Presentation Skills

While I work on another couple of interviews I thought I’d write another soft skills post.

Presentation skills are probably the most universal skill in life and the workplace. Everyone needs to communicate in their daily life. A decent grasp of basic communication skills can help you stand out from someone who doesn’t appreciate the importance of a good communication style.

I believe the two most basic, and most important, aspects of a good communicator are:

1. Practice
   Like taking up a sport, learning a language, or doing anything else you won’t become a good communicator without practice. Before you are giving a presentation, practice it as much as possible until you know your presentation as if it was a natural conversation.
    
2. A willingness to learn and improve
   Everyone has some basic level of communication ability and presentation skill. Some people will even have improved on this through the experience of giving a few presentations in college or the workplace or in clubs. To get beyond this level of ability though, you need to be willing to go out of your way to learn and be willing to listen to the advice of others. In addition, you should be able to think about the way you present and communicate and look for what’s good about it and what’s wrong with it and then act on this information to improve your abilities.

If you are willing to learn there are a few things you can do to analyse your own abilities. Practice your presentations, think about the structure of the presentation, thinkabout the words you use and think about your presentation style (e.g. body language, hand gestures, vocal style, pacing)

Here is a link dump of some resources I’ve found excellent in improving my own presentation skills (which still have a long way to go!). If you want to take your skills to the next level, check these out:

Presentation Zen
This is an excellent blog by a world-class presenter. He writes very insightful posts and this blog alone has helped me massively in improving the design of my powerpoints and my general presentation style.

Create Your Communications Experience
Bert Decker has a biased style of writing which is interesting because he talks about people from his point of view as an experienced communications consultant. If you are not familiar with famous speakers and leading communications gurus, his blog is a good starting point for getting to know about them. He also has great posts like The Power of The Pause which are gold for improving your communications skills!

Alltop – Speaking
Alltop is a web aggregator and this particular part of the site offers a catalogue of some pretty good blogs related to public speaking.

Toastmasters
This is a lot more than a web resource. There is some free material on the website but the real value of Toastmasters is from joining it. It’s a social club which people join with the common goal of helping themselves to become better communicators and leaders. Unless you are a trainer or a salesperson, odds are you do not give presentations on a regular basis. This can make it hard to get the regular practice you need to keep your skills sharp and to improve and learn new tricks. Toastmasters Clubs usually meet either weekly or fortnightly and offer a great relaxed forum for learning many new communications techniques. There are chapters all over the world – you can look for them on the website – and it’s relatively easy to join!

So that’s some tips on improving your communications skills – now get practising! ;o)

The Interviews

If you know a person who you think would be a good interviewee for this blog, or are interested in a particular career and would like me to try to find someone in that area to interview, mail careerpathsblog at gmail and let me know.

If you have a question about any interview or want to know more about the job, post a comment on that post and I will try to get the interviewee to follow-up with an answer or more information.

All interviews are edited by me to fix typos and clarify things (if necessary) but they are the opinions of the people interviewed.

This blog will be updated about once every week or fortnight due to how long it takes to arrange and complete an interview with people.

Accountant – Ireland

Rana trained as a chartered accountant in Ireland. She is now moving to Bermuda to work for an insurance industry company there.

I interviewed Rana to ask her what it’s like to be an accountant and to find out why all good accountants move to Bermuda!

Describe your job

My job usually involved maintaining general ledgers up to trial balance, profit and loss accounts, balance sheet, dealing with banks, supervising accounts assistants who process all the invoices etc. It was a very broad “all rounder” accounting job.

Describe a typical day in the life of an accountant

That depends on the level you’re at… I remember when I was training it varied between making coffee for the partners, answering phones, doing some admin work, collecting the boss’ suits and buying toys for his kids, doing small accounts to heading audits, attending stock takes and dealing with clients. I always dealt with clients through out my whole training time and when I moved to industry, I opened post, answered phones, did reconcilations, dealt with suppliers and banks and had lots of tea and coffee

What did you do academically and in work prior to this job?

I graduated with a BA in Accounting and Finance in Dublin City University (DCU) after doing my
Leaving Cert. After graduating I got my first proper 9-5 job in a two partner accountancy firm and started my chartered accountancy training for the next three and a half years. So I was working full-time and studying on top of that. The only other work I’ve other done was a summer internship in an accountant’s office outside Dublin. That involved dealing with a lot of farm accounts and random small businesses

What’s a typical career path in accountancy?

A lot of people use their qualification as a foundation for doing other business related stuff, as well as setting up their own firms, working in practices as auditors etc. I’m still at the start of my career so I’m still unsure where I want to end up and what I want to do so I’m pretty much open to any opportunities. After working in practice for 4 years (during my training) I’m going to try my hand in industry in the captive insurance sector and see what happens from there. Any experience and/or exposure adds to an accountant’s portfolio and marketability. With a career in accountancy you can pretty much take the qualification with you anywhere in the world

What’s the best thing about being an accountant?

Meeting new people, working in lots of different sectors and industries, exposure to different industries and companies, ability to travel with your career. There are a lot of benefits to working as an accountant!

What’s the worst thing?

