As Syria slowly opens itself to the global market and private companies offering higher salaries proliferate, ambitious, upwardly-mobile young Syrians scramble to assemble CVs and qualifications that will land them prestigious, well-paid positions. Overwhelmingly, employers responsible for hiring and job-seekers alike identify strong English language skills as the most important factor in obtaining professional work. For a country renowned for its nepotism and corruption, the fact that an objective and quantifiable skill could be the most important factor in attaining high-level employment is striking. Does this insistence on English proficiency represent a new kind of social mobility in Syria? Based on 18 months of dissertation research in Damascus, Syria, this presentation will explore the relationship between the demand for English proficiency in hiring practices and socio-economic class dynamics in contemporary Syria. Drawing on extensive interviews and ethnographic work with human resources professionals, entrepreneurs and a new generation of highly motivated, English-speaking job seekers, the presentation will demonstrate how and why the acquisition of high-level English ability is intricately linked to class membership. However, the relationship between socio-economic status and language skills is hardly straight-forward nor unidirectional. It is true that individuals from wealthier backgrounds had more resources with which to procure costly English education, which most often resulted in fluent English. However, my research found that those who commanded English confidently and employed it successfully in professional situations – despite their varied backgrounds – actually began to coalesce as a new elite whose very group identity was based on their shared excellence in English and their professional success. Given this, the presentation will conclude by considering whether an almost singular focus on English-language skills in Syria employment practices represents the introduction of meritocracy into Syrian business culture and society at large or if it merely serves to solidify and increase polarization in this already hierarchical society.