A first impression greatly influences your success during an interview. Put yourself in the position of an interviewer, whether for a job or a university admission. You are likely one of many candidates who have the necessary qualifications and skills. Apart from your appearance, a first impression will be formed as soon as you start speaking. If the interviewer can’t easily understand you because of your accent this may affect the success of your interview. Additionally, when feeling nervous it can be even harder to express yourself well. Possession of clear communication skills is critical for interview success.
One of our new clients, David, told us about an interview that was negatively impacted by his English speaking skills. When asked to list some of the companies he had consulted to during his last job as a computer data specialist, David started to omit syllables of the longer company names. This caused him to become nervous, make even more English pronunciation errors and become less intelligible to the interview panel. David did not get the job and his confidence about his skills began to suffer despite years of experience in this field.
At Change Your Accent we believe that a successful interview is achievable when you use the following accent reduction strategies:
- Speak with a slow, calm rate. A slow speaking rate allows you time to move your speech muscles from one sound to the next to correctly form words.
- Good breath support is essential to making sure your voice is loud enough to be heard. Breathing also helps you to relax.
- Open your mouth. When you keep your lips partially closed sounds becomes trapped and your speech sounds mumbled.
- Make sure you pronounce every sound, especially at the ends of words.
- Practice longer and more difficult words related to your profession or studies by saying them in a syllable-by-syllable manner. Doing this will make sure you don’t omit any syllables.
- Remember your nonverbal skills as well. Eye contact and facial expression are important.
Using these strategies can improve your ability to speak English clearly, improve your confidence and help you to win the job you have always wanted or admission to the university of your choice.
For more information about accent reduction and English pronunciation for interview skills, contact Change Your Accent (www.changeyouraccent.com).