I’ve yet to find anything bad about it, though in my last job frustration was worst thing.. especially when there’s deadlines and you can’t get hold of the directors of the companies to finalise stuff or answer questions which need to be answered in order to get stuff finished..

What preconceptions about the accountancy career did you have which turned out to not be true when you started working in it?

…hmmm that it is boring and all accountants are boring Well some of them are but the job itself can be so varied and it depends on where and what you’re working at that can make it tedious and frustrating and soo boring. The funniest thing is that while I was training anyone who heard I was an accountant kept telling me “you’re so rich.” I don’t think so! The money starts pouring in seemingly when you qualify (well my wages pretty much doubled when i qualified) though the wage levels depends on sector and industries and levels etc.

Oh yeah there’s always the accountancy jokes..

What were the most noticeable differences between your previous accounting jobs and your last accounting job?

The wages. Once I qualified my wages doubled… but with that my responsilibities were also greater. In previous jobs I was still a trainee so it meant that if anything went wrong (which it rarely did) the partner could sort it but when I qualified I was answerable and responsible for everything that happened.

What’s the work/life balance like? Do you find time for other things?

This all depends on where you’re working. I found it very easy to do other things. I had the 9-5 job with a bit of over time as I chose to do it and whenever it was necessary. This meant that I got to have a life, meet friends, go out most thursdays, go to concerts, go away for weekends, etc.

You went from working for an accountancy firm to working for a company which used to be a client of yours. Was there much of a change in the work you did going from being an outsider to an insider?

As an outsider, I was doing the audit so had to rely on the client staff and management getting me the information and taking their word that everything was in order. On the inside I got a more hands-on approach on the day to day running of the company from sorting through invoices, paying creditors, dealing with banks and revenue to overseeing posting of invoices etc on to the system.

What type of person would you say this job (i.e. accountancy) is suited to?

Anyone who likes working with figures and people!

You’re a qualified accountant now. Simple question: Was it worth all those years of study and exams?

I think it was definitely worth it. I set my mind to it and got all my exams first time. After qualifying I got to take time out to travel and now I’ve landed a dream job in Bermuda… So I’d say definitely worth it

Bermuda is a popular destination for a lot of qualified accountants. What’s the appeal of Bermuda, besides the sun and sea?

That is uber EASY to explain…third biggest financial domicile industry in the world..tax haven…offshore domicile… The experience and exposure to working in bermuda, having bermuda on your CV, opens a lot of doors in the future and I’ve always wanted to work abroad esepcially in the Cayman Islands or Bermuda because I knew they were tax havens and one of the biggest offshore FS  (Financial Services) domiciles in the world. Getting in there would add to my marketability and creditiability etc. I thought you needed about three to five years post qualification experience though so when I got a call from the recruitment agency about a job in Bermuda I jumped at the chance of even being considered and then there were interviews then a job offer. I can’t wait because it’s such a huge step for my career and a very good move!! and hey it’s a tiny island in the middle of the atlantic with lots sea, sand, sun, snorkelling and random other things to do!
 

Web and Interactive Designer – Ireland

Kevin Cannon is a web and interactive designer based in Dublin, Ireland. His website is at www.kevin.ie.

I interviewed Kevin over email to find out what a web and interaction designer does and to ask what Kevin would advise anyone who is interested in this career.

Describe your job

I’m a freelance web & interactive designer. I create visual designs for websites and interactive applications like games and kiosks. I’m currently self-employed and work for a variety of clients.

What was your experience prior to getting into freelance design?

I briefly studied Computer Science, before switching to a degree in multimedia. I realised quite quickly that I was more interested in being involved in the creation process, rather than the technical implementation.

Prior to freelancing I worked in a couple of web design companies.

What’s a typical career path in this job?

At this stage, the web is such a new medium that there really is no typical career path. People come into it from a variety of backgrounds and some go on to freelance, set up their own companies or move into a related field. It’s very varied.

Describe a “typical” day in your job

I’d often make a few calls to clients, and I usually would have a meeting or two during a normal week, where I go out to a new or existing client to discuss their design with them. Meeting clients and spending a bit of time with them, especially at the start of a project is a very important part of the process. Once I start working, I’m pretty much based on my computer working away. During the design phase, I’d sketch out little ideas, look at my client’s competitors and potentially source imagery and fonts while I try different approaches to the design. I start the design off with very rough ideas on paper and then move into Photoshop or Fireworks to create a few sample pages for the website. That process usually takes a few days. Other work I do during that time would include making modifications to a submitted design and, once it’s signed off, actually building the site in HTML and CSS using Dreamweaver. I often do flash work, so that would follow a similar process, but would end in me building and programming the site in Flash with Actionscript.

What’s the best thing about the job?

I really like the challenge of it. When you’re dealing with user interfaces an unusual blend of skills are required. There’s the purely visual artistic side of things, there’s the technical challenges, and there’s the psychology aspect, knowing how users behave and designing to that.

What’s the worst thing?

I think communication is the toughest thing. People sometimes find it hard to articulate how they feel about design or let their personal taste over-shadow what should be goals-based. It’s a challenge, but I think it’s part of a designer’s remit to learn how to communicate about design in an effective manner. I’ve definitely improved that aspect of it in recent years.

