April 2025 Leader Letter
Give Yourself a Career Boost!
Are you making the most of your Toastmasters skills at work?
Remaining relevant on the job is a must if you want to stand out in an increasingly competitive workforce and be considered for new opportunities. Career experts say that demonstrating a continuous growth mindset—one that is open to improving and acquiring new skills—is an ideal way to set yourself up for professional success.
And doesn’t a continuous growth mindset sound like what you naturally develop at Toastmasters? Consider these ideas for blending your Toastmasters training into advancing your career; use them for yourself or share them within your Toastmasters leadership role when talking with members and prospective members about the benefits of Toastmasters:
- Define your personal brand—Think about how you want others to see you in business encounters, starting with your appearance, and including the way in which you project yourself, how you handle conflict, how flexible you are, etc. Think of your personal brand as how people would describe you when you weren’t around to hear. You can utilize Toastmasters tools if your current brand needs a rebrand, perhaps to make a career switch or change jobs. Specifically, think about using an assortment of Pathways projects to help you define your brand and develop skills for sharing it, including Understanding Your Communication Style, Building a Social Media Presence, Public Relations Strategies, Create a Podcast, and more.
- Present powerfully—What if you’re looking to advance your career at your current job? You’ve improved your public speaking skills and overcame your stage fright at your club, but transferring those skills to your daily workplace—particularly during presentations—might cause you angst. Consider how you will transition your Toastmasters skills to an office environment. A very effective presentation skill—and one that is underused in the workplace—is the pause. A pause brings powerful emphasis to your point; it also gives you an air of authority, regardless of your seniority level. A similarly underutilized skill is focusing your gaze. When looking into the room, use the Toastmasters skill of pairing “gaze with a phrase.” Rather than talking to the middle wall or only looking at your manager, try addressing one side of the room for one point, and another part for a different point. This is a great way to have everyone in the room feel addressed and included.
- Take Table Topics to an interview—If you’re seeking a new position and you’ve made it to a job interview where rapid-fire questions will determine your fate, reach for some Table Topics® strategies. The simple Toastmasters trick of repeating the question in your initial response not only buys time, but it also helps you fully process the question. Just as you do in Table Topics, you’ll want to give a concise answer—opening, body, and closing. Lastly, consider the timing aspect of Table Topics. Perhaps the most professional skill in the interview process is knowing when to stop talking.
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