On Tuesday 4 July 2023, Luxembourg's employment agency ADEM announced it will offer online language tests for registered jobseekers.
In an effort to get to know its customers in order to serve them better, ADEM introduced a service that will determine the language levels of jobseekers registering with them. From 4 July onwards, all jobseekers registered with ADEM will have to take online tests, in the languages they declared they are fluent in when registering. The four main languages of the employment market are concerned: Luxembourgish, French, German and English.
This new feature is part of ADEM's digitalisation process and will be accessible from the employment portal, in a dedicated space. The access to this space will be reserved to people who register with ADEM and will be available by invitation. The offer will be gradually extended to all registered jobseekers. Its main objective is to promote an objective and standardised assessment of the language level of jobseekers − whereas this is currently based on the declarations made during registration.
According to ADEM, the main advantage of this service is that it can provide a reliable level assessment compliant with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) with skills ranging from level A1 (elementary) to C2 (experienced). It should be noted that jobseekers who provide ADEM with an official CEFR level certificate, dated less than two years ago, may be exempted from taking the test in the language concerned.
These qualitative measures of the language skills of jobseekers aim to optimise the stages of the personalised course offered by ADEM, both in terms of support towards employment, carried out by the referent advisers, and in terms of referral to employment measures and training.
ADEM's Employer Service counsellors will now have new, concrete and objective information to enhance the candidate profiles it offers to recruiters. In addition, the test results will also allow jobseekers to self-assess against the European benchmark, to identify their own skills and to understand more precisely those required by the job market.
However, the result of these online tests does not lead to an official CEFR certificate, which requires further evaluations in language institutes.
ADEM has built a partnership with Luxembourg’s National Institute of Languages (INL) and offers jobseekers specific modules to promote the rapid acquisition of basic language skills in sectors with labour shortages, namely:
- French for the construction sector, trade, hospitality industry (hotel, restaurant and catering etc. - HoReCa), cleaning and health sectors;
- Luxembourgish for care workers, HoReCa, education and trade sectors;
- German for the health industry, HoReCa, construction, administration/finance, trade and legal sectors;
- English for the health, catering, construction, administration/finance, commerce, education, IT and tourism sectors.
