As a non native English speaker, one key issue I'm trying to improve is to avoid the “auxiliary words" (such as hmmm). I tend to express “hmmm” when I'm thinking, especially during case interviews and when I get nervous.
Are there any tips to help me improve this bad habit and enhance my communication skill? Thanks.
Hello,
thanks a lot for the question. :)
It is an important point because these “fillers” both make the speaker not credible, uncomfortable and are annoying for the interviewer. Moreover, since consulting is a client facing job, it is fundamental to try to avoid them as much as possible.
I can give you 3 main advices:
1) Be aware of which/how many “auxiliary words" you use: it is very useful to ask for the help of someone so that he can take notes of all them. After that, read the report and train yourself to eliminate them
2) Substitute them with pauses: these will be useful for 3 main reasons: 1) Give time to the interviewer to reflect on what you are saying 2) Give time to yourself to think about the best answer 3) Make your reasonings clearer. In any case, it is better a pause at the wrong moment than an auxiliary word
3) Go on with your speaking: even if you do not have the perfect word, do not interrupt yourself. You will have the next sentence to clarify your reasoning
Do not hesitate to reach out me in case of further questions!
Good luck!
Matteo
Hi there,
I used to have the problem as well! It's totally and completely fixable! Here's my advice:
Good luck!
There’s a short answer and a long answer.
The short answer is: unwavering confidence!
The long answer has the same bottom line but deals with the journey to great self confidence. This breaks down into confidence with your speech and general confidence in your abilities.
As for speech, I personally started seeking opportunities for public speaking at some point in my life when I struggled. I combined this with various communication trainings throughout my career, until I finally started loving the spotlight and speaking publicly with a passion. A much shorter route is filming and critiquing yourself. Experiment with slowing down your speech and using tactical pauses. Feels weird but makes you look more competent (you’ll see in the videos you take of yourself).
As for general confidence, you need to be on top of your game. In an interview, you need to always feel like you know what you’re doing. Too many candidates are panicking because they’re not on too of their game, which comes with all sorts of non non-lexic utterances. The trick is preparing to be confident, not perfect at case cracking (nobody is - not me nor other coaches, and certainly not the Partners who will interview you - but all are confident in their abilities).
Hope this helps a bit! Best of luck!
The only way is to be mindful of what you are saying and going to say.
When you think you should be focused on what your mouth is articulating.
If you exercise on this for 20-30 days, you will notice a significant improvement. It goes without saying that you should train this skill in every single situation in which you speak.
Hi there,
Two tips
Cheers,
Florian
Hi there,
A lot of great advice from the other coaches was given already. In my view, it really boils down to a few action points that I'd recommend you apply in combination:
Hope this is helpful! Do reach out if you have further questions / want to learn more.
Regards, Andi
Hello!
Hard to give you super insightful advice on this one tbh.
When we use auxiliary words, it´s normally in order to buy some time or to because we lack confidence (which makes sense, is not our 1st language at the end of the day). Hence, practice, practice, practice. The more familiar you are, the more confident, and this will be reflected in your comms
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
