Time magazine published an interesting article in November 2013, “The Real Reason New College Grads Can’t Get Hired”.  This article has been making the rounds in various discussion forums, including LinkedIn. 

It mentions a survey finding that:

more than 60% of employers say applicants lack “communication and interpersonal skills”

It cites another survey mentioning that:

nearly 1 in 5 employers worldwide can’t fill positions because they can’t find people with soft skills. Specifically, companies say candidates are lacking in motivation, interpersonal skills, appearance, punctuality and flexibility.

So how can Toastmasters benefit college grads?

By helping members to improve both their communication skills as well as their leadership skills, which is exactly what employers are looking for!

If you’d like to get an edge, and be better prepared for your next job interview in Montreal, find out how Toastmasters can help you.  Come visit our Toastmasters club in Montreal!

(Thanks to our member Jacques for having sent this in!)

We recently had the privilege of hearing a speech from our long-time Toastmasters member Christian, based on The Better Speaker’s Series. He talked about how to prepare a well-crafted introduction that establishes the speaker’s authority and expertise, and helps to set the tone for the speech.

Christian kindly prepared an article on this subject so that it can be of benefit to all of us Toastmasters.

Here is the article prepared by Christian :

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Voici un article de Christian Turianskyj, un membre chevronné de notre Club Toastmasters St-Lawrence.

« Les Toastmasters sont sympathiques »

Mon ancien associé m’avait encouragé à me joindre aux Toastmasters, une organisation mondiale qui favorise la parole en public. Il m’a simplement déclaré: « Les Toastmasters sont des gens sympathiques». Je me suis donc joint.

Ayant l’avantage de vingt-cinq ans d’expérience de Toastmasters, je peux confirmer que les Toastmasters sont en effet des gens sympas.

Que signifie sympa?
Il y a trois domaines dans lesquels les Toastmasters démontrent de la gentillesse. Que l’on vous souhaite la bienvenue dans leur club, que l’on écoute poliment votre discours ou qu’on évalue votre discours, les Toastmasters repandent de la chaleur et font savoir l’appréciation de vos efforts pour améliorer votre parole en public.

Une bienvenue accueillante
Vous êtes prié de visiter un club en tant qu’invité. Un Toastmaster peut vous inviter ou vous pourriez venir vous-même. Vous n’êtes pas obligé de dire quoi que ce soit, sauf si vous souhaitez le faire. De nombreux invités sont, naturellement, timides de parler en public et les Toastmasters sont pleins de compassion pour ceux qui souffrent de la peur numéro un dans le monde: parler en public.

Une écoute polie
Un aspect des plus importants des Toastmasters est l’art de l’écoute d’un discours. Une fois devenu membre, les Toastmasters sont affectés à une série de discours ainsi que la tenue de certaines fonctions au cours de la réunion hebdomadaire. Alors que l’orateur présente son discours, on ne parle pas. Il est temps d’écouter attentivement pour que chaque membre puisse donner des commentaires écrits à l’orateur.

Une évaluation constructive
L’évaluation d’un discours joue un rôle crucial chez les Toastmasters. Un évaluateur est assigné à chaque intervenant pour donner une évaluation verbale et écrite du discours. Au fil des ans, j’ai trouvé que les Toastmasters sont non seulement justes mais aussi utiles dans leurs évaluations. L’organization des Toastmasters fournissent certaines lignes directrices pour l’évaluation de sorte que les évaluations restent objectives.

Le mot gentil ou « sympa » est certainement approprié aux Toastmasters. Si vous souhaitez être entouré de gens sympas qui cherchent aussi à devenir de meilleurs orateurs, je vous invite à envisager d’adhérer à un club Toastmasters dans votre région.

Christian Turianskyj
le 30 mars 2010

Here is an interesting article by Christian Turianskyj, a long time member of the St-Lawrence Toastmasters Club.

“Toastmasters are nice people”

My former law partner had encouraged me to join Toastmasters, a worldwide organization that promotes public speaking. He simply stated, “Toastmasters are nice people”. So I did join.

Having had the benefit of twenty-five years of Toastmasters experience, I can confirm that Toastmasters are indeed nice people.

What does nice mean?

There are three areas in which Toastmasters show niceness. Whether they welcome you into their Club, politely listen to your Speech or evaluate your speech, Toastmasters portray warmth and appreciation of your efforts to improve your public speaking.

Warm welcome
You are welcome to visit a Club as a guest. A Toastmaster may invite you or you might come on your own. You are not obliged to say anything, unless you wish to do so. Many guests are, naturally, shy of speaking in public and Toastmasters show compassion for those who suffer from the number one fear in the world: SPEAKING IN PUBLIC.

Polite listening
A most important aspect of Toastmasters is the art of listening to a speech. Toastmasters, after becoming a member, are assigned a series of speeches as well as holding certain functions during the weekly meeting. While the speaker is presenting his or her speech, there is no talking; it is time to attentively listen in order for each member to give written comments to the speaker.

Constructive evaluation
Evaluation of a speech plays a crucial part in Toastmasters. Each speaker is assigned an evaluator who gives a verbal and a written evaluation of the speech. Over the years I have found Toastmasters to be fair and helpful in their Evaluations. Toastmasters provide certain guidelines for evaluation so that the evaluations remain objective.

The word nice is certainly appropriate to Toastmasters; should you wish to be surrounded with nice people who strive to become better speakers, I urge you to consider joining a Toastmasters Club in your area.

Christian Turianskyj

March 30, 2010