Selling yourself - conversational speaking skills

by Sanctus Michael's Posteri
(Teaneck, New Jersey)

I just had a conversation with a member of a firm I wanted to join upon graduation of MBA school.

Several times the woman asked me to repeat myself, and other times I found myself at a loss for words. She pointed out that even if you have great analytical abilities and are great in all other areas, success as a financial analyst will not be attained with poor communication skills.

When I am speaking with people at meet and greets, they are not judging me based on my A average, or my extracurricular activites, or any other great intangibles I may have.

The most powerful influence I have over their first impression of me is how I communicate. So I have decided to proactively enhance my speaking skills. Not for the purposes of lecture or speechs, but I'm referring to conversational skills; job fairs, interviews and phone calls from prospective employers. Most important is how I come off in casual conversation.

My goal is to impress without sounding like I'm selling myself. I've read the site and will add a weekly regime to my self-development program. I hope you have pieces that deal specifically with how to make great points or be succint, yet persuasive with my use of language.

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Selling yourself - conversational speaking skills

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by: Susan

Hi there,

Thank you for posting. You've opened a vital topic and one that I've not devoted space to on my site, as yet!

You're right, conversational skills are immensely important and particularly so if you're 'pitching' or selling yourself.

There are two facets or elements to a good pitch.
The first is an awareness and practice of communication skills.
In a face-to-face conversation these include:
- confident body language (standing tall
- making eye contact
- a firm handshake
- smiling
- a well modulated voice -not too loud or too soft
- use of vocal variety
- clear articulation
- using appropriate words (no jargon, direct without being either simplistic or pretentious)
- actively listening rather than merely waiting for your turn to speak or interrupting
- using clarifying techniques ('Do you mean...?', 'Just to make sure I'm clear on that: the three main points are X, Y and J. Have I go that right?')-
- remembering details that you refer back to when responding and using open-ended rather than closed questions.

The second facet is the pitch itself. Because it is a highly specialized form of speech it needs careful planning. Once you have spent quite some time refining what it is you want to say about yourself, you now need to play with it. By that I mean practice it to the extent that you can adapt it easily, moving from one situation to another without sacrificing any of its essential message.

Because I haven't anything prepared that I can give you, I searched and found this gem from the Harvard Business School. It's a pitch builder . When you've completed your pitch you can email it to yourself or print it out. It has all the information you need to produce an excellent pitch.

I hope this helps.

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