Struggling with Stammering in IT Job Interviews? Seeking Advice on Overcoming This Challenge

Hi friends, for the past year, I have been searching for a job in IT, but I haven't been successful due to my stammering. During my interviews, when HR notices my stammering, they inquire about it. Ultimately, they mention that IT companies require good communication skills and advise me to try to improve in that area.

Advice on Handling Interviews with a Stammer

Please advise me on how to handle interviews better.

Thanks,

Tips for Managing Interview Anxiety

Here’s what you can do:

• **Learn Techniques to Minimize Anxiety:** Practice breathing techniques, visualization, and affirmations to calm your nerves before the interview.

• **Use Self-Disclosure:** At the start of the interview, inform the interviewer about your stammering and kindly request them to focus on your content.

• **Manage Anxiety During the Interview:** If you feel too anxious, let the interviewer know you need a moment to have some water and take a 30-second break. Sharing your anxiety is perfectly okay, and you will feel much better once you release it.

• **Request Feedback:** After the interview, ask for specific feedback. Request the interviewer to rate you on your skill set and knowledge.

• **Work on Your Speech:** I am sure you have consulted a good speech therapist. I have seen dramatic changes in some of my clients after speech therapy. Call me or write to me, and I might be able to guide you more.

All the best!

Mr. Atul has given good advice. Probably while attending interviews, you must be worrying about selection because of stammering, and this must be causing anxiety and stammering. Even people with normal speech stammer a little when anxious or angry. As Atul rightly advised, do not focus on your stammering and do not entertain any doubts about selection. Relax. This will greatly reduce the anxiety levels and stammering. It is not that every employer/interview panel focuses on stammering, and most of them want someone with strong skill sets, especially in IT. Wait until you meet such an employer, and in the meantime, you can try following these suggestions:

1. Try a speech therapy program.

2. Believe that you can get over this problem.

3. Try to work on a project even as an intern and involve yourself in it so that you can showcase it as an accomplishment on your CV to highlight your skill sets.

4. Try to acquire an IT skill that is in high demand (even as an intern) so that employers feel compelled to hire you.

5. Consider applying for IT officer jobs in public sector undertakings like banks, insurance, steel, or oil companies where the selection is based on performance in competitive exams and the principle of equal opportunity for all.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & IR Advisor

Dear Atul,

Kingly Speech: 12 Famous Stutterers Who Overcame Communication Challenges

Actor Colin Firth won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his staggering role as the stammering King George VI of England. Screenwriter David Seidler, who personally overcame stuttering, took home top honors for the original screenplay. Tom Hooper won Best Director, and "The King's Speech" won Best Picture. It was a sure sweep for stutterers at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards in 2011.

"We have a voice," said Seidler, 70, "We have been heard."

What is Stuttering?

Stuttering is a speech disorder marked by repetitive sounds and abnormal pauses. This may be accompanied by seemingly erratic facial movements or body gestures. Stuttering may be caused by genetics, developmental delays, neurological or physiological issues, family dynamics, stress, or any combination of these factors.

An estimated 68 million people worldwide may stutter or stammer, according to The Stuttering Foundation. This speech impediment, which tends to affect males four times as often as females, has afflicted several successful celebrities, past and present.

Here are a Dozen Stellar Stutterers:

- British comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson ("Blackadder" and "Mr. Bean") struggles with a stutter, which seems to improve when he adopts a character persona.
- Emily Blunt ("Gnomeo & Juliet" and "Gulliver's Travels") has revealed that she stepped into acting to work through childhood stammering.
- Anthony Hopkins ("Silence of the Lambs") related a stammer and lisp from his youth, which he overcame to become an acting legend.
- A speech therapist apparently advised a young Samuel L. Jackson ("Pulp Fiction") to audition for a school play to relieve a stuttering issue.
- James Earl Jones ("Field of Dreams"), perhaps the most famous voice-over talent ever, was basically mute for much of his childhood, refusing to reveal his stammer. Darth Vader ("Star Wars") and Mufasa ("The Lion King") may thank Jones's personal persistence and a high school poetry teacher for helping him to find his voice.
- Harvey Keitel ("The Piano" and "Reservoir Dogs") has confessed that he was often urged to hush as a child to conceal his stutter.
- Stuttering may have been just one of the trials faced by Marilyn Monroe ("Some Like It Hot").
- Julia Roberts ("Erin Brockovich" and "Pretty Woman") and her brother, actor Eric Roberts ("Star 80"), apparently stuttered in their younger years.
- Jane Seymour ("Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman") may be another famous former stammerer.
- Singer-songwriter Carly Simon ("You're So Vain") overcame stuttering with song.
- Perhaps the most readily recognized stuttering celebrity was Jimmy Stewart ("It's a Wonderful Life").
- As a college student, Bruce Willis ("Die Hard") worked with a speech therapist to beat a stammer.

In addition, Clara Barton, Joe Biden, Nicholas Brendon, Lewis Carroll, Winston Churchill, Roman Emperor Claudius, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Charles Darwin, Raymond Massey, Somerset Maugham, Jack Paar, Joseph Priestley, Theodore Roosevelt, John Stossel, John Updike, Virgil, Bill Walton, George Washington, Bill Withers, Tiger Woods, Mel Tillis, and the prophet Moses have been popularly known as stutterers.

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So you are not alone; your problems can be overcome. Others have provided well-thought-out suggestions. I learned many like you suffer only because of the thought of this always at the back of your mind. For a moment, you remove this thought you'll be alright.

If necessary, consult your doctor and see whether he can help you manage the interview.

All the best.