Daniel Harder
Managing Director Med X GmbH
I can still remember my first job after graduating law school. I had already completed one year law school in Latin America, some internships and had lived in Madrid as well. I was working part-time and dreamed of my job in a multinational company as a trainee or as an assistant manager. As I was reading through the job advertisements, I quickly realized that there not only one but a lot of companies were seeking for people in this field. By each advertisement it said “oral and written communication in English and another world language required”. My first interview with a recruiter went according to plan, just like the second and the third with the chairman did as well. A couple of months later, I was starting my new job. Obviously, I met the requirements, even without anyone checking how good my English and Spanish skills were.
After the first experiences and familiarization with the company, I realized that my linguistic competence was not really required after all. Most companies we dealt with were based in Eastern Europe and the managers were German or they could speak very well German. Here and there I wrote a speech or a PowerPoint presentation in English. Were all my efforts to learn another language and cultures just in vain – at least professionally?
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