Choosing Majors and Careers
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What Can I do With a Degree in Foreign Language?
Career Center Library Resources
The Career Center Library has a variety of resources to help students explore potential career fields. These resources include information about typical responsibilities, qualifications, career paths, job outlook, salary, and related careers.
Books Specifically Related to Foreign Language Majors
- American Jobs Abroad
- Jobs for People who Love to Travel
- Transitions Abroad
- 101 Ways to Find an Overseas Job
- Teaching English Abroad
- Complete Guide to International Jobs and Careers
- Careers for Foreign Language Majors & Other Multilingual Types
- Adventure Careers
- International Jobs: Where They Are & How to Get Them
- Careers in International Business
- Great Jobs Abroad
- The Imaginative Soul's Guide to Foreign Internships
- Opportunities in Foreign Language Careers
Books of General Interest to Liberal Arts Majors
- Great Jobs for Liberal Arts Majors
- The Best Jobs for the 1990s and Into the 21st Century
- The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People
- Making a Living While Making a Difference
Vocational Biographies
Vocational Biographies (http://www.vocbiosonline.com/login.php) describes the career success stories of 1001 real people. Search by career, title, keyword, topic, and career cluster. Username: portland su and pass code: 3w9n.
- Foreign Service Jobs
- Bilingual Substance Abuse Counselor
- Interpreter/Translator
Professional Associations
Internet Sites with Career-Related Information for Foreign Language Majors
- Foreign Languages — Lists potential job titles and related skills. From the University Career and Employment Services at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
- College Majors and Career Opportunities — Foreign Languages — Lists related occupations and types of employers. From Career Services, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
- What Can I do with a Major In...Foreign Language? — From the Career Services Office at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina. Includes a "representative sample of current job titles of former [UNCW] Foreign Language majors."
- Careers for Foreign Language Majors — Lists potential occupations for foreign language majors. From the Department of Modern Foreign Languages, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
- Translation as a Career Option for Foreign Language Majors — From the Association of Departments for Foreign Languages.
- Information about becoming a conference interpreter — From the International Association of Conference Interpreters.
- Frequently Asked Questions About Court Interpreting — From the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators.
- Foreign Language: What Can I Do With This Major? — Outlines common career areas, identifies typical employers, and suggests general strategies to enhance employability. From Career Services at the University of Tennessee.
Internet Sites with Job Search Information for Foreign Language Majors
- International Job Opportunities: The Riley Guide
- The JET Programme — "The JET Programme aims to promote internationalisation at the local level by inviting young overseas graduates to assist in international exchange and foreign language education in local governments, boards of education and junior and senior high schools throughout Japan. It seeks to foster ties between Japanese citizens (mainly youth) and JET participants at the person to person level."
- U.S. State Department, Employment — General information about careers with the State Department. Includes information on foreign service officers, foreign service specialists, and civil service careers.
Places of Employment
Foreign language majors may find employment in business, government, education, media, travel and tourism, and social services depending on their skills and experience. Some foreign language graduates choose to work in careers where their language skills are essential to completing the job's responsibilities. These jobs include interpreting, translating, and teaching a foreign language. Some foreign language majors may choose to work in careers where their foreign language skills are an asset but not integral to the job — social services case worker, import-export assistant, travel agent. Career-related internships or part-time jobs may be a prerequisite to finding professional-level employment after graduation in these and other fields.
The following list of employers and job titles was derived from the Career Center's jobs database where the employer specifically requested foreign language majors. This list does not reflect all potential places of employment or kinds of jobs for foreign language majors. This list does not reflect current openings.
- American Red Cross — Territory Representative: "bilingual candidates (English/Spanish) encouraged to apply"
- Asian Pacific American Consortium on Substance Abuse (APACSA) — Community Coordinator: bilingual English/Asian Language
- Associated Services for International Adoption (ASIA) — International Adoption Coordinator: Mandarin Chinese
- Berlitz Language Center — French or Italian Language Instructor
- Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Metropolitan Portland — Match Support Specialist, Bilingual (Spanish/English)
- Cascadia Behavioral HealthCare — Child and Family Specialist (Spanish bilingual/ bicultural persons encouraged to apply.)
- City of Salem — Housing Assistance Representative: "bilingual candidates are strongly encouraged to apply"
- Crowe Foreign Services — Office Manager: English/Spanish
- Farmers Insurance — Claims Representatives, Underwriters, Customer Services Representatives. Pay incentive for multilingual speakers.
- FLIR Systems, Inc — Spanish Translator for 4-week training program.
- Girl Scouts - Columbia River Council Inc. — Membership Manager-Field Staff (Bilingual candidates a plus (English/Spanish).
- Human Solutions — Family Advocate: bilingual English/Spanish
- LaCie Limited — Buyer: Chinese (Mandarin dialect)
- Lutheran Community Services — Youth Specialist: English/Russian
- Market Decisions Corporation — French Speaking Interviewer, Market Research Interviewer: Italian/German
- Multnomah County Health Department — Medical Interpreter: Various Languages
- Northwest Interpreters, Inc. — Interpreter Project Coordinator
- Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) — Senior Associate for Bilingual Assessment: bilingual English/Spanish
- Oregon Catholic Press — Bilingual Publishing Assistant
- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) — Shizen Camp Instructor/Counselor: Japanese
- Outside In — Career Counselor/Education Specialist: "bilingual Spanish/English valued"
- Pacific Dreams, Inc. — Proofreader
- Pacific Interpreters, Inc. — In-house scheduler/ Spanish Quality Assurance Specialist, Interpreters (any language)
- Passport to Languages — Medical Interpreter/Legal Interpreter: Albanian, Bosnian, Cantonese, Hmong, Mandarin, Mein and Vietnamese
- Portland Jewish Academy — ESL/Spanish Teacher
- RuleSpace, LLC — International Internet Content Grader
- SAIF — Claims Adjuster Trainee: "Bilingual English-Spanish skills are preferred"
- Shilo Inns Suites Hotels — Reservation Agent: English/Spanish
- Siemens Building Technologies — Global Sales Communications
- State Farm Insurance — Auto Claims Representative: "Knowledge and Skills Required: Bilingual - Spanish"
- Teach Abroad — On-Campus Recruiter
- Trexler Climate + Energy Services, Inc. — Research Assistant/Junior Policy Analyst: Japanese Fluent
- Upward Bound, Pacific University — Summer Spanish Teacher
- Universal Forest Products — Production Manager Trainee
- Vancouver Housing Authority — Mentor Program Coordinator: "Bilingual Russian or Spanish highly desired"
- Vesta Corporation — Revenue Assurance Specialist: "Spanish bilingual...a plus"
- YWCA of Portland — Energy Assistant Coordinator: "preference given to bilingual Russian or Spanish speaking candidates"
- Ziba Design — International Project Coordinator: Japanese
Listed below are links to governmental and nonprofit organization home pages where some of the jobs may prefer/require proficiency or fluency in a foreign language.
Miscellaneous
Department of Foreign Languages and Literature - Portland State University
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