Good speaking skills Matters?

[Almalutz]

Hello all I want to ask one question that if a person is very good in his own field say designer but does not have good speaking skills, then what all things one should do so as to have a good relationship with all? At the time of giving interview also how can one improves itself? Any suggestions?

[kenyancowgirl]

Try practice interviews with people that the candidate does not know very well - e.g. one of your friends who your son/daughter doesn't know. Practice helps - think about the type of questions they may be asked and try as this helps you predict what sort of things you can reply. A decent school should run practice interview sessions.

Longer term, public speaking courses, debating societies, all help confidence in this arena.

[Amber]

Do you mean good speaking skills in terms of mastery of English, or good in terms of being able to present confidently to others?

If the first, and English is not the mother tongue, there are plenty of courses to help improve - try local colleges of further education or ask at a library. Listen to good speech (Radio 4 for example) to help pick up new vocabulary and expression. If this is the problem at interview start by saying that you are sorry that your spoken English isn't brilliant yet but you will try to answer all the questions as clearly as you can if the interviewer could please be patient.

If the second, then remember a lot of people aren't confident speakers and these things take time and practice. Use a mirror, practise a few opening phrases, make sure you make eye contact, cultivate a nice strong handshake and remember a smile goes a long way.

[PurpleDuck]

+1 to all suggestions above.

Also, is that lack of speaking skills apparent only when discussing issues around the particular field - design in the case you describe? If it is, it may be because some people, while very good at what they are doing, can't really appreciate how brilliant they are, because to them it's just 'normal' and they don't think there is much to talk about. If that were the case here, then perhaps it would help if they could talk to someone who will help them see how gifted and good at 'their thing' they are? As an example, I am probably the least creative person you could imagine and just a thought that someone has all those ideas that they can translate into beautiful or practical or whatever other things makes me go 'wow' - I could not do that even if I tried.

I may be wrong in my perception, but I imagine that working as a designer requires a lot of 'deep in one's thoughts' creativity and can be an isolating process as such. I am not saying it is something bad (and I may well be wrong anyway), but simply if someone's work requires being on his/her own with their thoughts a lot, this may have an impact on how comfortable a person is discussing his/her ideas. It could be the case of 'I know how it all works and why, but I can't easily describe it, it just feels right'. Maybe it would help in such a case if a person practised by trying to explain to people - friends or family members - how the whole design process works, where the ideas come from, how they decide which one to go with etc. I, for one, would find that fascinating.