Discussion Skills
Do you require discussion skills to function well in your job role? This article provides a guide on how you can develop the skills and include them on your resume.
What are Discussion Skills?
Discussion Skills are very much paramount to communication because communication especially verbal communication involves discussion skills. This has to do with the ability to listen to others, comprehend their points, and express ideas clearly. Good discussion skills are very much important to both personal and also professional success. Discussion simply entails discussing a topic thoroughly and coming up with conclusions at the end of the day.
For instance, group discussion is a method used by companies to check whether a candidate possesses the required qualities or not. Discussions especially group discussions have become a viable tool used to recruit job candidates. Organizations conduct group discussions after an assessment test to test candidates’ communication skills. Discussion skills are also used in a job interview to checkmate the candidate’s language capacity.
Discussion and listening work together because it allows you to comprehend a person’s point of view and also to give a befitting response. Good listening skills to provide constructive feedback mechanisms during a discussion session.
Importance of Discussion Skills
- It enhances communication skills: one of the biggest relevance of discussion is that it enhances communication and it encourages room for interaction between a candidate and an interviewer. This will also improve communication in the long run because it will make them more confident to ask the interviewer questions. Engaging in a discussion, it will also show that you are very much interested in the job placement. It will also allow the job candidate to build a relationship with the client.
- It gives more Information: Discussion is a very important skill because it gives you the platform to share more information with others. Once you are informed, it gives you more knowledge than you ever had before. This new knowledge can be about a particular subject matter or the latest trend ongoing. For instance, during a job interview session, you can get to learn about the new policies of the organization which you have not known before.
- It enhances Brainstorming: Brainstorming skills are enhanced by discussion and it helps you to generate a marketplace of ideas. Brainstorming not only generates ideas but it brings about the solution to a lot of problems. For instance, during a discussion session, a question can spring up that you may need to brainstorm to provide the perfect answer.
- It boosts your inquisitiveness: Discussion skills are very much important because it enhances your ability to ask questions as a job candidate. One of the best ways to feel at ease when discussing with an interviewer is to ask questions. Once you ask a question during an interview session as a job candidate, it will reduce the tension and it will also prove to the interviewer that you are interested in the discussion.
- It provides a Feedback mechanism: One of the best ways to know that someone is following a particular discussion is through a feedback mechanism. Feedback simply entails responding to a discussion either through body contact or a reply to the conversation. A discussion involves two people and you can only identify if a discussion is flowing when there is feedback from the receiver.
- It gives room for Suggestions: One of the benefits of discussion skills is that it gives room for suggestions. During a discussion session, an excellent idea can just pop into your mind which you can suggest to the other party.
How to Improve on Your Discussion
- Utilize Active Listening Skills: When someone is speaking, it is very tempting to think about what to say in response to that person. It is very much important to focus on the speaker and pay rapt attention to him when he is speaking to you. To achieve this, you have to maintain eye contact, nod your head and also show nonverbal expression to show that you are flowing in the conversation.
- Take notes During the Discussion: one of the best ways to show that you are following a discussion is by taking bullet points and also so that you will not forget anything. As the saying goes, the faintest pen is better than the best brain. You should take down notes especially during an interview because the job recruiter can ask you follow-up questions. You can also go back home to read the notes you have jotted down earlier.
- Summarize key points: during a discussion session, do not bore the listener with a lot of details but try your very best to summarize the discussion. This is very much important during the discussion because you have clearly understood what the other person is saying and you can reply in a summary. Summarizing is a very important skill because it can help you focus on the most important points.
- Brainstorm ideas and Reflect on ideas: brainstorming is a technique that can be used to generate ideas. To brainstorm simply means to draft down whatever comes to your mind, this can be very much important to keep a discussion flowing.
After you have brainstormed, pick up the most important ideas and eliminate the irrelevant ones. After you have brainstormed, you can start reflecting on the discussion and also ponder if you express your feelings or thoughts as appropriate.
- Be highly persuasive; once you have brainstormed your ideas and have expressed them, the next crucial step to take is to convince others about your ideas and why you feel your idea is more relevant. This can be very much important, especially during a job interview. You can make suggestions on how the organization can improve and also sell yourself to the job interviewer. If you have excellent persuasion, you will be able to convince the job recruiter that you are the most ideal candidate for the job.
Jobs that Require Discussion Skills
- Customer Representative: A customer representative is someone that reaches out to customers on behalf of an organization. As a customer representative, you must engage in a discussion with clients to understand their needs and their challenges with the products and services of the organization. You need to also employ discussion skills to communicate with them about the products and services of your organization on how they can utilize them.
- Doctors: when a patient is sick and he or she visits a medical doctor, he or first of all attends a consultation session with the medical doctor. This consultation session is where he discusses with the doctor the symptoms and signs his body is manifesting. The doctor will then proceed to test the patient and come up with the final diagnosis.
- Lawyers: Lawyers engage in discussion to communicate with their clients and to also persuade the court of law that their client is innocent. A lawyer first discusses with a client so that he can get information that will make him make further research about a case.
