An update from Rita Hess ’14, M.A. ’16, who studied Spanish at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at Illinois State University’s Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.

Hess manages language programs for IOR, an employee relocation services company.

“When companies decide to relocate their employees to other countries (or even other cities within the U.S.), IOR steps in to provide language training, cultural training, and destination services (home finding, settling in, assistance with driver’s licenses, etc.).

In my position I interview and hire teachers, coordinate schedules between the students and their teachers, and act as a liaison between the student and their company where I advocate for their need to learn the language of their new home. We can find language teachers for nearly any language in any location, from the classic English as a Second Language (ESL) in Chicago to the more nuanced such as Mainland Style Cantonese in Hong Kong or a specific dialect of Filipino (Hiligaynon) in San Francisco.

“We work with many clients from the NBA to Google, and our mission is to give our students the tools they need to succeed in a global marketplace.”