Top 11 Communication Skills (For Your Life & Career)

Top 11 Communication Skills (For Your Life & Career)

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#1. Written And Oral Communication

Verbal communication is using words to convey information and it includes both written and oral communication. Oral communication skills mean that you can speak clearly, concisely, and without misinterpretation. That’s essential even if your job isn’t centered around speaking. Say, you’re the server at a restaurant. Having oral 

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#1. Written And Oral Communication

communication skills is a must if you want to establish rapport with your customers and provide a good service. Written communication is just as important. While there may be a few jobs that don’t require writing a single word, in 90% of cases you’ll need to write when: – Writing emails to your colleagues – Drafting a report for your boss

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#1. Written And Oral Communication

– Communicating with customers via email If you’re skilled at a particular kind of writing, such as copywriting, or editing, make sure to mention that on your resume or your job interview.

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#2. Presentation

No, having “presentation skills” doesn't just mean you’re good at presenting a PPT presentation in front of your colleagues. Presentation skills are also about how you present your ideas and intentions in the workplace, or about how you present yourself in a job interview. As such, it’s another must-have communication

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#2. Presentation

skill for your resume, whatever your field of work might be. Presentation skills are useful for all sorts of situations, including: – Software engineers explaining how their code works. – Statistician presenting their findings to other employees – Sales manager explaining to a client why they need a product

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#3. Active Listening

Active listening requires paying close attention to the speaker by engaging with them to ensure you’re getting the essence of the conversation. It additionally involves removing all other distractions and asking clarifying questions, thus making them feel heard. Active listening doesn’t come in handy only in jobs like customer service, or design, 

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#3. Active Listening

where understanding and making clients feel heard is integral. Active listening is also needed if you are to successfully interact with your colleagues, succeed in the workplace, or even ace your job interview. If you ask us, active listening skills give you extra points as a candidate no matter your profession (and you should definitely add it to your resume).

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#4. Nonverbal Communication

Communication consists of much more than just speaking. It involves body language, posture, gestures, eye contact patterns, and facial expressions, among others. This type of communication often helps more in inciting trust among your coworkers, or from clients, than verbal communication. At the same time, it makes it possible for 

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#4. Nonverbal Communication

you to see beyond what a person is saying and right into what they mean, or feel. As you can imagine, nonverbal communication is a skill that comes in handy for the vast majority of professions (especially sales or leadership roles), not just the world of business. Instead of adding it to your resume, aim to demonstrate 

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#4. Nonverbal Communication

your nonverbal communication skills during your job interviews. This includes maintaining eye contact, avoiding hand gestures, or controlling your facial emotions.

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#5. Feedback

Feedback - both providing and accepting it - is a skill that goes hand in hand with several other communication components such as active listening, respect, open-mindedness, and teamwork.  Truly encouraging feedback isn’t possible without really understanding what the speaker means, respecting their opinion, and keeping an 

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#5. Feedback

open mind. So, for example, if you were receiving feedback from a supervisor, you’d listen and accept the evaluation without judgment - even if you didn’t agree. You wouldn’t interrupt them, but you’d wait until the end to ask clarifying questions to make the process as constructive as possible. On the other hand, if you were the one giving feedback to a 

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#5. Feedback

colleague, you’d do so through a fact-based evaluation and you’d offer them time to respond. You’d additionally consider their needs and offer negative feedback discreetly. Being able to give/take feedback is pretty much a guarantee for career success. That’s because it’s tied with the willingness to learn, the ability to adapt, the openness to 

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#5. Feedback

accept constructive criticism, and the critical reasoning that it takes to provide it.

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#6. Respect

Respect is one of the fundamentals of successful communication and the communication skill to bring along on the job interview. It involves active listening and patience (among others) and it’s vital if you are to be considered for - or keep - any type of job. Being respectful is about letting others speak and knowing 

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#6. Respect

when to initiate conversation or respond. Little gestures can go a long way to respecting recruiters and colleagues alike - staying focused and removing all distractions or being polite are just two among many. When it comes to the job interview, interrupting recruiters or wasting their time by going off-topic are signs of rudeness and will most likely cost you the job.

