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How effective are
you at communications? How well can you get your point across
to others? Can you do so in a concise, crisp way without rambling
along and losing the interest of your audience? These are all
points the employer is going to be looking at in the evaluation
of your verbal and written communications skills.
Since employers are getting a living, real time demonstration
of your verbal skills as the interview progresses, there is not
much need for them to ask you very many questions about this area.
However, the interviewer is likely to inquire about your writing
skills, if these are important to the position for which you are
being interviewed.
Should the employer elect to "check you out" in the
communications area, you may encounter one or more of the following
questions during the course of the employment interview:
- On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 = outstanding, 5 = average, 1 = poor),
where would you rate your overall communications skills? Why?
- Using the same scale, where would you rate your
verbal communication
skills? Why?
- Likewise, on the same scales. how would you rank your written
communication skills? Why?
- What evidence can you provide that documents the
effectiveness
of your overall communications skills?
- Give me an example of something complex that you needed to effectively
communicate to others.
- What made it complex?
- Why was it difficult to communicate?
- What did you do to communicate effectively?
- What were the results?
- How might these results have been improved?
- What evidence can
you provide of the effectiveness of your written communication skills?
- How well do you write?
The Classic Answers
Here are some classic answers that might be used as models
for formulating your interview strategy in this interview set:
1.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being excellent, I would rate my written
communication skills at either the "9" or the "10" level. The best evidence that I can offer of my skills
in this area is the fact that I was an associate editor of our
college newspaper. I also earned an "A" in Freshman
Composition. I have always had strong writing skills.
Using the same scale, I would also rank my verbal skills quite
high. Earlier in my career, I served as a trainer for our field
sales group, and ran hundreds of sales training seminars. Course
evaluation sheets from the participants consistently ranked
my training and communication skills at the "9" or"
10" level."
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2.
"Writing has always been a strength. This seems to be
well known
among co-workers since they always seek me out for ideas or
critique when they have something difficult to write."
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3."The most difficult communications challenge I have faced
was to effectively communicate the changes in benefit coverage
as we converted from a standard, one-size-fits-all benefit
program to a cafeteria-style benefits plan. These changes needed
to be communicated to over 20,000 employees.
The overall communications strategy was quite elaborate and
involved a multimedia approach using a combination of brochures,
mass meetings with slide presentations, and e-mail. Despite
the enormity of the challenge, things came off without a hitch."
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