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Communication Skills Wanted

Sunday, April 10, 2011
Contributed by Victor Ong

Communication Skills Wanted

The Sunday Star newspaper today front-paged this advice: “It does not matter if you are top of your class or have a string of degrees, that dream job will not be yours unless you can speak and write well in English”. Simply put, if you cannot communicate in English, how can you be expected to perform?

Feedback from local and international employers – consolidated into the MEF Salary Survey for Executives 2010 – shows that verbal and written communication skills in English remain the most sought-after attribute in prospective employees. This is reflected by the 68% of the companies that were surveyed that identified it as the top quality required in job applicants.

Yet many students are still not realizing this and if they do, they are not doing anything about it – they remain cocooned in their "tidak apa" mindset and hope that by the time they graduate, they would have made some headway in speaking and writing in English well enough to get a ‘good’ job. In short, they are leaving it to chance.

This myopia is ensuring that employers remain frustrated that they cannot employ many of the Malaysian graduates because of poor English, and those who did get lucky to be employed because of ‘better’ English – and I don’t mean ‘better’ as in ‘good-better-best’ but rather ‘better’ as in ‘better than poor’ English – they will still have to struggle before they can actually succeed in their chosen careers.
This is where Toastmastering can help them. A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

There is no instructor in a Toastmasters meeting. Instead, members evaluate one another’s presentations. This friendly feedback process is a key part of the program’s success. Meeting participants also give impromptu talks on assigned topics, conduct meetings and also develop skills related to timekeeping, grammar and parliamentary procedure.

Members learn communication skills by working in the Competent Communication manual, a series of 10 self-paced speaking assignments designed to instill a basic foundation in public speaking.

Members also learn leadership skills by taking on various meeting roles and working in the Competent Leadership manual. In our learn-by-doing approach, we don't lecture our members about leadership skills; we give them responsibilities and mentoring to help. Then we ask them to lead.

Source: MEF Salary Survey for Executives 2010, Sunday Star, Malaysia, April 10, 2011, p N5.

And if you read the said news article again – you will notice that being involved in Toastmastering can help you fulfill six of the ten traits identified, i.e. verbal and written communication skills; interpersonal skills; passion and commitment; team player; desire to learn; and take initiative (p N5 and reproduced above).

I speak with authority because today, I can readily admit that my communication skills have clearly improved. And this is due to my decision to join Toastmasters International nearly three years ago – well, two years, nine months and nine days to be exact. I have successfully delivered 64 assignment speeches, excluding Table Topics and contest-type speeches.

Different Toastmasters clubs have different environments. And some clubs are really lively. I would highly recommend you one of the most dynamic Toastmasters clubs in the Greater KL Metropolitan area, i.e. Taman Indrahana Toastmasters Club. You have to attend their meetings to know how much you can learn!

And they have members who are very proficient in English – names such as Ho Fong Ming, LeAnn Tang, Dominic Joseph, Dr Devi Menon, Teresa Chan, Chrristine Ngiam, Kay Wong, Yeoh Cheng Lim, Victor Ong and others. As you will have read on page 1 of the above-mentioned newspaper, “globalization had changed the nature of jobs, making communication skills, specifically in English, a valuable asset for today’s worker”. Like it or not, proficiency in English is vital, very vital.

So, if you’re interested, please do contact their Vice President Membership, Yeoh Cheng Lim at 012 216 8068 or email him at yeohchenglim@yahoo.com. I can promise you that you will speak better in English! I did!

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