Effective communication is the key for any global business. English is the international common tongue, and when you enter the professional platform you are expected to be fluent. With so many Asians migrating to the States, it has become compulsory to understand and to be understood by the people you would work with.
Even if you are an engineer, you cannot be nonchalant about your verbal skills, saying that you understand the core subject and that is enough. Well, while it is absolutely necessary to have thorough insight on your core field but you still have to communicate that. And without a proficiency in a language, it may be difficult for you to make progress. This may be one of the reasons why startups are failing at such a high rate- while entrepreneurs spend more time building the product, they are not spending enough time trying to sell it properly to get proper investments. You might have the most brilliant idea, but if you don’t know to get it across, you are stumped. English is a preferred language in the corporate world, and all small businesses and big reputed organizations, rely on English as a medium of communication- from emails to presentations.
When you apply for a job, and go for the interview, the first thing the interviewer would make notice is of what you reply to the question, “How are you doing?” You say “I’m good”, and you may piss off the interviewer in the beginning itself. May sound a bit stereotypical, but a person with poor communication skills is often equated to being unintelligent in the beginning. So the first step in preparing for your job interview is to get your grammar in place and your words to flow fluently. Fluent English also shows confidence. Answering to the questions to the point by using the language effectively is very much required to remain employed. The reality is that the companies consider the candidate’s ability or inability to speak fluently in English as one of the major selection criterion.
Apart from the verbal language skills, it is equally important for professionals to be coherent in written English as well. This may include the instructions given by a boss to his employees, reports and presentations, promotion emails and messages, written business contracts, or even sales letters and brochures. You’ll be surprised to know that the English you speak is very different from the one you use for formal purposes. Even improper punctuations can lead to disastrous miscommunications.
Business is all about building relationships, and relationships sustain only on effective communications. English makes it easier to build effective networks across the planet, affecting and influencing a larger audience.