Welcome to MSL talk with Tom Caravella, a podcast specifically designed for MSL and all things field medical. Hey, guys. Welcome to the podcast. Today is a special solo episode where we're gonna talk about filler words and the problem that needs to be fixed that you didn't even know you had. We all do it. We all use filler words, and we're gonna talk about the importance of eliminating them and how to do it.
But before we get to that, wanted to remind you guys to sign up for the AI and medical affairs conference coming up January 28th 29th in Philadelphia through momentum events. Use code MSL 15 and get 15% off. And if you're looking for more information, go to aimedicalaffairs.com or follow me on LinkedIn where you'll see announcements. I will be there. I'd love to see you guys as well. This episode is also sponsored by MSL Mastery. Go to MSL Mastery.com.
If you're an MSL or if you're an aspiring MSL and you're looking for programs that are gonna help you either land a position in medical affairs or level up if you are an MSL. Check it out. MSL mastery.com. So guys, I'm coming to you live. Well, not live. Actually, this is recorded, but I am live in Boca Raton, Florida. It's kind of funny if you're watching me on YouTube. You'll see it's like I almost look like I'm in a prison cell because there's just a blank wall behind me.
I'm actually outside, and I'm shooting this outside in Florida. And, and I'm excited to talk to you guys about this because here's the thing. We all use filler words. If we're not aware of it, it could actually hurt us. And nobody's really the one thing about filler words is no one's really telling you that you use them.
Unless you have a coach or unless there's somebody that gives you feedback from an interview or you have somebody that is in your corner, you're probably going through your normal day using words like, or or like, you know, so actually, sometimes people will after they say something, they'll say, right? I mean so basically, filler words are the things that we say habitually that we don't realize we say.
And it can actually be really problematic problematic professionally, more so than personally, but it could also have an effect on the way we're perceived personally as well. So and just to give you let's talk some statistics, but just to give you an idea of how prevalent this is. There was a study done in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior that found that filler words actually occur about once every 10 seconds in casual conversation.
It's actually a little bit less professionally, but they tracked people's nonverbal behavior, And it's as much as 10 seconds in casual conversation. And, guys, just so you know, like, I actually have clients in on the talent acquisition side. So internal corporate recruiters that make a practice of jotting down and keeping track of how many times people are using a certain filler word. And then they'll share that with the hiring team to say, well, I spoke to so and so, and I interviewed them.
And in a 20 or 30 minute phone interview or a 20 or 30 minute zoom interview, I, they said, you know, 47 times or whatever. So it is an important thing whether you believe it or not, whether you know it or not. It also has a lot to do with age of demographics. So there's statistics that show that younger individuals between 1834 tend to use filler words more often, especially words like, you know, like, and, so what is the impact of filler words? Why why is this such a big deal?
Why am I dedicating a whole podcast to this concept? Well, I can tell you that there are so many people that are on the job market or looking to get promoted. They're gonna be interviewing. They're gonna be doing presentations. They're gonna be in meetings and don't even realize how they're coming across. Unless you guys are recording yourselves and you can actually see it, and even then, you're probably on your best behavior, so it might not be actual.
You probably don't realize how often you're doing this. And the thing is filler words are going to give the impression that you might be nervous or unsure of yourself or lack confidence, or are just unprepared. None of which is going to serve you or help you, especially in an interview or a presentation or a business meeting. If you're in a professional setting, you want to come across as confident and articulate. So I'm gonna share some key insights and statistics just to show you, the impact.
So number 1, perceived competence. In a 2018 study from the University of Pennsylvania, it was found that speakers using fewer filler words were rated as more persuasive and competent. Clarity and understanding. Filler words disrupt the flow of communication, making it harder for listeners to follow the message. So it can actually lead to misunderstandings and especially in high stakes scenarios, like I said before, like interviews and presentations and business meetings.
Let's talk about interview performance. Hiring managers often report that excessive use of filler words become a distraction and can lead to not moving forward with that candidate. According to a LinkedIn survey, 36% of recruiters considered lack of clear communication a major interview during interviews, all tied to filler words. And then, audience engagement.
You know, audiences have been shown to be more likely to tune out or just completely lose interest when a speaker frequently and habitually incorporates filler words. It just reduces the overall engagement in a presentation, does the same thing in meetings. So, clearly, this is something that I think is real just super important. And it's, I I think, fairly I shouldn't say easy because I'm not gonna say it's easy to eliminate completely eliminate filler words.
But I do think that there are some very, very practical ways where you can find success in getting rid of these filler words that you may not know were sabotaging your your interviews and your meetings. So I'm gonna talk about 5 ways to easy pretty easy ways to eliminate filler words. So follow me on this, guys.
If you are driving, consider maybe watching this again at another time or listening to it again and maybe taking notes, because I think that these are real easy things that you could just jot down, as a way to help you with this. So the first step or number 1, I should say, is preparation. Preparation is key. And what I mean by preparation is is you need to educate yourself maybe through some sort of research.
