PROGRESSION
UNIT 11 : TASK 7
CRITICAL EVALUATIONS OF MY SKILLS IN DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION METHODS
FACE TO FACE CONVERSATIONS
As to be expected, face to face conversations are something that I am going to be quite used to, the same as most others. However I have observed that my ability to hold conversation with lots of different people has definitely improved over the past couple of years, to the point where it doesn't really bother me anymore.
In the past I have definitely struggled a lot more than others with face to face conversation, however having done a lot of work to battle my anxieties I have improved a really great amount as there was a time, a few years back, where I wouldn’t have even had the courage to go out to the shops alone because of my nervousness around being served by the cashier and possibly having to make conversation or interact with strangers. This fear is something now that rarely crosses my mind, even on a particularly bad day.
WRITING/EMAIL
Overall, I feel that my skills within writing have always been a strong point for me. When I was young I loved to write and that passion has stayed with me throughout my life making writing in any situation much easier for me than talking. I have experience in writing in all kinds of ways (formal, informal, different genres/perspectives) so writing a formal email isn’t overly difficult for me. Something I feel I could improve on with having email conversations are my understanding of things others are saying in writing as I find it quite difficult to understand what somebody may mean by just reading text as I cannot hear their tone of voice or see their facial expressions.
TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS
To be completely honest, formal telephone conversations are not something I enjoy, despite having improved at them drastically during my time applying for jobs and having interviews over the phone.
I just prefer to talk face to face for a similar reason to what I mentioned above - not being able to see a person's facial expressions and body language makes it much harder for me to understand another person - and I think that this is a case for many. However, a positive is that I no longer get so panicky and nervous on a phone call and can now, more often than not, hold conversations efficiently over the telephone.
PRESENTATIONS
Presentations are definitely my weakest point on this list. Being an anxious person, public speaking has always been one of my worst fears and still is. Whilst I am not at a point where I would have to refuse to present due to nerves like in school, I feel that my delivery when doing presentations is still pretty poor as due to getting nervous I start to shake and stutter a lot which then makes me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable so I often rush my sentences and speak too quietly and shakily. In comparison to my time at school though, I am a lot better than I was and am able to stand up through an entire presentation which is an improvement, even if small.
CLIENT BRIEFINGS
During my time on this college course I have read, followed and created many client briefings so I am quite experienced in what they should and should not look like and how they should be responded to properly. Something I also have experience in due to this course is talking to clients about the briefs they are setting me, I have found that while meetings like these do make me nervous, I feel that I am confident in my ability to understand and ask the right questions to get the right information from my client. I am also strong in this particular area as I feel that my skills are now varied and adaptable enough to be able to respond to a brief efficiently and appropriately. Something I always make sure to do while creating things for clients is arrange regular check in meetings/conversations throughout the project so that I can make sure I am always going down the right path for what my client would like me to create for them.
INTERVIEWS
During my time at college I have had multiple part time jobs, meaning that by now I am quite experienced at interviews. I always make sure to prepare accordingly and dress appropriately while answering the questions in a way I see fit. I have definitely come a long way since my first interview as I was very nervous back then to the point where I wasn't able to hide it or push through it, but having worked on myself and my confidence, I am much better now and don't feel as bad about going to interviews as long as I prepare myself by getting information on the company and by doing practice questions while making notes.