of both language audit sections, every participant is issued a certificate with an evaluation of each of the language competences and the participant’s overall language command.
The customer (if language skills of several participants are being audited) is issued a report on the level of every participant’s language skills in each of the competences.

The cost of language skills audit is LVL 25.00 per person, VAT excluded, if 1 to 5 persons are taking the test, and LVL 15.00, VAT excluded, if 6 or more persons are taking the test.

The offer applies to the audit of English, Czech, French, Italian, Russian, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, German and Swedish language skills. Upon the customer’s request, the audit of other language skills may also be arranged.

2) Language expert participation in job interviews

The participation of a language expert in job interviews will help you prepare specific questions concerning the peculiarities of the job in question and test the candidates’ knowledge of the industry-related terminology. During the interview, the candidate will be requested to solve various hypothetical industry-related problems, so the employer may evaluate the applicant’s suitability for the job as well as his/her responses under stress or in case of a conflict.

The language expert participates only in that part of the job interview where the applicant’s language skills are tested. The test takes 15-20 minutes, during which:

• the applicant is asked several general questions that, depending on the applicant’s replies, become increasingly complex;
• the applicant is asked 3–5 specific industry-related questions (which are agreed upon with the customer before the interview);
• three stressful situations are played out that are prepared and agreed upon with the customer in advance.

Language command tests may be held for several applicants at once, or consecutively, in the customer’s presence or without the customer being present.
After the language test, the customer receives a filled-out form providing evaluation in three areas: general language skills, specific language skills and the applicant’s conduct when under stress. The form also provides the specialist’s remarks and evaluation of the applicant’s overall language command.

The service costs LVL 25.00 per person, VAT excluded, if 1 to 5 persons are taking the test, and LVL 15.00, VAT excluded, if 6 or more persons are taking the test.

The offer applies to English, Czech, French, Italian, Russian, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish, German and Swedish language tests. Upon the customer’s request, other language tests may also be arranged.

If necessary, the customer may also be provided audit of applicants’ language skills, determining the applicants’ language competences: use of grammar, comprehension (listening and reading), written and spoken language skills (dialogue and monologue).