Gatsby Benchmarks
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Master the art
of conversation to
excel at work
Learning how to converse fluently and authentically could give young people
the edge in the modern workplace, writes voice-over artist Lorraine Ansell.
G
rowing up in a world where it’s
normal to interact with others via
technology, many young people
are more confident communicating
online than in person. They underestimate the
importance of conversational skills to their
future careers.
Not only are they joining a multi-generational
workforce, where reaching for a smartphone
isn’t the default method of communication for
ever ybody, they ’re also entering an
environment where conversation is integral to
making personal connections, building
networks and opening doors.
Research among recent graduates,
conducted by CEMS — the global alliance in
management education — suggests it will
be exceptional people skills that will help
future employees navigate a volatile and
uncertain digital economy, in which humans
work alongside machines.
More than half of respondents (56%)
considered either social skills (33%) or the
ability to manage people (23%) the most
important skills to develop as technology
increases in the corporate workplace. They
rated these soft skills more highly than
teachable hard skills (7%), technical,
job-specific content skills (7%) or process skills
such as critical thinking (12%).
By having real conversations
you can begin to gauge who
the other person is
20 // EMPLOYABILITY