Bright Language offers a new solution dedicated to companies and professionals to facilitate the recruitment of the best talents and certify the English level of their teams.

What is Bright Recruitment?

Bright Recruitment is an English language skills assessment designed specifically to help companies improve and simplify their future talent selection process and improve the learning experience of their teams.

What skills are assessed?

Bright Recruitment consists of a listening and written comprehension test with optional extension modules assessing expression skills.

Bright Recruitment is structured as follows:

• Listening comprehension
• Written comprehension
• Written expression (optional)
• Oral expression (optional)

Thus, it makes it possible to measure different assessment points:

• Reading and oral comprehension
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Syntax
• Listening comprehension

The benefits of Bright Recruitment

In addition to being fast and efficient, Bright Recruitment is a test recognized by recruitment professionals offering many advantages:

• Objectivity: Bright Recruitment allows organizations to make decisions based on precise and impartial data.
• Reliability: the test provides transparent and consistent results, correlated to the scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
• Added value: With Bright Recruitment, companies can attract the best talent by providing valuable feedback with a recognized certificate.
• Security: The assessments are 100% compliant with data privacy regulations and GDPR. The candidate and the company thus have the assurance that the processing of the information collected is completely secure.

Bright Recruitment in practice

With an average duration of 30 minutes, the test takes place on our Bright Language management platform available in 14 languages and easily adaptable to the needs of your organization, whatever its size and activity, it allows you to offer a remotely monitored online assessment.

In addition, the platform offers ongoing support and integration possibilities via your API.

Once the test has been assigned by the test administrator, the candidate receives their access codes on their email address.

Once the test is completed, an instant assessment report can be downloaded in PDF format. A second error report is also available on the platform.

The scores obtained are correlated to the CEFR levels.

Bright Recruitment, the language solution chosen by companies

Optimizing employee recruitment is an essential approach for organizations to ensure their growth, competitiveness and sustainability. For them, it is about ensuring that they have the most suitable profiles to meet their current and future needs.

It is with this in mind that Bright Recruitment was designed and developed. Thousands of organizations each year choose our tests to assess their teams in order to increase the attraction and retention of talent by recruiting candidates with the required language skills.

For more information on Bright Recruitment, check our page and do not hesitate to contact us!

For several months, the health crisis has disrupted all human activities on the planet. Language tests were no exception! To preserve the value of our tests and ensure that they are taken under optimal sanitary and secure conditions, Bright Language has developed a secure solution to monitor its assessments remotely. Bright Secure offers conditions similar to those of a face-to-face exam. Companies, training organizations, universities, engineering or business schools … With Bright Secure, all actors who need to assess the language skills of their employees or their students / pupils will be able to easily assign an invigilated test.

Remote proctoring : the future of language exams and tests?

At present, no one can say when the return to a new normal will occur. All institutions and businesses must then adapt to the current situation to continue their activity in the best possible way.

Training centers and educational institutions are among the organizations which have seen their activities profoundly altered. Like the exams at Universities, language tests represent the means of certifying the skills of a candidate who wishes to advance in his or her study or professional path. In a company, language tests, for example, allow an employee to prove that they have a sufficient language level to occupy a position. Nothing better than a language assessment in fact to ensure that a person can successfully do the job, especially if it has an international dimension. For students, tests are also essential in order to enter certain universities, study abroad (in Canada for example), obtain an internship or a first job, etc.

It is therefore impossible to assess candidates in this context in a very large number of cases since carrying out face-to-face language tests has become a much less ideal solution.

Today, the challenge for all these organizations (of which Bright Language is a part) is therefore to be able to guarantee the quality of the language assessments while preserving the health of the candidates. 

To maintain language testing despite the current restrictions, many organizations and training centers have therefore opted for remote proctored language assessments. This allows candidates to take the tests in the best possible sanitary conditions, while guaranteeing the organizers that the examinations are carried out in accordance with the rules of the assessment (avoiding cheating, fairness between all candidates, etc.).

Remotely monitored tests: how does it work?

In theory, the principle of remotely monitored tests is quite simple. Candidates, with an online account on a testing platform, log in and follow the instructions given to them.

In general, they start by entering their personal data before having access to the tests. Depending on the monitoring tool used for the test, it may also be possible to choose the time when you want to take the test.

Today there are several solutions for remote test and exam monitoring. Each solution has a different functionality and interfaces. For organizations wishing to take language tests, for example, the objective is to offer a device that is not restrictive for the candidate. And that is where the difficulty lies!

In fact, everything must be thought out so that the user can concentrate as much as possible on his test, that is to say without being disturbed by the monitoring tool responsible for certifying his compliance. This is also what we had in mind at Bright Language when developing Bright Secure

Bright Secure, Bright Language’s 100% secure surveillance solution

In May 2020, Bright Language has launched this solution for Canadian universities and since then, we have been offering this new remote proctoring solution to all our partners (training centers, universities, business and engineering schools, companies, etc.).

