TITLE COMMUNICATION SKILLS You need to be able to demonstrate to employers both during the selection process and when you are working for them, that you are a competent communicator. This means you need to highlight your verbal/non-verbal and written communication skills to employers through a combination of both individual and teamwork examples. Verbal Communication Telephone Skills: you need to be comfortable with your own voice, don’t try and change your voice to make yourself sound different or better. This will just get in the way of you being yourself, which is always the best policy. You also need to think about how you will approach being asked questions and more importantly, consider how you’ll approach delivering your answers. Negotiating: being an effective negotiator is all about utilising successful communication skills; remember that both parties need to be happy in order to reach an agreement so you will need to consider making some compromises. Ensure you justify your suggestions with evidence and consider carefully how your tone, pitch and the words you use can make a difference. Accepting Criticism: criticism should always be delivered as areas for improvement and be considered as constructive, but this is sometimes overlooked. If you’re on the receiving end of some negative feedback try and remain calm and keep it professional by not displaying any signs of frustration. Body language is equally important here.
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Body Language: Show you understand the information being presented by nodding and smile on occasion. Always make good quality eye contact with the person(s) you are communicating with and practice good posture. Written Communication Structure: always carefully plan your written statement and ensure that in addition to knowing what you want to say you have also considered how to say it.
Style: decide how formal or informal your document needs to be by understanding the needs of your audience, and try to discover how much content they expect. Content: draft your ideas and share with your peers to receive informed feedback, sum up any main points without being too ‘wordy’, and remember to ensure the length of the document meets the readers’ needs. Proof Reading: always proof read your document before publishing, ensure you check not just the spelling, but also grammer and consistency of text. Your work will be judge by those that read it so in addition to proofing the document yourself, ask others, friends and family, to also check it. The above advice can be used by job seekers in many ways; when creating your CV, while trying to impress employers at your interview, and even when negotiating your remuneration package once an offer has been made. Visit our website for further free resources and share this document with your friends via our Facebook page http://ow.ly/inzjs
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