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The FBI is seeking qualified job candidates who can speak foreign languages during a job fair later this week at Houston Community College. The job fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the college’s conference center at 3100 Main, according to the FBI. The languages currently most needed by the FBI are Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Dari, Hebrew, Farsi, Korean, Pashto, Somali, Spanish, Tigrinya, and Urdu. Qualified candidates must have strong oral and written English skills as well as proficiency in a foreign langauge needed by the FBI. They also must be comfortable using basic computer applications, be a U.S. citizen and have lived in the United States for three of the past five years. The FBI has nearly 1,500 linguists worldwide. More than 95 percent of them are native speakers of their language. “FBI linguists play an extremely important role in keeping America safe,” Larry Wallace, FBI Houston Foreign Language Program Manager, stated in a news release announcing the job fair. “It’s a job opportunity that promises to be both challenging and rewarding.” FBI linguists work a variety of interpretation and translation assignments. They also offer cultural awareness to FBI agents, intelligence analysts and other FBI employees. FBI linguists begin as contract workers but may later be hired full-time. Contract linguists can work part-time and earn between $21 and $41 per hour, depending upon their foreign language and level of proficiency. They would work from their local FBI field offices. | 