What are the most noticeable differences between previous jobs and your current job?

Currently, I’m a freelance designer, and this is the first time I’ve done that properly. Previously I’ve worked in web design companies. The biggest difference is that I’ve a lot more control over the process. I deal directly with clients which helps immeasurably in getting the design right for them first time. The downside is that because I’m working on my own, there’s more paperwork, and project management to be done, so there are times when I spend less time designing than I would have in some previous jobs.

What’s the work/life balance like? Do you find time for other things?

Generally it’s pretty good, but if you get a lot of projects on sometimes you need to pull long hours to get things done. One thing I’m trying to do now is improve my time management so that doesn’t happen.

Is it possible for a graduate to start freelancing quickly or do they need to build up some experience working for a company first?

When it comes to design it’s all about your portfolio and how your present yourself. Someone could go into freelancing straight out of college if they wanted, but the challenge would be having skills to deal with clients and most importantly, actually being able to find clients. It really depends on the person. If you’ve been working for a few years then you’ll have honed your craft considerably and also have built up a good business network, so setting up on your own would be considerably easier.

What do you think about designers doing nixers (work on the side) ?

I think most designers take on occasional small nixers when in full time employment, but I wouldn’t advise trying to do proper freelance stuff when employed, as you’ll kill yourself working from morning till night every day.

Are you better off financially as a freelancer now than you would be if you were working full-time for someone else?

I have tended to earn the same, but with greater flexibility and less working hours per week, so I imagine if worked a more traditional 9-5 then I would be earning more than in previous employment. I know the way the industry is at the moment there’s certainly the potential to earn considerably more as a freelancer, especially if you’re in the early stages of your career when experience and talent don’t necessarily correlate. A client cares how good you are and if you can get the job done, whereas an employer might want more specific ‘x number of years’ experience requirements.

What type of person would you say this job is suited to?

I’d say it would suit someone who’s got a creative streak and a good technical aptitude. Web stuff is inherently a technical medium so I think you need to have that aptitude to make the most of it and of course having a creative and visual ability is critical.

Anything else someone might want to know if they were considering it for a career?

There are two things I’d bear in mind. One; you’re not going to earn millions. If that’s what you want, become an actuary. Two; you have to remember that you’re designing for clients. Some people who are particularly artistic can find that very hard. Although design requires an artistic touch, it’s very different to art. You’re designing for clients and so your style needs to reflect that. Sometimes that will be a clean corporate look, and sometimes that will mean a fun, loose style for a children’s site. Overall though, web & interactive design can be a very fulfilling job. If you like the sound of a mix of visual design, the psychology of website visitors and the technical challenge then it can be a very rewarding career indeed.

 

About Me

A brief post about the author of this blog..

My name is Conor. I work as an IT consultant in Dublin, Ireland.

I’m very interested in the subject of self-development as well as the idea of helping people to discover and achieve their potential. The achievements and skills of other people never cease to amaze and impress me! On the flip side, I am saddened to see that sometimes there are people who could be even more successful if they had access to better resources and guidance.

As part of my interest in this I’ve decided to start this blog. I hope to share things that I learn about developing as a better person, mostly from a career perspective but sometimes personally too. I hope to learn from the people I interview for this blog and I hope anyone reading this blog will learn a bit too!

Career Paths Blog

So what is this blog about?

The idea for this blog came about when my younger brother was complaining to me about how hard it is to “find out about what different careers are like.”

Thinking about it, I realised that nowadays a lot of people are “career browsers.” In our quests to discover our true calling and ideal career, we want to be able to find out what a wide variety of careers are like. Sometimes this is out of a desire to know whether there is much money in a particular line of work; what is involved in a career; what it’s like to work in a certain industry; or just plain morbid curiousity!

Now, more than ever before, people in many countries are in a seller’s market for talent. This brings great opportunities; for larger salaries, faster promotions, better workplaces but with increased opportunities can come increased confusion as people struggle to try to get the most out of the market and out of their lives. Want a job that gives you as much money as soon as possible? Want a job that means you’re free at 5pm every day to go play hackeysack? Want a job that’ll give you a corner office at 35? Want to quit your job and chase your childhood dream job?

The people who are supposed to provide us with information about career opportunities: industry leaders, academics, parents, teachers, and career coaches often don’t have the information themselves to tell us what is most suited to what we want! Instead they tell us about the old reliable “stable” careers (you know the drill: doctor, lawyer, software developer) which may provide a stable life and a reasonable middle-class salary but may not be our cup of tea in the longer run.

And then there’s the mid-career situation when you don’t even have a friendly campus career counsellor to turn to for information or advice and are on your own to figure things out!

This site aims to address these needs by gathering information from people around the the world on various careers. I hope to gather information here about salary ranges, career prospects, and the ultimate acid test: Would someone working in that career recommend it to you? I also hope to post about issues related to developing your career; developing your professional skills; and job seeking in general. Topics I might cover would include working visa requirements for various countries, tips for networking, presentation skills tips etc.