THE CAREER DOCTOR LEARN TO SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF

Applying for a top job? You may be asked to address an audience of potential colleagues, or even competitors, writes ROWAN MANAHAN

A selection interview is a public speaking exercise and one which most people dread. And as if an interview wasn't bad enough, candidates nowadays are increasingly required to make a presentation as part of the selection process.

For teaching, training and many sales positions, recruiters will need to be satisfied as to the quality of your presentation skills and will test you accordingly. Some organisations (notably airlines, training companies and law firms) are using the so-called 'platform testing' method, whereby you have to make your pitch to an audience consisting of your competitors for the job. This is obviously highly stressful and is designed to eliminate candidates who cannot operate under difficult conditions. Finally, most senior and management positions will require candidates to deliver one or more presentations during the selection process.

You can be asked to spontaneously step up to a flip-chart with a pen and highlight some of your ideas or the organisation may notify you in advance that they want you to make a structured 10-30 minute presentation using visual aids. The interviewers will be measuring you in a number of ways:

	The quality, depth and structure of your ideas - content is always king.
	Your comfort level when you are on your feet - eye contact, posture, gesturing and holding your audience's attention.
	Your technical ability in a presentation setting - positioning, use of equipment, bridging from one slide / idea to the next.
	Your ability to work within set guidelines - relevance, structure (again!) and timing.

Some thoughts to get you through the ghastly process:

Control: Remember, a presentation is one of the few aspects of the recruitment process over which you have total control. Exercise that control. Studies indicate that 66% of people are clinically sleep-deprived. Experience suggests that a large percentage of them make up for their lack of sleep when they are forced to sit through a poor presentation. Your ideas may be top-notch, you may have the latest software, the best projection equipment and plush surroundings to present it all in ... but if you do not put pertinent information across effectively, you may as well be handing out sleeping-pills and water to wash them down with.

Holding an audience's attention is hard enough under normal circumstances, but it becomes vital when you are on your feet as part of an interview/selection process. I won't pretend that presenting is an easy skill, but giving a bad presentation due to arrogance, complacency or lack of preparation is inexcusable and will cost you your chance for that plum job.

Practise: Practise, practise, practise. If you had a role in a play that involved delivering a 20-minute monologue, you would rehearse for weeks on end.

Delivery: Really deliver your ideas with conviction and passion - don't just read them out.

Body Language: Keep gesticulation to a minimum. The 'less is more' adage really holds true here. An occasional gesture for emphasis will have much greater impact than ongoing, distracting movements. This includes shifting from foot to foot. You don't have to be a statue, but you should try to become aware of your movements and of the impact that they have on your audience. The CEO of a major car company in the UK rehearses his presentations while standing naked in front of a mirror. Are you that brave?

Language: Appropriate terminology for the audience is vital. This can sometimes necessitate deviating from your intended wording and pitching it to a higher level or dumbing it down on the spot. Presentations aren't about you - they are about your audience. Their needs. Their concerns. Poor presenters invariably lose sight of this.

Voice: The intonation / inflexion that you use is what distinguishes you from a Dalek. Pacing, pauses and the pitch of your voice can all help to get your message across more effectively. Try this exercise: pick seven states of mind (happy, sad, inquisitive, loving, etc) and write them down. Then read out the days of the week to a friend (who has their eyes closed) using one state of mind for each. If your friend can't identify at least five of the emotions you are trying to portray, you need more practice.

CONTENT!: Obviously, all the skill in the world at presenting is not going to save you if your content is poorly-researched, inappropriately pitched or doesn't address a need / concern of your audience. So, for a presentation as part of the selection process, you should be 100% mindful of the following:

	Define your intentions / objectives on a scale with 'inform' at one end and 'persuade' at the other. Think about WHY they have assigned this topic. Are they looking for new ideas? Checking your ability as a researcher? Deliberately choosing a controversial subject to see where you stand?
	Gather your data. A good rule of thumb is to start out with 2-3 times more material than you need for the time allotted and whittle it down from there. NEVER, EVER pad out a presentation.
	Structure your materials and give your audience an overview of the content. A recurring agenda slide or progress bar can be very useful for this. Beginning, middle, end. Contents, body, summary. Bad presenters invariably stray from the simple approach ("Beginning, muddle, end," as Philip Larkin once described it.)
	Decide whether you will be taking questions as you go along or when you finish.
	Anticipate questions as you draft your presentation and if the answer is going to be complex, prepare a back-up slide(s) for use in the Q&A session.

PRACTISE: This is not a mis-print. Practise. Really. Swallow your pride and REHEARSE! For a really important presentation, I recommend a ratio of one hour of practice for every minute that you will be on your feet.

Objective help and training can make a huge difference to your effectiveness in a crucial presentation. But a good place to start is by paying closer attention when you are in the audience at presentations, both good and bad. Learn from excellent presenters, but also by avoiding the mistakes of bad ones. There are three types of public speakers - those that inspire, those that aspire and those that perspire. Which would you hire?

Rowan Manahan is Managing Director of Fortify Services, a Dublin-based outplacement and career management firm.

Original article here.