Help with communication skills?

[FCS]

I am very disappointed with my lack of career progress to date and my lack of communication skills plays a large part in it. Two aspects: 1) I'm a bad conversationalist and this alone kills me in the interviews. 2) I'll have to admit that my language skill is not first rate, since English is not my first language.

This is some of the things that I've been doing: taking some language class, accent reduction, and voice training, joining toastmasters, and make it a rule to not speak ANY word of my native language unless it's really necessary. The tutoring part already cost me a lot of money (by my standard) and at this point of time I'm restricted to do a minimum of it. Also, I'm just starting a freelance work in interviewing (cold-calling) company executives regarding their recent capital market transactions, so I'm hoping my learning curve would take off from this experience; if not, they would toss me out.

Any help/suggestion would be much appreciated. I strive to make my career in the investment industry, or general finance and accounting is not a bad second resort. Also, I'll be turning 25 this Dec.

 

[esquire.]

From your posts, you seem to have a good grasp of the English language. Maybe, there's something other than your accent that's holding you down. Maybe, your job market isn't hiring right now. Honestly, it seems that sometimes its all about networking and about the people you know.

In conversations, always look into the person's eyes so you know what color eyes they have. This lets you have good eye contact with the person. Also, people like to talk about themselves, so be prepared to listen to the other person. I've also heard that its good to read newspapers so that you can talk about current events. But, I've noticed that nobody else really reads the paper these days so that might just be a waste of time.

 

[quill]

FCS, This is my very first post on this board, but it looks like a great place to be. I agree with esquire's comments, and feel they're very appropriate. It does indeed sound like you have a good grasp of our language already. My parents are foreign-born, and yet my father is better in English than I'll ever hope to be. By profession, I am a copywriter, in my 40s. Having written on a number of diverse topics, my suggestion would be that if you are going to be in the fields of finance or investment, then accuracy will be a key attribute in your favor. I think that any shortcomings in your communication skills might reflect negatively on you, since attention to detail in these fields is crucial. Nonetheless, I think you are doing all the right things to improve your communication skills. I would simply suggest that you always double-check your accuracy in any written communication, and be sure that the words you choose convey exactly what you mean (i.e., affect vs. effect, credibility vs. credulity, etc.). Best of luck; it sounds like you're off to a great start.