Yes, Great Resume, Oops, Oh no, Communication Skills!

So you are on the lookout for that hardcore technology developer with the 2 skills your Client is calling you down every day about; “Paul where are you on that search …? We are really under a lot of pressure …” You drop everything again, to re-focus on the search and finally; in the depths of a search, through 5 referrals of a referral, you get the “Killer Resume” that hits your email and, you know that it's going to blow down your Client’s door, because of the excitement of the find, like a raw diamond not yet cut to precision- but precious.

The resume just hot off the laser printer and you’re on the phone quickly dialing 3 times as your fingers are dialing faster than they should to get this super candidate on the phone. You connect ..., and after, “ Hi Chris my name is Paul and I wanted to talk to you about a new developer opportunity and I was really impressed with your background la la la …” You experience, a “Rick Perry Oops moment” … Because you are not expecting the response from the candidate to be anything but great, atleast a 7/10 if 10/10 is ok, instead you get verbal communications skills that are say 5/10 … Now my scale is pretty reasonable, I listen to candidates all day who come from all over the world, we know exactly what our Clients’ needs are from a verbal communications perspective.

Unlike my colleagues south of the border, working in Canada we have 2 major languages French and English for the purposes of this blog let’s focus on the English Language. It’s assumed that if you work for a Company where the major language is English and where their clients also speak English, damn, customer support is in English, improving your verbal communications in English makes a lot of sense. It seems, some candidates whose Mother tongue is not English, still don`t get that, Rosetta Stone works – ok so I need to brush up on my Spanish for when I head to Florida to play golf in the winter. Speaking in English at home can also go a long way in improving those skills. If you’ve got an iPhone use it. You can record your voice and play back. Practice makes perfect, and, if you don’t have an iPhone … well ...

Why is this such a huge concern for Recruiters? Our clients want and need Recruiters to deliver on a few things: Candidates with solid proven experience and qualifications, interpersonal skills and yes, verbal communications. Great verbal communications skills can separate you from the pack – takes you out of the ``just sit there and write the code`` corner. You don`t need to be at the level of delivering the “King`s Speech” but you must be clear. Jokes aside – Great communications skills allows you to be more promotable, makes you stand out, and if you hope to lead or manage people one day great verbal communications skills is a key component. So let’s work on those verbal communication skills -we don’t want to have any more Oops moments.

Comment by Paul Alfred on December 19, 2011 at 7:06pm: Yes I support Banking clients here as well ... If you don't have atleast a 9/10 I can forget about making a submission ... It hurts even more when you know the developer can deliver ... I am not even talking about not getting a fee - Just looking at candidates who really could land great opportunities if they payed a little more, attention to how they communicate ... Perhaps there is a market for an ESL school for IT professionals.

Comment by Bill Schultz on December 21, 2011 at 1:00am: I'd feel better about this blog if it said poor english skills instead of communication skills. Some of these folks are brilliant communicators in their native tongue.

Comment by Paul Alfred on December 21, 2011 at 9:59am: Thanks for the feedback Aidan... Why did you not screen the candidate on the phone first before bringing them in. That could have saved you some valuable time ...

Comment by Paul Alfred on December 21, 2011 at 10:01am: Thanks for the feedback Bill that's tricky I understand what you're getting at ... We are still talking about Communicating in English. So if you can't communicate in English to satisfy a Client's communication criteria - it still marked down as poor English Communication skills ... I think I have pretty decent verbal communication skills in English - but my Spanish buddies in Florida will say "your Spanish is poor ... " Perhaps we need a linguist to jump in ... Someone coming from Mainland China with a Phd in Com Sci - speaks really great Mandarin but has a 4/10 English verbal skills still translates to poor communication skills from a Canadian or American hiring perspective ... Let's explore this further ... This blog is getting interesting now...

Comment by Bill Schultz on December 21, 2011 at 11:58am: I know we say communication skills as a catch all. But really, what would be wrong with saying English skills if that is what the position calls for? There are plenty of English speaking people who have poor communication skills.
Sometimes I think it is the client that has poor listening skills or is using the term "communication skills" to mask a prejudice.

Comment by Paul Alfred on December 21, 2011 at 12:15pm: I think in my Blog I used the term "Verbal" Communications I think I was pretty specific .. and, yes I do agree that you can come from an English speaking country and still have poor communication skills ...

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