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finally a good interview I'm in a middle of a career change right now and it's been very challenging for me to get a good flow during all these first zoom/teams/phone interviews. Fortunately I have a pretty solid resume but there are some gaps, opening for unnecessary questions and lenghty explanations that make me loose my fluency right from the start. By the end of these interviews it feels like a total failure already and I just want them to end. They were crushing at first but I knew that it is only up to me to solve so I better work harder. Then I decided to reshape my resume, cover letter and the way I'm telling the whole story so that it is streamlined and concise. I replaced or even omitted words I often block on, removing pieces from my resume for basically "cheating" and gaming my way to a more fluent speech. And even if it wasn't competely perfect in delivery, the fact that I was able to start off with a natural sounding speech and a short, rehearsed story gave me the confidence boosted needed to tackle the more spontaneous parts. It worked out great and I wish I had done this every time. So if you're struggling like me, try putting more work in practicing and perfecting your delivery before any interview or presentation. Fluent speakers do this too but for us there is definitely no way around it. It's best to choose words carefully in advance and get that elevator pitch down by heart, sneaking in a rhyme or a silent letter where it helps you. Since we can't trust our speech when it matters it's best to give it as little freedom as possible. Speech therapist advised me against such tactics but this is not about being ashamed or hiding, it's about communicating effectively.