Advantages ? Bright Secure has plenty. For example, the remotely supervised test takes place without an appointment, at the time and place desired by the candidate. Remote monitoring of the test is done through the candidate’s screen and webcam, throughout the duration of the test.

The analysis of Bright Secure test sessions is guaranteed by an algorithm that analyzes the images and sounds recorded during the test. Thanks to this system, anomalies during the session can be detected (suspicious noise, unexpected movement, intrusion of a third person in the room, etc.).

For additional security, the recordings are also verified by examiners who will assure that the candidate has complied with the required conditions for taking the test.

Bright Secure also respects the privacy of applicants (GDPR compliant). The latter must agree to the conditions for taking the test and the personal data recorded is deleted after the examination.

Finally, once the test is completed and validated, the candidate will receive the results within 7 working days. Fast and effective !

Overall, Bright Secure also strives to provide the candidate with the best user experience through a simple technical environment. Its technical access conditions are in fact not very restrictive (standard IT equipment and a good internet connection are sufficient).

In today’s largely globalized economy, the importance of languages continues to grow in businesses. Whether it is to develop internationally or simply to facilitate communication within increasingly cosmopolitan teams, mastering one or more languages is indeed a major strategic issue for today’s organizations.

To meet this need, organizing language tests within the company initially allows the language skills of employees and collaborators to be assessed. And then to offer adapted solutions in terms of training and management (recruitment, mobility, promotion).

Today, all languages are important in business

Fluency in one or more languages is an asset in the professional world. And not just in the private sector. In 2003, a survey on the linguistic practices of 500 French companies working internationally already showed that English was the language spoken by approximately nine out of ten of their non-French-speaking customers and that half of them considered that the English is one of the key factors for international success.

Although English is generally the international language of the company, other languages such as French, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese are also increasingly used in the organizations.

This is particularly true in large international groups. It must be said that knowing how to speak the language of the country with which you are working is often a positive guarantee in terms of business. We are thinking in particular about China, but we also mention all the emerging countries. Thus, in the study “What languages do we speak in companies in France?” this is what an executive of a large French group explains: “I know companies where people speak English, everywhere, whatever the country. We couldn’t, because at some point, if we want to work well with our consumers, we can only reach them with their language, in the first place to understand them. There is great care in preserving each local language, and French is one of them. For example, I speak Spanish and when I go to Mexico I do as many of the interviews as possible in Spanish. If I spoke Russian, I would do the same .”

Beyond this testimony, we understand that mastering one or more foreign languages is a major asset for the company. Employees who master several languages are able to learn more about the competition, put in place an effective communication strategy, communicate better with each other, etc. In short, language skills multiply the possibilities and opportunities.

Assessment of language level: a step that has become essential

Whatever languages it wishes to use to develop its business and make its employees work, a company must first assess the state of the art within its teams. This step involves the organization of tests to measure the language skills of employees and collaborators.

At Bright Language, we have worked for over 20 years with a large number of companies such as Total, BNP Paribas, Safran, Manpower, Valéo or Solvay, etc. All of them have chosen to work with us for recruitment and training.

The objective is to provide them with a range of quality tests adapted to their needs and in a very varied range of languages. Thus, we offer tests in 11 different languages.

Regarding our Bright tests, each Bright test consists of 2 parts to assess skills (correlated to CEFR levels) ranging from grammar to structure through oral comprehension. These tests were developed in the form of multiple choice questions, with 2 modules of 60 questions per module.

Regarding how to set up language tests in companies, the possibilities that exist today also offer real flexibility for those in the professional world. Thus, the assessment sessions can take place in an approved center or on the premises of the company, according to the wishes of the management.

It is important that companies can be responsive and adapt to the most diverse situations.

At Bright Language, for example, to respect the social distance measures imposed by the health crisis, we developed Bright Secure, a solution allowing remote monitoring of language tests.

In conclusion

Let’s say it again. Today, language proficiency is a major subject for businesses. To support them on this path, language tests remain the essential first step.

Language tests must in particular enable companies to assess the ability of their employees to use a language in a large number of professional situations (daily exchanges, publication of job offers, drafting of emails, creation of reports / invoices / company newsletter…). It is also a way for them to ensure that the recruited employees can communicate effectively with the other members of their teams.

This is exactly what we offer at Bright Language. Eligible for the CPF in France and valid for 2 years, our tests have been designed with the spirit pursued by companies: speed, reliability, and efficiency.

And because today’s students will be the employees of tomorrow, at Bright Language, we also support training organizations, universities, business and engineering schools to easily assess the language level of their candidates. … Always through tools that are easy to use and adapted to each professional need.

