I’d like to share a story with you all from a young graduate of the McGuire Programme who did his first course in Düsseldorf, Germany back in 2016. Oleksandr has worked really hard on his speech over the last two years and he continues to work on his speech actively on a daily basis. Read more about Oleksandr’s latest endeavour titled ‘My Interview Experience.’
At age 17 there is no stopping Oleksandr on his journey to becoming whatever he wants in life. Well done Oleksandr and thank you for allowing us to share this inspirational story with the world.
– Emmet O’Connell, Regional Director McGuire Programme Germany
I’d like to share my experience being on the programme for almost two years now (2018). And about it all leading to a great interview experience that I’ve had this week.
I did my first course in Düsseldorf, Germany in June 2016 at the age of 15. And as I look back on these 2 years of challenging myself, experiencing big and small victories as well as making many mistakes, I can now say that those were life-changing years for me and by saying that I really mean it.
Since then I’ve completed 5 intensive courses, organised my own workshops at school, also gave many presentations and of course, ordered my own cccoffee (not pointing in a menu anymore!). Who would’ve thought I’d ever be doing any of those things? Definitely not me!
And this week I had my first ever job interview. The British Council was looking for candidates among English-speaking communities here in Prague and so they approached Prague Youth Theatre, which I’ve been a member of for a good few months now. I showed an interest and was invited to have a chat at their office.
Arriving at the venue 30 minutes earlier I used this time to call my primary coach and also to leave short voice messages to other coaches. Just to get some support and a positive mindset before I go in. And here I am, meeting my interviewers in the lobby (and probably having a scared-to-death expression on my face).
Now as all three of us have sat down and they’ve greeted me with “Thank you for coming”, I decided to use this moment as an icebreaker and replied “Well, thank you for having me!” which put a little smile on their faces.
I decided not to make a disclosure in a way “Oh, I’ve got something to tell you.”, but instead talked about my time on the McGuire programme as something positive and beneficial both for me and for the role I was applying for. I think I also managed to maintain good eye contact with them which helped me to be in the moment and remain concentrated and relaxed at the same time.
And guess what, the next day I got an email from them offering me a higher position than I was applying for. To say that I was surprised is to say nothing. I was offered the job of the chief monitor to assist during their English courses for children in the summer. Hurray!
For me, the key to success in this situation was the amazing support of coaches, and their help to change my negative self-talk to a positive one – allowing myself to be who I really am.
Making sure my costal diaphragm was relaxed and had a smooth, continuous movement, which made it easier to use the technique.
So that’s my story about what you can achieve if you don’t give up on what you’re doing. As I was typing it I could still hardly believe that I am writing about myself.
Hopefully, you’ve picked something either helpful or inspirational from this 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Kind regards
Oleksandr Koveshnikov
