Communication skill: Why it matters(the most!)

If you have been to interviews, you are more than likely going to face a situation like this: Oh I should have phrased it like this just now; Why did I not make reference to this; I must have stuttered a lot, will the interviewer think bad of me? Because let's face it, the first time anyone going to an interview will always be a hard blow to the stomach. It all boils down to a single issue, not the fact that you have an impressive lists of accolades or have presented your physical self with the appropriate decorum, but communication skill. You can have straight As, extraordinary co-curricular track records, qualification papers from world renowned universities. So what? Be mindful that once you are shortlisted for interviews, these grandiloquent achievements no longer play a decisive role, since you have to compete with the other shortlisted candidates who are just as impressive as you are in these aspects. What can we learn from each bygone interview? Communication skill.

It is not surprising that most of us hate interviews, especially if they are conducted in a less favourable setting such as in another language that we are less versed in. I have known of people who turn down a golden, coveted and life-changing opportunity solely because an interview is required as a rite of passage. There are a lot of generic and trite advices that promise to help you ace that interview, whether it is establishing a mutual friendly relationship with the interview, answering the questions thrown to you with specific and novel details, etc. The overarching idea is that communication skill has to be honed to succeed in an interview.

I have been to a number of interviews during the application season for scholarships and universities. Before any interview, I would spend hours preparing scripts, points and researching on the interviewing parties. And never have I once been satisfied with my performances on the interviews, I could easily nit-pick on countless flaws that could have upended the interviewers' impressions on me. There was one particularly noteworthy instance. This interview was conducted through Skype by a university, one of those interviews that I thought "hmm, I don't have to be present physically, maybe I could make myself comfortable by picking the coziest place in my house to sit throughout the interview." My delusion was brutally shattered. Aside from the intermittent static interruptions due to lags(kudos to my ISP), a substantial part of my interview consisted of "Huh", "Sorry could you repeat the question", "I beg your pardon" and "Err". A terrible show of communication skill adding up to an already abysmal internet connection. Needless to say I did not obtain the desired outcome from the interview, I did get a place in the university, just not the munificient scholarship.

Aside from the issue on interviews, the significance of communication skill spans across the spheres of life. Celebrities, sport personalities and politicians do not get to where they are solely from their talents and efforts. These are merely prerequisites to even get a foothold in the industry. What plunges them to the height of stardom is none other than communication skill. These people are either extroverts or introverts-turn extroverts. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo remain as the world most popular sportpersons for their outspoken personalities that serve to engorge their planetary hubris. Manny Pacquiao is popular even among non boxing fans for being vocal in the realms of sports and politics. Can you recount any memories of a prime minister/president who does not express himself well? No. Being a communication skill expert entails innumerable perks, to wit: it has propelled the controversial Donald Trump to the status of a presidential candidate because of his countless audacious remarks that make him a popular demagogue, despite having no prior experience of holding offices in the politics. Can we trust the world to such a bogey figure? It remains contentious. The idea is that we love kitsch, albeit knowing that some of them are merely glib shenanigans that appeal to popularist taste, which is more fallacious than rational.

That communication skill is important is not without a biological basis. Our neocortex in the brain is much larger than many other organisms' including our close neighbour primates' relatively to the brain size. This part of the brain is responsible for processing of communications and social cognitions in general, thus wiring us to be the most sophisticated organism whose behaviours still baffle the neural scientists. Unfortunately, having the potential of storing an arsenal of social skills also causes us to take more time to develop the necessary toolkits that prepare us for interactions with the surrounding. This makes us susceptible to failure(often perceived) in day-to-day interactions, for instance the aforementioned interviews. And the way to work around it? Go for more interviews! Develop that communication skill to improve your stock value!