Posted by Saundra Lee on Tue, Oct 19, 2010 @ 01:57 PM
I am addicted to a televised interview called The Apprentice on NBC. Last week, I witnessed how important presentation skills really are. Gene volunteered to be the MC of the Fashion Show as he figured he had the skill set to do so but that was not so much the case. It got him “FIRED.”
An interview is a presentation and if you come off ill prepared, a prospective employer is going to assume one of two things or both…
- You are not taking this interview serious enough to adequately prepare.
- You do not possess presentation skills.
Neither of which will present you in a favorable light.
Even in the industry I recruit for, Corporate Accounting & Finance, presentation skills are in demand. Budgets and new accounting policies need to be presented and explained to all departments and Board Members. You do not need to be a public speaker to be required to do some sort of a group presentation. In other words, whatever job you have or are trying to get, the odds are that job will require public speaking skills are pretty good. Especially when hiring, if there is a choice between a candidate with presentation skills or without presentation skills, “with” will get the offer. The same goes for promotion considerations.
So what do I suggest?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!
A great place to do so is Toastmasters.
Find a club near you or if you are in the Boston area and interested in checking out a meeting in the Back Bay, just contact Dubin & Lee and inquire about the Boston Toastmasters guest list.
Check out Gene’s attempt at MC-ing the Fashion Show on last week’s episode of The Apprentice.
post by
Saundra Lee
President
Dubin & Lee