How Learning English Helped Me Get a Dream Job

Hello! I’m Svitlana from Kyiv, Ukraine. English proficiency opened up new career opportunities in my life. Today, I’m going to share my story with you. 

I learned English at school, but after graduation, I didn’t use the language at all. I know that English is a significant asset in the modern business environment. Several times I tried learning the language by myself using books and other materials. However, I lacked motivation and determination, so each time I dropped out very quickly.

One day I got a job offer to work as a support specialist for an international company. I was interested in this position, but it required at least an intermediate (B1) level of English. In response to the job offer, I explained that although I was at a beginner level, I was eager to improve and promised to reach the required level as soon as possible. And that was when I turned to the Preply platform for help. 

Learning with a tutor: offline or online? 

As a beginner, I couldn’t speak English at all. But I had to improve my skills very quickly, so I started searching for an expert who could help me achieve my goal. At that time, learning with a local English tutor was my priority. And Preply helped me find a perfect tutor for online English classes. I checked tutors’ introductory videos, their profile descriptions, reviews from their students, and chose a tutor quite quickly.

One of the things I like best about Preply is that they allow students to change their tutors whenever it’s needed. I was ready to try lessons with different experts before choosing the one who would suit me best. Luckily, my search didn’t last too long — my first tutor became my ideal one.

Lately, I’ve also tried to learn online via Preply Space. To my surprise, I found online lessons as effective as learning offline. The only difference is that you don’t have to spend time getting to the lesson venue. Besides, online lessons are the only way to learn with a tutor who lives in another city or country. 

During my first lesson, I could hardly say more than my name and age. In just a few weeks, I felt more confident and started speaking with my colleagues in English. In several months, I could easily talk to customers in chat! I experienced my first WOW moment when a foreigner in a store asked me:

•  Do you speak English?

And I answered without a moment’s hesitation:

• Yes, I do. How can I help you?

I was out of work, not thinking about the need to speak in English. And I could hold a proper spontaneous conversation with a foreigner. Should I mention that it fired my enthusiasm to continue learning?

Within the first six months in my new job, I got a promotion and started to onboard and coordinate new team members. And I did all these things in English!

Top tips for language learners

As for me, the most challenging thing about learning is staying dedicated, especially when motivation goes down. Thanks to my tutor, I’ve never lost the inspiration and determination to proceed.

First of all, he developed a personalized learning plan based on my needs. This plan consisted of different types of lessons. Whether it was a grammar lesson, or we were discussing a movie, I never got bored. Besides, my tutor is a very kind and intelligent person, and lessons with him are always exciting. Therefore, I continued to take lessons with him even after I had reached the desired level of English.

I also had a fixed learning schedule with my tutor — one-hour lessons twice a week. I realized that creating a plan and adhering to it is more convenient and effective than continually trying to find free time for the lesson. It forms a habit of learning so that the lessons and English itself become a part of a daily routine. 

To sum up, here are my top tips on how to learn the language and succeed:

• Identify your motivation — why you need this language and how you’re going to use it. 

• Get into the habit of learning regularly — decide when you want to take your English lessons and create a schedule.

• Make language learning a part of your daily life — it doesn’t have to be boring. For example, if you like movies, watch them in a language you learn with or without subtitles.

• Find like-minded people or a tutor who will support and motivate you to move forward in your language learning even when you feel like giving up.

The primary resources that help me stay on track and improve my language skills day by day are:

• Preply

  for online lessons with tutors.

• Reverso Context

  is a helpful contextual dictionary with tons of examples of formal and informal language usage.

• Medium

  for reading English articles on various topics.

So, what’s next?

Learning English helped me feel more confident at work. Now I continue to work at the same international company as a Software Engineer in Testing and Quality Assurance. Every day I communicate with people from all around the world in English. Also, I started traveling abroad and learning more about other countries and cultures.

My next step is to keep improving my current level and mastering my speaking skills. I’m determined to achieve my language goal — speak English even more confidently and correctly.

Feeling inspired? Check out our article on how to improve your English speaking skills at home.