Communication skills for a job seeker
The Importance of soft-skills
Soft skills are personal attributes or qualities that show how you act in a particular situation, perform tasks at work, and interact with colleagues at the workplace. These skills are essential for your career growth and enhance your career by making it easier for you to interact with others in meaningful interactions.
Soft skills are not just about making yourself feel good. By using soft skills correctly, you can make a compelling product and a positive user experience. In addition, communication is a vital soft skill as it is crucial to understand information clearly.
Communication at the Interview
Communication is often the superior soft skill employers seek in the initial stages of the hiring process. Most first-round interviews involve no actual tests, but it is about how you represent or explain yourself and your work experience. It is about how well an individual can communicate his skills, previous projects, and technical details.
The interviewer wants to know whether an individual can explain software or projects they have worked on from an end-user perspective so they can understand the purpose and reason behind your interest. In addition, it will help the interviewer evaluate your ability to communicate cross-functionally.
How you explain your technical choices, like the tools you used or frameworks you worked with, will help the interviewer know how you will communicate with other engineers.
Hiring managers look for people open to feedback because it will allow them to grow within the organization. For example, sometimes, there are challenges, like the whiteboarding exercise during the interview process. Hiring managers will notice how you react to feedback during that challenge.
For example, there are specific questions like rating yourself or your skills on a scale from 1-10 or your strengths and weaknesses. Some people place their skills by ten and mention that they have no flaws and are perfect in everything, or they do not make mistakes at work. However, the chances of being perfect in every skill are nearly impossible. So, by portraying yourself as an ideal candidate, you message hiring managers that you need more self-awareness and are open to growing and learning within the organization. So, it is better to answer such questions honestly and tell them about your areas of improvement and strengths. Exhibiting proficiency in self-evaluation and adeptly responding to feedback, demonstrates your ability to continually grow and improve.
Problem-solving is another skill employers/Interviewers often try to evaluate during the recruitment process because they want to know how candidates deal with challenges. Problem-solving is finding the best solution or way to solve problems by considering the pros and cons of each possible solution. Project managers and other leaders like having team members who don't bring every small difficulty to their doorstep. Problem-solving skills not only help projects run more smoothly but also help to improve the business overall.
Communication at the Workplace
Effective workplace communication plays a pivotal role in fostering a high-performance culture. Communication at the workplace differs from daily routine communication because we need to give clear guidelines or discuss solutions for the problem we are working on. Effective communication helps us avoid uncertainty, create liability, and build a positive work environment.
When you work on a project, various other people are working on different pieces of that project, like engineers, product managers, designers, and others contributing to the system's design. Hence, it is essential to possess strong communication and collaboration skills to engage effectively with all team members.
In various scenarios, you may find yourself needing to engage and interact with individuals from different departments, such as comprehending requirements and negotiating with stakeholders. In such a situation, one must have the skills to share effectively with others. The project will succeed only when people working on it clearly understand the instructions they have received and employees working in teams are effectively collaborating.
Mastering the art of communication is a skill that holds immense value in both our personal and professional lives. Whether expressing our thoughts and emotions to loved ones, collaborating with colleagues on a project, or presenting ideas to a wider audience, effective communication is the key to building strong relationships and achieving success. It is through clear and concise communication that we are able to connect with others, share our perspectives, and understand different viewpoints. By honing this skill, we not only enhance our ability to convey our thoughts accurately but also cultivate active listening skills, empathy, and understanding. The power of communication knows no bounds, transcending barriers and fostering meaningful connections. So, let us embrace the art of communication, nurturing it in every interaction we have, and witnessing the positive impact it brings to our lives.
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