This topic comes up repeatedly in all aspects of business and careers. Effective communicators are more successful in achieving their goals. Some of the following information on this topic has been taken from a program presented by Dr. Ed Anthony, Trevecca Nazarene University, Nashville TN at NaTEC, Oct. 2005 (NaSPA). His presentation was The Seven Practices of Effective Speakers. Many of his points have been modified to be applicable for job search and interviewing.

Four Critical Objectives

• Purpose
  
• Passion
  
• Preparation
  
• Presentation

These objectives must be met in order to achieve effective, verbal conversational communication. While these are important for written communications, verbal communication is still preferred.

Purpose

Why are you speaking or corresponding with this person in your job search efforts? Your purpose is primarily to inform and persuade. You are letting them know what you have to offer and persuade them to get to know more about you which could lead to hiring you.

You have to know your “audience” to target your message, this is not a one size fits all situation. What is this person’s capacity with the company that you may want to join? Learn how to ask questions in order determine their needs. You don’t know if you can solve their problem(s) if you don’t know what they are. You must convey the point that it’s in their best interest to bring you in (what’s in it for them). The questions that you ask must lead to the problems they may have.

Passion

This is where written communication falls short. Only with verbal communication is voice inflection, rate of speech, pitch and body language evident. Are you displaying conviction, positive attitude, energy, self-motivation, confidence and genuine concern for others?

As a technical recruiter these traits could override technical weaknesses. Gone are the days of the back room Johnnies. People are no longer tucked away in back cubicles doing their thing. Interpersonal communication is now mandated in successful companies. An employer needs to know if you can accomplish this at various levels. They’re evaluating how you will interact with peers, management, customers (internal/external), vendors/suppliers, etc. These abilities are more difficult to train so they’re looking for people who already possess them.

Preparation

Create an introduction; after all you have to get your foot in the door. Research the organizations, people or opportunities that you want to pursue. Sometimes you’re just gathering information to qualify or eliminate certain organizations. You want to spend your energies on viable opportunities or situations.

Practice, practice, practice! Remember, by the time you actually talk to people you have to fluent and smooth. Again, it must come out as your natural style. Script everything out (you can still use the script during phone conversations as a backup), go over it repeatedly out loud. Time and pace yourself. Under stress most people speed up their rate of speech. We can actually listen to faster rates of speech, but if it’s too fast the effectiveness diminishes. Practice in front of a mirror. Observe your body language and posture (seated and standing). Hand gestures can enhance or distract; it’s all a matter of style. If you’re the type of person who talks with their hands you will need to evaluate and monitor the gestures. If you try to extinguish all of your hand gestures you will interrupt your patterns and decrease your effectiveness.

Have a contingency plan. If something does not work out, have a back up. You need to be able to recuperate to keep the conversation going.

The best way to improve you speaking skills and confidence is to join speaking organizations (Toast Masters), volunteer to give presentations for groups you belong to that are not work related and then to situations that are work related. Work your way up to a strong level of risk taking.

Presentation

How you look will affect your credibility on your subject (you). Avoid distracting items such as jewelry. While most people think that this affects primarily women, this is an increasing concern with men. This is often generational in regards to not only jewelry and fashion but now body piercing. Always be conservative until you can assess the dress code or tolerance of a manager or company.

Your use of hands and body language must enhance you message, not distract the listener. Connect with people using your eyes. They must feel that you’re truly interested in them and value their time. Create their involvement by asking questions to invoke their participation in the conversation. I often tell professionals that you must view this interaction as one professional talking to another. With positions that are in upper management the communication needs to be viewed as a business transaction not a job interview.

Tape record your presentations and listen for tone, vocal quality, rate, use of fillers (um, uh, ya know, etc) and slang.

Set up your presentation into introduction, body and closing. Closing is probably the one most ignored and the end of a conversation can become awkward. Give the listener something to keep (your personal business card is a given and possibly your resume if requested). Always send a hand written Thank You note the same or next day.

You want the experience of speaking with you pleasurable. The listener should be glad that he/she spent the time with you. Your comfort level will increase your effectiveness if you practice the four critical areas of speaking. This is a two sided process with the listener being involved equally. This is a skill that is not always mastered fully. This skill requires practice and monitoring, after al it is a “process”* (*Jeffrey R. Percival, Percival Enterprises). However, we can all improve this area to achieve our goal.