Which is more impressive on a CV

BenMicheal

I was just wondering which is more impressive on a CV, A Masters Degree or being Fluent in a language. Have the oppertunity to do one or the other but not quite sure any advice?

starlit

Both are impressive but I think a Master's has that wow factor 'I must hire them' sort of thing as it shows you are driven and like to specialise in a particular area of study or update your skills and retrain. It shows determination and motivation to do something and further your education by learning a specialised subject area. Means you are an expert in that field! It's great to have a foreign language but is it really an achievement compared to a Masters? A Masters is hard work shows commitment and patience if working hard towards achieving it.

A language is new its different but only really unique if only a few know the language like Russian or Japanese or something, same for french/german/italian anyone could learn them while the more difficult languages to learn would look more impressive on a CV especially when job hunting in those countries that speak those unique languages as they aren't spoken in every country only the nation itself or a few other countries. Unlike french or german a lot of countries speak those languages which might be more useful just as as much as english.

It would be good to have both though both are impressive regardless but all depends what job you are going for.

Delancey

TBH it really depends on the position in question , if , for example the position is in a foreign country where the language is spoken well then its fair to say the language skills would probably win out.
On the other hand if the job did not require language skills then the Masters may be of more value.

There is no Wrong or Right answer to your question.

scotty_irish

do a masters in a foreign country? two birds, one stone.

BenMicheal

My undergrad is International Relations so a language will be helpful with that the Masters is in Political Science. I suppose the lack of exact job oppertunities is one thing thats giving me cold feet about doing the masters?

dreamers75

Experience.

whydoibother?

Can you do masters and learn language in your spare time - you mightn't be as fluent by the end of the year as if you spend the year in the relevant country, but you would have functional language skills if you put your mind to it.

2 Miles From Narnia

doovdela wrote: »

Both are impressive but I think a Master's has that wow factor 'I must hire them' sort of thing as it shows you are driven and like to specialise in a particular area of study or update your skills and retrain. It shows determination and motivation to do something and further your education by learning a specialised subject area. Means you are an expert in that field! It's great to have a foreign language but is it really an achievement compared to a Masters? A Masters is hard work shows commitment and patience if working hard towards achieving it.

A language is new its different but only really unique if only a few know the language like Russian or Japanese or something, same for french/german/italian anyone could learn them while the more difficult languages to learn would look more impressive on a CV especially when job hunting in those countries that speak those unique languages as they aren't spoken in every country only the nation itself or a few other countries. Unlike french or german a lot of countries speak those languages which might be more useful just as as much as english.

It would be good to have both though both are impressive regardless but all depends what job you are going for.

I agree entirely that masters vs. a language depends on the type of jobs you're going for. However I think that you may be underestimating the time, effort, blood, sweat and tears it takes to become properly fluent in another language! If you're not born to a multilingual family and take up the language as an adult, unless you're exceptionally gifted, it will take at least a couple of years to get your 2nd language to a level that could be described as fluent.

Mr. Loverman

Unfortunately language skills don't get the appreciation they deserve.

Regarding the masters, there is a big difference between a masters in maths and a masters in museum studies...

pow wow

If you're looking at anything IR related you'll need both. The language is usually the clincher if there's a wave of applicants with MAs though.

jackiebaron

BenMicheal wrote: »

I was just wondering which is more impressive on a CV, A Masters Degree or being Fluent in a language. Have the oppertunity to do one or the other but not quite sure any advice?

Depends on what the Masters is in.
Physics, Mathematics, Economics = impressive
Egg shell painting = crap

Also depends on the language
Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Klingon = Impressive
Latin = Useless.

chicken fingers

masters grads are often college grads who see clearly that their degree in history is not going to get them a job so the "easy" option is to go back to uni for a masters.

dory

To all the previous few posters - the OP has told us what it's in so no need for the guessing!

With IR you'll need a masters. The UN for example has a minimum requirement of a masters - my office won't even hire unpaid interns who don't have a masters! It doesn't really impress people because it is the minimum requirement. After that languages impress (but experience impresses more). French is the most used, Spanish is very common - especially if you'll be up against Americans for jobs. Really any language shows a willingness to learn languages. For my past few jobs the local languages have been Hindi, Kannada, Khasi, Albanian and Serbian. No Irish grad is really going to have any of those, so having some language shows you aren't one of those, "I'm terrible at languages, can't learn them at all" people.