How did I improve my English in only 3 months? from total bad confidence and fluency to great success with passing English interviews.

During the last 6 years, I was working at my favorite company @BUYME as a salesperson for the Israeli market.?

At some point, although I was in the most comfortable place, I wanted to develop myself in other industries and markets.?

and then it hit me.

Having not practiced my English for 6 years, I had pretty much forgotten my language, and English is essential to pass interviews in the tech industry, especially in my profession as a customer-facing expert.

I felt so stupid.

Such a basic skill I wasn't smart enough to preserve, shouldn't I say develop.

My main issue was with speaking fluently. as a salesperson, my verbal skills are my superpower. in Hebrew - I've got it. in English - I felt like a bird without wings.

So I started working.

And within 3 months, from a feeling of having a great, clear barrier, of being out of the game - to great success in interviews and signing a contract.

How did I do it?

6 efficient ways to improve your English fluency

1. Half-price Jerusalem post - Jerusalem post's service?sounded very professional and tempting, but it was way out of my budget.?

So what did I do? I published a "wanted ad" in a few networking groups of which I'm a member, saying I'm looking for a good English speaker, who would like to give me a similar service to Jerusalem posts, but for half price. 7 people "applied for the position". I had a demo conversation with each of them and eventually chose one. We talked for half an hour, twice a week, for two months.?

so it wasn't?exactly Jerusalem post, but I still passed it with distinction ;)

2. Fluent English and self-professional development course - I've had enough with 1*1 and I was missing group interaction.

I found a perfect course for my needs - self, professional development, and career content, being taught in English, combined with pair practices and facilitating a presentation in public to the rest of the class. I truly recommend this course! It's facilitated by @Tome Nahmias who creates a non-judgmental environment which is extremely important for confidence building.

3.?An Israeli partner just for free - I signed up for Tome's course a month before it began, and I didn't want to wait a whole month without practicing. During the sign-up conversation, I asked Tome - "could you please check with the other students if anyone would like to have 1*1 conversations together until the course begins?"

Luckily she matched me with?Asaf Shek, a partner whom from the first moment we have been a perfect, synchronized match. we have been talking for 3 months now, 15 minutes every evening.

4. Lunchclub.com?- I thank @Adi saraga from @nora y (I'll write about Nora in a different post), who introduced me to Lunch club.

It's a platform that connects people to 1*1 meetings for networking. So I, with Adi's advice, used it for English practice in disguise of networking. I mentioned in my profile that I was from NY and not from Israel, and that way I got matches with English-speaking people and not from my country. I also created connections in Geos where my future customers are going to be at my new job, just as a bonus.

5.?Conversationexchange.com?- recommended to me by someone I met in Lunch club. It's a website that connects people who want to practice new languages.

Twice a week, I scheduled with native English speakers who want to improve their Hebrew. you talk 15 minutes English, 15 minutes Hebrew - a win-win.?

6.?"Plant your seeds of success in other fields" - a Buddha phrase that I learned at?Gali Hacarmeli's lecture about personal branding, in which whenever we want to succeed with anything, we better help someone else succeed in it.

Once a week, I helped other school students to practice their English through phone conversations, as a part of volunteering for the @Education for excellence non-profit. By the way, #skill-based volunteering is great if you are a company's employer. You gain skill practice, your company gains a more professional employer, the NPO enjoys a quality volunteer, the apprentice is greatly empowered, and you gain a sense of meaning for doing good to others. magic circle.

To summarize -?

-?If you work with a local market - don't neglect your English!

- If you already did, it's OK - the best time to plant a tree was 200 years ago. The next best time is now.

- And if you already work in English, up-skilling never ends ;)

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#tech?#success?#language?#skills?#volunteer