To be successful in hiring Spanish Speakers for service and customer facing positions it is imperative the individuals hired are effective communicators in both English and Spanish, not just Spanish so as to avoid customer problems or limiting career progression.

One common challenge is that most second or later generation Spanish speakers, only use the language at home or in social environments, as a result they may need training in business Spanish even when technically fluent.

Finally the Latino community is very diverse in itself and it is a mistake to downplay the importance of cultural understanding. For instance the community perception of a Mexican American towards banking may be very different to that of someone from Honduras or El Salvador. The difference is driven by the communities experience towards such institutions in the country they migrated from.

To be succesful in recruiting quality individuals with bilingual skills requires an understanding of all these factors; a realization of the need for grass roots recruiting over the web (not a community heavily vested in the web at this time) and of critical importance, bilingual recruiters. This is not an easy space to deal in!