How to Improve Pupils’ Public Speaking and Interpersonal Skills and Improve Their Career Prospects
Charlie Simpson helps you help your students project their best selves when it comes to interviews and face-to-face interactions
“The problem with you young people today is that you’re better connected than ever through your devices, but actually you’re totally disconnected when it comes to real-life, face-to-face communication.” Blah, blah, blah!
The truth, of course, is that it’s not quite so black and white. The consequences of an ever-changing tech world cut both ways – good and bad. So what’s the fuss about? Well, what is clearly true is that:
- Attention spans are unquestionably getting shorter
- The amount of information we are daily bombarded with is definitely getting greater
- The number of choices we have from which to make most of our decisions is constantly growing
The good news, however, is that being better at it isn’t complicated. It’s about doing some simple things very well. So here is my advice to share with your students:
You are the expert on you
Interviews are intimidating because we think of them as a test, and worry that we “won’t know the answer”. But what are they really? An interview is the chance for the interviewer to get to know you a bit better.
The only thing they are expecting you to be an expert in is “you”! They want to know a bit about where you think your specific strengths lie, so you need to give that some serious thought.
Having identified the qualities, you want to talk about, now you have to bring them alive. If your language is abstract – “I am a people person and am good at building relationships. I am very positive and I communicate very effectively.” – it may sound impressive, but I have no real picture of what you’re talking about.
We have visual brains. We talk about “the mind’s eye”. If you fail to paint me a picture of what you want to communicate to me, I will never remember what you say. What’s the easiest way to paint a picture? Tell me a story. Give me a little example.
Milly
My friend Milly was recently interviewing for an internship. She sees one of her strengths as helping people to resolve conflict. She used a great little story about when she was working in a restaurant, and one evening there was a table of customers who got very angry with the kitchen, and vice versa.
She was able to calm the situation down and by the end of the evening the matter was resolved. In fact the review on TripAdvisor was really positive. She obviously had more detail than this, and took about 90 seconds to 2 minutes to tell the story.
What was the context, what was the problem, what action did you take, what was the outcome, and maybe what did you learn?
Paint the picture
Tell me the two-minute story and now I have a picture. You’ve also answered the question: “Why should I believe you?”
The more you use real examples, the less likely I am to think you’re telling me BS.
And, of course, most of us are uncomfortable sounding like we’re boasting, so telling those little stories that paint the picture of what we see as our strengths is a great way of getting round it.
Which “you” will they meet
Which brings me to body language, eye contact, and tone of voice etc. The reason why telling the right little stories is powerful, is because those stories are “energy friendly”.
When you tell me that story about having to be really determined while you were doing that piece of research, and just how tempting it was to give up… etc, I will sense your determination – I will hear it in your voice and see it in your eyes.
The most important thing is that you are yourself. Don’t try to pretend to be someone you’re not. Just really care about what you’re telling me, and I’ll see it, hear it, and feel it.
In a nutshell
So, choose your top five strengths or attributes, and have a couple of contrasting stories for each one. Practice those stories till you can tell them in your sleep, and you’ll be well on your way.
Good luck!!
Charlie Simpson (gbscomms.co.uk) will be leading a ‘How To Speak in Public’ workshop for 16-19 year olds at ‘The Festival’ at Hampstead Theatre on Saturday 17 February. More details on events and tickets can be found here.
