Communication skills hold the key to unlocking your interview success, propelling you toward the job of your dreams with confidence and charisma.

Covid has changed the rules of the game completely. 

If I were to ask you – What one thing according to you has become THE most important thing in your life during and post-pandemic or because of the pandemic? 

You would say – Work-Life Balance, Bonding between family members, or peace of mind or Health. And that’s fair. Pandemic has re-shuffled our priority list beyond imagination. 

Let’s talk about Communication. 

What’s your take? Keeping the Covid Pandemic as a context here. 

Is there any change in the way you communicate now compared to pre-pandemic years? I know you would agree that by migrating to virtual world for our day-to-day transactions, there have been tangential changes in the way we communicate with each other. With everyone working from home, there has been a greater need to be effective communicator and if you keenly observe the job descriptions these days, you could easily spot a commonality among them, reflecting to the changing role of how we communicate with each other especially when we are interacting in a virtual environment, working from home using digital tools. Therefore, employers have now started looking for candidates who could be great communicators working in the virtual world. 

And even for a moment, if we ignore the whole ecosystem created by Pandemic, great communication skill is certainly an added advantage on the resume irrespective of the effect of the environment. In my twenty years of corporate experience, I have come across some amazing communicators, and I often wondered what made them stand out among so many. And what came to my mind as an answer is – Practice, they must have practiced it so well, it reflected in the way they spoke, in the way their eyes made an eye contact, in the way they asked questions when in doubt. 

It’s a skill and is certainly beyond just talking or articulating.

Scientifically proven, there is a strong correlation between our ability to communicate well and our ability to get along well with others. This is a critical point, when it comes to job interview. You not only need to effectively articulate your skills, strengths and experiences, you are also required to build a quick rapport with the interviewer, giving him/her a good idea that you have strong communication skills and you can get along well with people. 

Communication is not just about good articulation, it is about the gestures, the tone of voice, the modulation in the voice, the listening skills, and the way one should be responding – proactive, polite, constructive, professional, energetic, enabling, transparent and so on. So, if you are getting ready for an interview, great communication should be your top of the list of focus areas. 

Being able to communicate effectively with others while working from home is a huge part of making remote work successful in the new-normal era. Having the experience and knowledge of integrating virtual meeting applications into your day-to-day duties is now not just a preferred skill, it is a required skill. If you are unable to communicate effectively with your teammates or co-workers, then how will they know what you’re working on? How will you get to know the people you’re working with?

Here are three tips to demonstrate that you are a great communicator, during the hiring process:

A. Communication Skills – Talk Slowly:

When you talk slowly, and calmly, it shows that you are in control of your emotions. It helps the interviewer understand better. There is no point in blurting out amazingly practiced answers that may appear as barfed on the table. That would have an adverse impact during the interview as it may appear artificially sophisticated made-up stuff, not to mention blurting out or fast speaking is a sign of nervousness. So, don’t try to rush, answer slowly, articulating your points well. Keep a close eye on your breathing while talking and consistently calm yourself down.   

B. Communication Skills – Listen Attentively:

As said earlier, communication skills aren’t just about articulating yourself; it is also about how attentively one can listen and absorb and assimilate. There is nothing worse than hearing someone answer a question you know they haven’t fully listened to. Aside from coming across rude, it doesn’t give the interviewer much confidence in your ability to pay attention. So, listen intently to everything the interviewer says from the minute they walk through the door. If you are listening attentively, you will be able to answer appropriately. I have seen many who don’t pay attention to what is being said and discussed, their mind is completely focused on framing their answers during the interview process. Sooner or later, it comes out during the process and can be a certain deal breaker. The interviewer is an expert and would figure out in a jiffy if you are listening well or not. 

C. Communication Skills – Pick your words carefully:

A basket of good words can go a long way but remember not to use overly complicated words in your language, that may not appear normal. Have a good mix of nice words. For example, the word ‘tedious’ can be replaced by ‘complicated’ and so on. Also, play by the rule, trying to mirror the interviewer – if the conversation is formal, try to be more formal and vice versa, but remember not to get too comfortable, crossing the line, as if you are chatting with an old friend. You are talking a potential employer so keep it in the boundaries of professionalism. Many a time, the interviewer will try to drag you into a comfort zone but keep yourself on this side of the line.     

Remote working is here to stay. And with so many companies permanently shifting to a work-from-home model or work-from-anywhere model, effective communication between the workers in a remote environment using digital tools and enablers has become one of the key skills to ace an interview. Make it a point, that this skill is highlighted properly in your resume, and you can always bring this point up during the interviews while framing your answers.