Communicating

Communication is how we express ourselves and share information with each other. It allows us to give and receive different kinds of information.

It's all about: talking, listening and giving and receiving information.

Your communicating skill

You’ll use your communication skills every day, whether that’s in school, work or your social life.

You communicate all the time by:

texting your friends, whether using emojis or words
writing an essay for your teacher to read
talking to your family around the table at dinner time
listening to what your instructor is teaching you at your music lessons
listening to your friends while you do activities together

Being a good communicator means you’ll build and keep strong relationships inside and outside of school or work.

Here are our top tips for developing your communication

In general: Describing what happened during your weekend to your friends. This is you giving information.
In school: Paying attention to what your teacher is saying so you can learn new things. This is you receiving information.
In work: Being able to articulate your thoughts and ideas in face-to-face meetings, calls, emails and work social channels.

Describing your communication skills to employers

Good communication is especially important to employers, so they’ll want to know you have it. Employers are looking for evidence that you can listen carefully and ask appropriate questions.

Think of times you’ve:

processed new information and acted on it
communicated with others to keep everyone informed – either verbally or in writing
adapted your communication based on who you were talking to, for example, how you speak to your teacher compared to your friends