As a consultant and specialist in communication, Vincent Mays helps clients enhance their skills in listening and expression to push their career growth and development. 
No matter what career path we choose, more often than not we are always searching for new ways to develop our resumes, further our career paths and market ourselves as hirable to desirable employers. While different career paths and niche markets require different skills to market yourself as the best possible hire for potential employers, Vincent Mays has found that strong communication skills are an asset beneficial to any career path no matter what industry you are striving to work within.
There are a number of different ways that we can build our communication skills to make ourselves more marketable. While by and large these skills are developed organically over time through our day to day interactions both personal and professional, there are other ways to improve communication skills. As a consultant, Vincent Mays has compiled a couple often overlooked elements of communicating that can help you to more consciously build your communication skills to advance your professional career.
Firstly, nonverbal communication is an essential element to be aware of when working to develop your workplace communication skills. Nonverbal communications include aspects of communication like:
- Body Language
- Eye Contact
- Gestures
- Tone
These elements work together to provide context and communicate mood when interacting with others. Being aware of your body language, avoiding things like crossed arms which can make you seem closed off and maintaining eye contact to show attentiveness are key factors in exercising strong communication skills within the workplace.
Furthermore, listening is another essential element of communication to develop to make your workplace communication skills more marketable to employers. While being able to share and articulate your ideas and opinions is vital to developing a name for yourself within your field, being able to actively listen and acknowledge the ideas and opinions of others is of equal and sometimes even greater importance. Active listening skills can take the form of nodding when someone is talking and asking follow-up questions that reiterate details that the other person has shared. These active listening skills help to make others that you are working and interacting with feel acknowledged and demonstrate that you are receptive and open to what others have to say.
Overall, strong and well-developed communication skills are a vital element of making yourself marketable to potential employers no matter what career field you are working within. While often we develop our communication skills through trial and error in our day to day lives both personal and professional, its important that we take into consideration ways that we can more consciously work to develop our communication abilities. Focussing on the way that we non-verbally communicate as well as our listening skills are both great ways that we can be more aware of how we are communicating and work to develop positive interactions with those around us. While different career paths require distinctly different marketable skills, communication skills are universal in the working world and following these tips to help develop yours may help you to achieve your next hire or promotion.
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