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#7. Confidence

Confidence is the next skill in line necessary for a good first impression during your job interview. And if you’re wondering - yes, you can be respectful and confident at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive, just equally important. Confidence is a character trait that shows you’re sure about your words, actions, and 

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#7. Confidence

decisions - and that’s something people respond to positively. If you’re not naturally confident, worry not - there are methods to appear confident even if you don’t feel like it. Some ways to appear more confident include: – Maintaining eye contact during the job interview – Sitting up straight with open shoulders

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#7. Confidence

– Speaking in a friendly - but firm - tone of voice – Preparing in advance so you don’t stumble on your words If, on the other hand, you’re the naturally confident type, keep in mind not to overdo it with bravado. Sometimes, too much confidence can come across as arrogance or rudeness and that’s not going to sit right with most people.

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#8. Clarity

Clarity is an indispensable part of oral communication. It involves structuring your thoughts logically and using the right words to convey them as effectively as possible. If you can’t communicate clearly, be it due to a hectic thought pattern or inappropriate language, your job interviews will suffer. Imagine, for example, giving 

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#8. Clarity

a complicated answer to a simple question, or using street jargon (“hey interview fam, nice to meetcha”).

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#9. Honesty

Honesty is a communication skill you should strive to incorporate in all aspects of your professional life. As a rule of thumb, honesty should characterize your work ethic for obvious reasons, the most important being that lying about your skills and qualifications is the least dependable method for success. You can rest 

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#9. Honesty

assured that, at some point, the truth will come out. Being honest with your colleagues and supervisors about anything work-related, on the other hand, shows that you value transparency. It also proves that you are confident to accept your mistakes and take responsibility for your actions.

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#10. Friendliness

You might be wondering how one can be both friendly and professional during a job interview. Well, friendliness doesn’t have to stand in the way of your professionalism, just like confidence doesn’t stand in the way of politeness. Friendliness during your interview will show recruiters that you are cooperative, open-minded, and a good team 

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#10. Friendliness

member - something sought after in all employees. More importantly, you don’t have to go overboard to convey that you are a friendly person; a warm smile, a genuine greeting, or wishing a good day are enough to show it!

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#11. Public Speaking

Since public speaking is one of the most important communication skills (whether you’re doing a presentation at work or telling a story to your friends), we thought we’d provide some tips on how to get better at it:  – Prepare in advance. Being nervous before your speech doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll do a bad job! Everyone gets 

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#11. Public Speaking

nervous before addressing a crowd, but as long as you prepare in advance by practicing your presentation with people you feel comfortable with, you should be more than ready to deliver! – Know your audience. Learn as much as possible for your audience in order to tailor your choice of words, information amount, and other elements of 

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#11. Public Speaking

your speech accordingly. For example, if you’re presenting to a crowd of Millenials for your Journalism 101 class, you’d be better off keeping your speech short, to the point, and light-hearted. You can even throw in some pop-culture references, memes, or jokes to make the speech even more engaging. If, on the other hand, you’re talking

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#11. Public Speaking

about a more serious topic (e.g. capital punishment), then you’d want to maintain a bit more of a serious tone, even if it’s for a class.  – Organize your material. Create the framework for your presentation, including the topic, purpose, general idea, and main points, to grab the attention of your audience right off the bat. Be attentive to 

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#11. Public Speaking

feedback and adapt to it. Is your audience struggling to keep up with what you’re saying? Slow down! Are they laughing at your jokes? Keep em’ coming! – Let your personality shine through. Your audience will greatly like your speech if you act like yourself. Work your quirks, mannerisms, and personality into your speech 

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#11. Public Speaking

 and you’ll seem a whole lot more genuine. – Don’t read from the text. Reading directly from a script is bound to keep you from impacting the crowd - you’ll just seem like a robot reading a script. Instead of directly reading from your notes, create a thorough outline to guide you through your speech instead (without diving too much into specifics).

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#11. Public Speaking

– Take advantage of non-verbal communication. What you do with your hands and voice matters, just like any other type of non-verbal cue. As such, make sure to pay attention to how you use your body language, preferably by practicing in advance. – Grab attention from the get-go. A startling stat, personal story, or relevant anecdote will 

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#11. Public Speaking

help you grab your audience’s attention from the start. Avoid saying something generic like “here’s what I’ll be talking about today.” – Conclude dynamically. Whether we like it or not, most people will remember the conclusion of your presentation more than anything else. Make it memorable by including a strong statement.

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#11. Public Speaking

– Take advantage of audio-visual aids. Audio and visuals, like videos that are relevant to your speech or music that’s related to what you’re saying, can reinforce your message. Use these sparingly, though, you don’t want to distract or overwhelm your audience.

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