Having a Voice

business

According to David Bry ‘Companies now use ‘voice analysis’ software to determine whether to hire us. And, once we’re employed, to predict if we’ll stay’

I must admit I found the article ‘Algorithms are like invisible judges that decide our fates’ by Dave Bry published on 26th April 2015 totally fascinating. They claim to have created a ‘science’ about monitoring how people use their voices and created a specific profile for this. Do they REALLY need such a thing, people have always made judgements about how people speak! They state that ‘Jobaline offers “voice profiling” to predict job success based on how candidates sound; its algorithm identifies and analyses over one thousand vocal characteristics by which it categorizes job applicants on suitability.’ The general gist of the article that this is profiling gone mad – but having spent twenty years in a profession where your voice is your best asset, it may be of use to consider your natural aptitudes in verbal communication before embarking on a particular career.

Comedic voice moments that have stayed with me include:

– ‘Loveboat’ When one of the male characters pursues what he considers to be his ‘perfect’ woman, and then when he finally meets her she has a squeaky, unappealing voice and he experiences crushing disappointment. I suspect we will never see ‘Loveboat’ again due to the rampant sexism, but this moment has always stayed with me – voices do matter!
– I always read Julie Birchil’s columns with relish, a strong feminist voice who always had an interesting and engaging angle on things, whether you agree with her or not. BUT when I heard her speak I was disappointed, her physical voice bore none of the strength of her writing!
– Carol Ann Duffy – I was underwhelmed when I heard her recite her poetry. Some of the brilliance was lost in her lack lustre voice – maybe she was having an off day?
– George W Bush has to get the number one prize for not having the voice that equates to his role as president. It wasn’t his actual voice, it was ok, it was the fact on numerous occasions it was clear that his brain wasn’t connected to the words that came out of his mouth. He could passably read a speech, but if anyone asked him to be spontaneous

Losing your voice

Until I lost my voice myself, it always seemed to me that people were putting it on. On occasions when I have lost my voice, combined with the fact that in teaching I had to be near death to take a day off, I would (ridiculously in hindsight) struggle through lessons in a whisper. I was also astounded to hear a colleague of mine had to observe a lesson where the teacher had lost her voice and pointed and made hand gestures…which is bizarre, but in addition to this they were also due to go on a job interview and when questioned about how she would cope with no voice. She then revealed her ipad and proudly demonstrated how she had pre-answered the questions for interview by programming her iPad to respond for her. Funnily enough, she didn’t get the job!This doesn’t compare with the Turkish President, who wanted to go ahead with addressing his people, despite the fact his normal commanding voice had been reduced to a pathetic squeak. A hilarious montage was compiled and unfortunately my only knowledge of the Turkish President is through this clip, I doubt this would be the moment he would have chosen to claim worldwide recognition!

A Commanding voice

We have a lovely friend who is by nature very laid back and very quietly spoken. When he announced his desire to teach we were surprised, but thought this was something which he could develop. This is within the context I struggled to hear him in normal situations and with no background noise. He did qualify – just – but, he didn’t last as a teacher for long. Without an instinctive commanding voice at the very best, and at the very least the capacity for volume this is a no go area. He is happily working away in IT – no voice needed!

As female trainee teachers we were also taught to lower our voices when ‘shouting’ to get order – there is nothing more excruciating than when a female teacher’s voice reaches dog whistle territory when shouting at a class. The lower your voice, the more authoritative you sound. This may sound sexist, but unfortunately it is totally true.

Over the years I have worked with people who would not speak in assembly to a year group of students. They avoided this at all cost – including a Deputy Head who had ggzhad a bad experience and would NOT stand in front of parents or students – in fact most of the parents and more worryingly, most students, thought she was the Head’s PA. In some situations, if you do embark on a particular career, you do have to overcome such nerves and TRAIN and practice – get over it, its your job!

I have been told I have a ‘sing song’ voice and people enjoy listening to the rhythm of it too – which I accept as a compliment. On a recent visit to a friend’s primary school her colleague commented that she could tell I was secondary trained because of how I engaged and spoke with the primary students – and my friend responded with by explaining that I spoke the toddlers in the same way when I ran the toddler group, which is true! Clear instruction, using the appropriate tone – you can’t go wrong! Therefore it is not just about sound, it is how you use tone. No one likes being patronised or babied, it is a major insult. There is nothing more depressing than witnessing a secondary teacher babying lower ability students through a lesson.

The importance of your voice

Learning to speak well, projecting your voice, recognising levels of formality and using tone correctly are all excellent skills to develop. But be warned – they are profiling you, so make sure you get it right, it may be the reason you don’t get that ‘dream job’. I want to be able to say, do what you like, but realistically I can’t, but it may be worth considering whether your voice suits your job, maybe it is time for a change?

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