So the the idea of of preparing yourself, let's say, for an interview, or a presentation. Let's talk about an interview first. That's probably the easiest way to talk about this. Know your resume inside and out. Study it. Memorize it. Be able to talk about every aspect of your resume. Because when you're in an interview, you're gonna get asked about that. Know the job description inside it out. You're gonna be asked about it. You're gonna probably have to refer to it.
You're gonna need it during the course of that interview. So if you educate yourself and do the research and you know the job description front to back, back to front, it's only going to help you be more confident in your presentation, and you're not going to have to incorporate keywords because you're not going to be stumbling all over the place. Research the company. This is huge.
One of the things that I tell everyone when it comes to interviews is you're probably going to be asked the question, why do you want to work for our company? And even if you're not asked that question, you probably should insert that into at least one of your answers.
So you need to be prepared to understand or have an have an understanding of the company, the facts about the company, information, things that you can present within the course of the conversation, within the course of the interview, that's just gonna make you look more polished, more prepared. And it's not it's going to prevent you from having to find words. I think one of the reasons people use filler words is because they fill a gap.
We fill a gap with, or, or like because we're just not prepared. So preparation is key. The more prepared you are in any situation if yeah. Let's just say you have a presentation. Obviously, memorize memorize it inside and out so that there's zero question as to your ability to recall the information that you're presenting. That's gonna be a huge help for you. So preparation is number 1. Number 2 is practice. I talk about this all the time when it comes to interviews.
I talk about this all the time when it comes to presentations. But how often do we actually practice? Do we practice out loud? Do we practice in front of the mirror? Do we record ourselves ever? Because if you did, you'd probably recognize and pick up on the things that you're doing habitually that are not serving you. You'll probably identify the filler words that you're using consistently, and that at least draws attention to what it is that you should eliminate.
A lot of people don't even know what they should eliminate. But by doing this, by practicing and by putting yourself in a situation to know what the problem is, it's gonna help you eliminate it now. But but the the whole point of practice is to make it so that you don't have to look for any words to fill in any gaps. It's same thing as preparation only. This is actually putting it into effect. The practice is the the is the the verb. It's the action item within this whole preparation piece.
I would say that if you're, like, for example, if you're gonna be going on an interview, you wanna think about and maybe review the common interview questions and practice your responses. By doing that, you're going to be not only ready, but you'll be able to effectively, confidently present the proper answer, come across more more confidently, and not have to find keyword filler words. I think if you get to a point where you can practice out loud and recognize that you have it down.
You like to have it down cold without having to without noticing any filler words, without having any pauses or any gaps, then you know that that question you could check that question off, then you go to the next one. You practice the next one, then you go to the next one. You don't always have to practice in front of a mirror. You don't always have to practice in front of a friend. You don't always have to record yourself. A lot of times, that's just not feasible.
But the idea of taking question one question at a time and being able to get it down cold so that you know, okay. I have that one. I'm going to the next one. Same thing with the presentation. One of the things that people struggle with is they they don't know how to practice the presentation, and they and therefore, they think that they've done enough practice when they actually haven't done enough practice.
So I think that when you're preparing a presentation, whether it's for an interview or for a business meeting, what you wanna do is you want to set aside several practice sessions, not 1 or 2. I'm saying probably 6 or 7 practice sessions where you're going from start to finish. You're recording yourself. You're watching that recording. Maybe you're doing it in front of a friend.
And then that way you'll truly understand whether or not there are filler words in there or what areas of that presentation you need to do a better job in. So practice is number 2, and and it's it's really, really super important. It's pretty obvious, but it's super important because the more rehearsed you are, the less you're gonna fall into this trap. You're also going to identify what the filler words are.
Number 3. And this is a huge one, and this is something that I've actually learned and used myself to help me eliminate filler words, and that is to slow down. So when I first started doing this podcast, and I'm not talking about, like, solo episodes. I'm talking about when I just first started doing this, I I almost never listened to the episodes. I just kinda let it rip, and I'm like, alright. This is it. I'll just put it out there, and it is what it is.
And then over the course of time, I'm like, I wanna get better at this. Let me go back and start to critique myself, which is kinda painful because no one likes to hear their own voice. They don't no one likes the sound of their own voice. Right? So it's kinda painful. And I went back and listened. I'm like, wow. I really stick at this.
I'm just I could do such a better job slowing down and pausing a little bit, giving yourself a little time to think, and just changing the cadence in your answers. Let's say on an interview or even when you're presenting information, when you rush, it just kinda throws you off, and it puts you in a situation where it's almost like feel like when you rush, you're lacking clarity, or it's putting you the pace is is can can throw you off.
