Monday 14 October 2013

Stammering during Interviews

Wow! It has been a year since my last post. When did a year pass me by? A lot has happened to me during this last year, for which I am grateful. First to God, then to my husband and my family, and then to my friends. I know not everyone believes in God, but I do, and I know that all I have achieved this past year, have come through his Grace.

So what have I achieved you say?. Oh well, nothing much, but the ability to be myself during interviews, and that includes phone interviews as well. As someone who stammers, I find it extremely difficult to speak on the phone when I don't know who I am talking to. If it is someone I know, I can go on and on and on. People who know me know I love talking. I love a good argument, and I don't let my stammer get in the way of making a good point.

So, when I wrote my last post, I was at home on maternity leave, and I was getting ready to go back to work. I have since moved jobs...thrice. So, I left my old job in January this year, and moved to another company for 5 months, then moved to another for 2 months, and finally to my present company. I have been in this new role now for 2 months. It is a permanent role, so I expect to be here for a while.

I went to so many interviews, and turned down quite a few when I realised the first stages all involved phone interviews. My fear of phone interviews comes from one phone interview I did in 2006. The interview was so painful I cried afterwards, and felt really horrible about myself. It was not the interviewers fault though. I had prepared really well for the interview, but I suffered one block, and I just went blank. I could not say anything, except "shit". So I kept saying that over and over. I really felt bad for the interviewer afterwards for having put him through my melt down.

Later, much later, I was able to relieve the whole thing, trying to find out what went wrong, and I came to the conclusion that at that point in my life, I was not fully appreciative of who I was, what I had achieved, what I had to offer, and the fact that I was not supposed to be ashamed of who I was. As the years went by, I became much better at interviews. Not phone interviews mind you. Those, I never did, I simply refused to do them.

When I started job hunting late last year, I made up my mind to lay the cards on the table from the start. So with each interview I did, I mentioned at the start that I stammered. Most often I found that I stammered less because I did not have the added pressure of trying to hide my stammer. I think letting the interviewer know in advance that you stammer, prepares them as well. Speaking to someone who stammers can be quite shocking to some people. So I think it helps them too to be prepared in advance. It certainly helped me, as I got many second stage interviews too, and job offers.
 
Funny enough, my current job started with a phone interview. Can you believe that? After having turned down about 5 phone interview requests, I decided to give one a try. I read as much as I could about the company,  then about 30 minutes before the interview, I started reading a novel, just to get my mind off the interview, and to help me relax. After the introductions, I told the person interviewing me I stammered, and he said immediately " No problem about that. I a very patient man". I then went on to have one of the best interviews I have ever had. Can you believe that? My all time phone interview being on the phone?

So I guess all I am trying to say is if you stammer, and you have an interview coming up, or a presentation, or anything that involves you talking to a group of people, it might help to inform them at the start that you stammer. This takes away about 50% of the pressure. You then only have to worry about putting across your answers, or arguments, or whatever it is you are trying to get across.

What about you, what strategies do you use to cope with interviews?