- Counseling psychologists: they discuss with clients intensively to get to know what clients are passing through and proffer solutions to the challenges that clients are facing. This discussion is known as therapy in psychology.
- Human Resource managers: They discuss with job candidates during an interview session. It is through this discussion they will get to know the job candidate that is qualified for the job. This discussion helps them to demonstrate their personality as a job recruiter and on the other side test the communication skills of the job candidate.
- Sales Representative: They utilize their discussion skills to bring foot traffic to an organization they represent. They achieve this by persuading their customers or potential customers that the product and services they offer are the best and why customers should keep on patronizing them. Discussion skills sales representative to retain their customers.
- Journalist: Journalists demonstrate discussion skills y interviewing personalities or dignitaries to know more about their life. Journalists through discussion skills interview prominent people in society and this gives the audience a glimpse into their life.
How to Include Discussion Skills on Your Resume
- Pick Your Most practical Experience at Your previous work placement: One of the best ways to showcase your discussion skills is to demonstrate one of the most remarkable experiences you had using discussion skills and the results you achieve. This will go a long way to convince the job recruiter that you are the most ideal candidate for the job. Discussion skills are needed in every job scene, you need to describe an event you engage this skill and the challenge it was able to settle.
- Demonstrate your persuasive abilities: one of the greatest results that follow a discussion skill is the ability to persuade. Discussion skills can help you to persuade someone about a particular idea. At this juncture demonstrate that you can not only discuss but you can persuade people that your idea is the best and that they should accept your ideal. Persuasive skills are very good for a business organization. Once you can demonstrate your persuasion ability which is the strength of discussion, you may able to get an interview session.
- Highlight your Skills: at this step, you need to highlight the discussion skills you possess to attract the job recruiter to your resume. You should highlight both the hard skills and soft skills you possess in the Here are some skills you can highlight:
- Active Listening
- Note-taking
- Paraphrasing
- Questioning
- Brainstorming
- Summarizing
- Critiquing
- Reflecting
- Informing
- Persuading
- Maintaining eye contact
- Giving constructive feedback
- Presentation skills
- Storytelling
- Negotiation
Examples of How to include Discussion Skills on Your Resume
Journalist Resume Sample
- Composed and edited stories to be featured on air at 6,7 and 9 am newscasts
- Performed 15+interviews including city government officials
- Engaged with the community station representative at local charity purposes and galas
- Covered a variety of subjects in hard news as well as health and well being
- Amassed four commendations from Editor-in-chief for excellence in journalism
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Sample
- Serviced pharmaceutical client accounts for 20 organizations giving revenue of $1m per year or more
- Evaluated clients’ needs based on current objectives, supply and demand, and seasonable variables
- Formulated customer relationships with more than 100 local physicians and dental practices in 3 years
- Collaborated with the sales and marketing team leaders to determine the best products to promote or withdraw.
- Surpassed sales goals by more than 15% in every quarter since being hired at the company.
Call Center Agent Resume Sample
- Utilized expert problem-solving and communication skills as a call center agent for a high-end outdoor product firm. Earned the title agent of the month 4 times.
- Labored with manufacturers and vendors to answer customer questions. Maintained a 91% service satisfaction rating for 5 years straight.
- Promptly mastered deep product knowledge for all 177 products and parts. Passed the “Level Product Knowledge” quiz with a 99% score in the first week.
- Settled customer and vendor issues quickly. The customer executive commended me and called me “the most outstanding employee” because I typically logged the most resolved calls daily.
How to Demonstrate Discussion Skills in an Interview
- Maintain Eye Contact: one of the best ways to demonstrate discussion skills during an interview is to maintain eye contact and also use non-verbal means of communication such as facial expressions or gestures. This will demonstrate to the interviewer that you are following the conversation and it is also a feedback mechanism.
- Ask Questions: Ask the interviewer follow-up questions so that the conversation can flow. In an interview, both the job candidate and the interviewer can ask one another questions. Asking questions also show that you are interested in what the interviewer is saying and that you are brainstorming in the course of the interview.
- Be a Good listener: you need to pay rapt attention to what the interviewer is saying, do not allow anything to distract you. Let your facial expression show that you are listening to the interviewer. You can nod your head or smile to show that you are following the conversation.
- Do not Argue: Do not argue with the interviewer, always remember that this is a discussion to test your language and communication skills as a job candidate. Try and maintain a friendly done and approach to the interviewer even when he asks a question that offends you.
- Maintain Clarity: do your best to maintain clarity during the interview. Be very calm and present your words.
Examples of Interview Questions to Test Discussion Skills
- How do you prefer to build relationships with others?
- How will you make complex issues simple to discuss with a client or colleague?
- How will you go about persuading someone that your idea is the best?
- How will you explain a difficult technical issue to a colleague by utilizing a less technical understanding?
- Which one is more important; a good listener or a good communicator?
- How will you rely on bad news from a colleague?
- Rate your Discussion Skills on a scale of 1 to 10. Give examples of experiences that demonstrate that the rating is accurate.
- Describe your discussion skills.
- What type of discussion do you prefer? Is it in person or over the phone?