So one of the things that I recommend, and do this as you practice, is try to slow down and be mindful of your pace. So when you're practicing, what is the optimum optimal pace for you? Where are you most comfortable? And just keep in mind that you're you're better off finding a pace that's not too fast and not too slow. I wouldn't say slow down to the point where you're now putting people to sleep, or it sounds like you're stoned and you're, you know, on something and you're being sedated.
You don't want that. You wanna maintain a level of confidence in your presentation, which is still going to happen. But if you're if you're too fast, it's gonna probably come off as you're nervous. If you're too slow, it's gonna be awkward. So the idea is to find the right pace, but most people, most people, including me, need to slow down. Number 4. So number 4 is another technique that I had to learn that helped me a lot, and that's embracing the pause.
So it goes hand in hand with slowing down. Slowing down is really kind of more about the pace. Pausing is really more about the impact. So when you learn to embrace a pause, it's giving you the ability to think a bit in between answers. It's also giving the other person the ability and the respect to know that you're not rushing through. You're not rushing them, and you're not rushing through the answers. Instead of saying, or, or any type of filler word, you just pause.
So the pause is still a bit of a gap. But it's not an awkward gap with a habitual filler word. It this actually might be a little awkward at first. But when you practice it, it starts to become natural. But the art of the the art of the pause is a very, very effective communication strategy and technique that's going to make you sound and become more professional and more confident. You just have to practice it.
But pausing and learning how to pause is gonna help you, especially in interviews, because it gives you the ability. It's like if you ever saw a good debate, somebody that's really good at debating, they pause a lot. But they don't pause because it's awkward. They pause because they're giving themselves the ability to just collect their thoughts for for even a couple of seconds.
And then when they speak, then it it it shows a level of confidence, especially when when they they're obviously rehearsed and practiced, and they're ready to present the information that they're confident in. So number 4 is embrace the pause. And number 5, and this is really important, you need to stay mindful and self aware. What are the most important things?
And this actually number 5 should probably be number 1, but I put it at number 5 to just remind everyone that you need to be mindful of the fact that you use filler words sometimes, that that you have speech habits. A lot of times, we develop speech habits, and we're not aware of it. And then we become aware of it. We may get better at it, but then we fall back into bad habits.
So the idea of being mindful and self aware is really just a reminder to try to catch yourself and correct yourself and stay on track with this. The techniques that we're talking about, these best practices, let's call them, they they have to be incorporated consistently. They have to be you have to develop the habit of doing all of these things, or you're gonna wind up falling back into this habitual speech pattern, I guess I guess we can call it.
And it it then becomes equally as hard to break it again. Because sometimes what I've seen is people, they develop new habits and different habits. And the reason this happens, to be honest, like and I don't wanna get off on the psychology of this, but a lot of times it's a we become a product of our environment. Sometimes we are being managed by someone or we're in a certain environment where it becomes commonplace for people to speak in a certain way. They may have a certain tone.
There may be certain phrases. One of the things I see a lot in professionals, and it I think they these these people may think that they're coming off as more authoritative, but it's it's just another filler word is when people say right after a sentence, like an affirmation, and it may come off like this. Well, you know, we have found in studies that people that use less filler words, they become more confident. Right? Like, I know this, and I'm just checking in to show to tell you.
And then I'm seeing and now saying, right? Like, now you know it. It's like an authoritative kind of thing. Probably a bad example I just used. But here's the thing. The thing is that's learned behavior. The reason I mentioned that specifically is sometimes I'll see people that wind up using filler words because others in their group wind up talking the same way and using the same kind of filler words.
So be mindful, be self aware, don't fall into habits, patterns, or be influenced by others that may wind up using certain words. Even though it might seem like, okay. Well, that's just what we do. I think developing your own style, developing your own presentation, your own cadence, pace, your your own presentation style, and having your own brand of communication is really key. And it takes time, and it evolves, and it might continue to evolve. I'm still I'm still working on mine.
I mean, listen, I'm I'm I'm a guy from Jersey that that's, you know, that has a heavy kind of Jersey, New York accent to a certain extent where I I try to at least present myself in such a way where my my speech patterns are tolerable at best. So I work at this. This is actually one of the reasons why I wanted to present this to you guys because I know how important this is.
It not just in interviews, not just professionally, but if you're, I don't know, if you're out on a date with somebody, you certainly don't wanna come across as more, immature maybe or nervous or unsure of yourself or lack confidence, which comes with the repeated use of filler words. So, guys, I hope this was helpful. I wanted to just put this together in such a way that it made sense. This isn't rocket science, guys.
I mean, this is this is just an observation and something that I wanted to share with you guys at this time of year because I thought, you know what? We're coming into come the end of 1 year. We're coming into the beginning of another year. And this is one of those, I think, self improvement hacks that will make all of us better. I know it's been really great for me.
I've certainly tried to do better with it, and I wish and hope the best for all of you guys and hope that this information was helpful. So if you enjoyed this, as always, please share this. I appreciate all your support of this podcast. Don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn, and, love you guys. I'll see you next time. Thank you so much for listening to the show.
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