I Probably Sounded Like Tarzan...

When I landed in Canada in 2003 my English was okay to communicate with strangers; however, I had decided to study English for two years prior to landing in Canada.

I figured if I couldn't communicate well I wouldn't feel comfortable. So this is what I did:

1. I hired a tutor and studied twice a week with her (when she felt I was ready to join a group class I did, and it was scary at first but it helped me get out of my comfort zone)
2. I started watching the same English movie (singular) many times (first with subtitles in Spanish to understand what they were saying, then with subtitles in English to understand their pronunciation, and finally without subtitles)
3. I listed to English music to understand the lyrics, increase my vocabulary, and find new ways to express feelings
4. I started building friendships with random Canadians and chatting with them every night (text and voice) to practise (by the way, we spell practise with 's' in British English, it's spelled with 'c' in American English... some of the nuances that many native English speakers don't know because they never put time and effort to learn the language)

Although I have an accent, which will never go away, when I write no one can tell I am an immigrant, and that's because I invested time and effort in improving my English skills.

If you want to be taken seriously professionally, and it is expected that you communicate clearly in English, I highly recommend that you work with a tutor to polish your skills.

You can choose to communicate poorly to just 'get by' or spend the time learning the language so you can 'fit in' to really stand out... I can assure you it will make a difference.

There is one person I trust when it comes to teaching English, his name is Edwin Perez, has been doing this for 24 years and is happy to connect with anyone who reaches out to him.

So whether you want to advance in your career, immigrate to a new country, grow your social media presence like I have on LinkedIn with more than 250,000 followers... it helps.

Follow and connect with Edwin, engage with his posts, and practise (or practice), depending on where you live, your English skills... the great news is that it's not career related at all.

Why is that good news? Because your colleagues or manager will not be thinking "is this person trying to get a new job by commenting on career related content?" It's much safer.

Let me tell you a quick story that will inspire you to take action...

I went to an interview for a multi-billion dollar business, there were two jobs available for a Product Owner role, my communication skills played a major part in getting the job offer.

How do I know that? Because I got the better client and a much higher salary than the other person who was hired, even though he looked sharper and had more education than me.

Was it just my communication skills that got me the job? Absolutely not. I did everything we explain on this free webclass nextbadge.com and my communication skills certainly helped.

Invest in yourself to advance in your career

If you cannot even land interviews then send us your resume nextbadge.com/review for a free assessment (for a limited time only), we will even meet with you to explain the results.

This was article #34, if you enjoyed it you may also enjoy these previous articles:

• 33 - And The Oscar Goes To...
• 32 - How I Retired at 36 Years Old!
• 31 - I Am Happy to Be Sad!
• 30 - How Many Times Can You Be Rejected?
• 29 - When You Know, You Know!
• 28 - You Better Be an Astronaut, too!
• 27 - Don't Blow Your Job Offer
• 26 - They Will Not Hire This Way
• 25 - Are you looking for a job or what?
• 24 - Negotiate Your Job Offer in Four Steps
• 23 - Those Sharks Don't Have Any Teeth
• 22 - The Real Reason You Got Six Seconds!
• 21 - How to Land More Interviews
• 20 - My Wife Almost Ruined It for All of You
• 19 - How to Stop Being Ignored
• 18 - LinkedIn Can Change Your Life Forever

If you enjoyed this and/or learned something new please do like, comment, and share with others so that we can continue to empower every professional and jobseeker worldwide.