When you undertake the process of evaluating your language skills or the proficiency in a certain language of an employee, student, etc., it is not always easy to fully understand the evaluation system and especially the classification of the different levels. Bright Language explains everything to you!

While for a long time the universal method of determining a person’s level of language skills relied on the generic “read, speak, write” criteria, this method has now evolved into a more comprehensive system.

It is now necessary to determine to what extent an individual is able to understand a text, what is his ability to express himself in a language, the difficulties he might encounter (searching for his words) and finally what is his ability to write in this language while respecting grammatical and spelling rules.

Very quickly the need to harmonize and standardize language assessment methods across the world became essential.

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

The Council of Europe therefore designed and implemented in 2001 the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, abbreviated “CEFR”. This document defines the different levels of proficiency in a foreign language.

The CEFR classifies know-how in different skill areas that are likely to promote educational and professional mobility. The aim of this new classification method is therefore to rethink the objectives and methods of teaching languages.

It should be emphasized that this is by no means a textbook or a language repository but a tool aimed at identifying and defining the theoretical facets of language learning. Therefore, it was conceived as a tool which provides a common basis for the design of programs, diplomas and certificates.

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages has therefore made it possible to identify three main levels of linguistic skills which are subdivided into two sub-levels each, ranging from the elementary user, the intermediate user to the experienced user who are respectively level A , level B and level C.

So we have:

– Level A “the basic user”: it is subdivided into three assessment sub-levels, one unofficial and two official.

• Level A0: this level is currently unofficial as it is not recognized by the CEFR. It refers to a rather rare case of individuals not having knowledge of the existence of a language. So they never learned it and never used it, even for simple everyday expressions like “hello or goodbye”. 
• Level A1: also called introductory or discovery level. At this level, the user is able to use simple colloquialisms, such as “hello, goodbye, thank you”, he/she can also describe him/herself (name, where he/she lives etc.). Here the conversation is not yet fluid. It requires articulating words and speaking slowly around simple topics. The same goes for reading.
• A2 level: also called intermediate or follow-up level. Here, the user is already able to write simple texts like letters,  he/she is able to use more complex expressions related to his/her direct environment, such as the training  he/she is taking, what  he/she has ‘habit of doing, etc. He/she is also able to read texts, but these must be simple, for example leaflets, posters. He/she can communicate with an interlocutor by exchanging simple and precise information and is also able to understand a conversation even if he/she does not have the right words to prolong it.

– Level B “independent user” which has two levels:

• Level B1: it is also called the threshold level. At this level, the user is able to have a long dialogue with an interlocutor even if he/she can sometimes find his/her words, he/she is able, using a common register, to tell a short story, an experience that he/she experienced and understand written texts. Understanding either radio or television broadcasts becomes easier, but only when it comes to topics that concern him/her such as current affairs …
• Level B2: at this stage, the user has reached an intermediate level. That is to say, he/she is able to dialogue spontaneously and with ease in front of a speaker native to the target language. He/she speaks easily on a wide range of topics and can provide a more personal and relevant opinion. Complex texts do not pose a problem for him/her because he/she is able to read them and understand the general idea (articles, magazine, others ..). The same goes for films and lectures that are a bit more technical which he/she can follow more easily. His/her writing is not limited to simple letters and the user is even able to write detailed reports related to his/her field of activity.

– Level C “the experienced user“: it is also divided into two levels.

• Level C1: the user is autonomous at this linguistic level because he/she is able to easily read and understand complex literary texts and to note, for example, the register used, the semantic style used as well as an implicit content. As a result, he/she is able to express him/herself in a sustained register adapted for his/her professional needs in particular. He/she is able to enjoy movies and shows effortlessly. Participate in debates by showing mastery on a subject.
• Level C2: this is the expert level. Here the user has a perfect command of the target language. Its ability to restore the facts and arguments by summarizing them in a coherent way, is done in a natural way. He/she effortlessly reads all types of texts and is able to distinguish the nuances of the senses. He/she naturally participates in any type of debate whether they are in his/her field or not and is able to derive a precise and concise argument from them.

Language tests in practice

You now know how the assessment structure defines a candidate’s language level and, above all, according to what criteria. In practical terms, the language tests can be carried out in three different ways:

• at approved centers
• online
• on the premises of a company.

At Bright Language, all of our tests follow the CEFR’s linguistic framework, but to deeply assess a person’s level in a given language, we go even further.

We have therefore designed five online tests that can be adapted to the specific needs of each structure. For example, by taking into account the technical vocabulary used in the business sector of the company.

Our tests are adapted to a very wide range of situations: from recruitment assistance to mobility, including obtaining a diploma or even entering a university (such as for example to enroll in a university in Canada).

In general, at Bright Language, we strive to offer tests that fairly and objectively assess a person’s ability to use a language in many professional situations (daily exchanges, by email, face to face or by phone).