Interviews with a speech impediment

savingqueen

I am talking about my personal experiences in the hope they may help. They are only my experiences but I would really recommend going on the BSA website I mentioned before or finding some other form of support.

My personal experience of stammering is that the more you avoid talking whether its individual words or entire situations, the more the fear builds up so the more you avoid and so it goes on. I am not saying this is an easy thing to do.... far from it but you are not being yourself or getting across to a prospective employer how great you are by saying as least as possible. The more you can be open about your stammer and tackle talking in less scary situations, the more the fear will lessen. My advice would be to start really small, talking more especially using those difficult words on your own, to trusted friends or family then gradually in comfortable outside situations. Build on your confidence and success.

Interviews are one of THE biggest talking challenges - personally (and I can only talk for myself of course) I would work on my speech first and this will filter through to work and other situations. Find some support, arm yourself with info, a personal project if you like - egs. a self help group, a speech therapist, plenty of books available, closed FB groups etc and build your confidence. Don't let your stammer hold you back. You really CAN get on in life with a stammer if you can find the inner resources to work on being its master and not its servant (if that makes sense)

Re the blocks - for me they were the most difficult as you can't speak at all, not even to explain what's going on for you. When I worked on my stammer both the obvious external speech and the less obvious internal thoughts and emotions, the blocks eventually lessened and they are rare for me now. The repeating sounds and words etc are far less problematic and interfere far less with my speech and my ability to communicate effectively. I have over time changed from a very shy, quiet person to a chatty one!

I can completely relate to all the anxiety around speaking. When I made a phone call in previous jobs, I used to write down Qs I needed to ask etc in case my mind went blank and made sure I made notes. Even at home I still sometimes write down basic info like my postcode before I make a call in case I am asked and my mind goes blank.

If you decide not to work on your speech - its your choice of course, the alternative could be applying for jobs as a disabled person - stammering is recognised as a disability by law. You can then ask for adjustments at interview, maybe a smaller panel with the opportunity to write down answers or whatever would work best for you. You could use email instead of a voice phone and/or a text phone at work. If you were a Deaf person needing to communicate in this way, I don't think you would hesitate to ask for what you needed to be employed. Unfortunately speech impairment is still often overlooked, often not a tick box for it on equality forms for example. Employers have a responsibility to accommodate different needs but you also have a personal responsibility to ask for what you need.

You know the very fact that you are posting on here asking for advice is a positive step in itself.

eamon

I have a stammer and sometimes I struggle to say my name amongst many other words. Nevertheless I have a job and people reporting to me. I use the phone a lot as well.
Of course all of us that stammer have our darkest fears and situations that terrify us. Yours happen to be speaking out loud to strangers and this is holding you back. Do you have the same problems with family and close friends? What was your experience in school?
Long term you need to find a means of getting past the fear. You are obviously clever and capable of many things. Use the net there will be a solution that works well for you, you just need to find it.
I wouldn't tell an interview panel in advance that you have a stammer (is it even classed as a disability?). I never have unless asked.

Keep on pluging away

cliffsgirl

I have quite a bad stammer and I have always worked in a shop talking to people. I hate interviews but I just answer the questions as well as I can. Most interviewers are understanding about it and the general public are fine too. You get the odd !!!!!! who will laugh at u but I just ignore them.

Armorica

Do practice interviews with whoever you can find that has a clue what they are doing (family, friends, college etc.) to reduce risks of nerves making the stutter worse. [Feel free to send me a private message if you’d like a text-based/skype interview to get a feel for the interview style/type of questions that graduate/major employers do without the stress of speaking out loud! I’ve done enough to be able to do them on auto-pilot; for additional assurance, my mum has a stutter and so do at least two successful colleagues at work]

Is the stutter likely to effect your job performance? If it’s not, then I wouldn’t worry too much, but it might be best to mention at start of interview in a positive way

savingqueen’s post is excellent advice - the BSA are very supportive and do mention on the application form.

Depending on the nature of the job, the right approach, unfortunately, isn’t to answer with the least number of works! Graduate employers will do open questions and will want to know about your skills and experience - not yes/no answers.

Savvy_Sue

No-one should be asking your age in a job interview any more. That would be potential age discrimination.

We had a friend who used to stutter. He would hit his leg to help him get the words out. And say up front that he was a stutterer.

JustOnce

Deleted%20User wrote: »

Just ignore it, if it's a job you really want you'll be surprised what you'll get through

One of my interviews I really messed on the typing speed, like I'd past a point of no return I started to lighten up thinking damage was already done so I'm afraid I started joking about it and honestly next thing I know I'm being accused of all sorts, not limited to being outgoing loud (oh dear!) & confident communicator that day, everyone heard the interview.. as all the compliments just made me louder (I'm normally like a church mouse!)


Go get them!

I'm not surprised you messed up the typing test.

d70cw6

definitely inform them of what to expect before the interview - nobody likes surprises.

TheFox30

Some great advice in this thread.

I have had / do have a stutter. I put it like that as it's not as bad as it used to be, and my work does involve a lot of speaking (I'm a part-time secondary school teacher)

A couple of things I noticed from what you said:

I've always answered questions using the least amount of words possible or just said 'I don't know' as a lot of the time it's easier to have people think I don't know the answer than to actually answer the question

Saying 'I don't know' is avoidance, and doesn't help you to overcome your issues. Making myself do things rather than avoid them really helped me build up my confidence. I used to avoid making phone calls, but over the past few months have started making them anyway. However they go, I give myself a big pat on the back for having the guts to not avoid the issue.

You should do the same - remember that however well or badly your interview goes, you've shown serious guts in turning up and doing the interview. Doing so with a heavy stutter deserves a huge amount of respect.

pinpin

It's an interesting topic.
Even if a job has nothing to do with speaking to customers etc, you still have to have an interview, and it's hard to come across well when you struggle to get words out.
I have lots of trouble with my speech. A slight stammer. Also very rapid speech that I find impossible to slow down no matter how hard I try.
Mild trouble articulating certain sounds which I think might be due to my jaws but I don't know for certain. It's mild.
I can NOT say 'scent of a woman' in one fluid sentence without it sounding like 'scent of orman' unless I say it one word at a time with huge spaces in between like a daft robot!

If someone can't speak at all and have mutism or something, how do they do job interviews? Or can they only do cleaning jobs or something unskilled even if they are blessed with extreme intelligence?

I wish job interviews didn't hold the weight that they do.