The benefits of being bilingual and bicultural are turning out to be not only an asset for you, but also for the companies catering to the booming Hispanic population. According to the Pew Hispanic Center- Latinos make up 14.2 % of the U.S. labor force.

Definitely keep in mind that being bilingual is an asset and that you have so many opportunities and options that are available to you.

What is being Bi-Cultural?

Mayra Basteris, Career Counselor for Women At Work says, “Someone who considers themselves to be bicultural is somebody who is adapting to more than one culture. So when they are with their friends and family they have their own culture and then when they’re in their work environment they are adapting to the American culture.”

In just the last decade, there’s been a significant change that has pushed the doors open for Latinos in the work place.

HACE links Hispanic professionals to public & private organizations.

Luz Canino Baker, Managing Director of Programs & Marketing for HACE or the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement says,

“I believe that companies and organizations are in tune and organizations are in tune with the changing population. The Latino population has huge spending power and this is expected to be even greater in 2011. In order to serve and in order to reach that marketplace, you have to have individuals as employees who not only speak the language but who also understand the culture. On any day, I can have a company call us and they’re saying, ‘We’re looking to expand our employee base of Latinos in our organization.’”

Three key factors: being bilingual, bicultural, and educated—are creating a huge demand for Latinos across many business sectors.

INDUSTRIES:

• Financial
• Healthcare
• Manufacturing
• Government
• Education
• Tourism 

Industries Needing Bilingual and Bicultural Latino Employees

“Since we work with several companies, I can tell you that the financial industry has probably been the one that has been, in my mind, the longest committed to hiring Latino employees. But we’re finding other industries. For example, the health care industry has come to us to hire Latino professionals. Also, the manufacturing sector, one of our longstanding customers is Caterpillar,” says Canino Baker.

“We also have government institutions and educational institutions that are coming to us. So we feel like we actually have a broad spectrum of companies looking for Latino professionals, all of a sudden, and we expect that to continue,” she adds.

“Some of the career fields that are great for bilinguals are the public sector, the social service field, and education- the need for teachers. Also, nursing and anything that’s on the legal side of things, for example- the police department. In these areas, you’re going to have a lot of clients who are Spanish speakers and they are going to need advocacy,” says Basteris.

Being bilingual gives you an alternate avenue to negotiate your salary with. Remember, you bring additional valuable skills to the table.

Do you speak, read, and write Spanish? Experts say it’s necessary to make this clear on your resume.

“If you’re bilingual, you can definitely command a higher salary. You’re basically equivalent to two people,” states Basteris.

There are many organizations whose primary focus is to help bilingual and bicultural job applicants-- like you! 

“Our ultimate mission is to get Latino professionals into good companies so that they can have successful careers. We have a lot of financial industries- right now we have over 40 companies, 40 organizations that work with HACE,” explains Canino Baker. 

A wealth of information on bilingual jobs is just a click… and a link… away. Take a closer look. There are more than just job postings! Check out the resources section on SaberHacer.com for where to look online.

Preparation is key.

Ask yourself, ‘Who do I know and how can this connection be of value?’

“There are a lot of websites that cater to the Latino professional.  Several of these are just job boards where you can go and conduct a search looking for positions where companies are specifically looking for Latino professionals,” adds Canino Baker.