Hello
Currently a sophomore at Stern attempting to get into IB, but I have a little bit of a unique situation. I have a mild - moderate stutter, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I should approach this in regard to networking. Personally, I prefer to point out that I stutter at the start of the conversation/email them before, because my main concern is that they may misidentify my stutter for being nervous/unprepared. Is this something I should continue to do, and if so, should I send an email/message before the conversation, or bring it up during the conversation? Or is this something that I should just not bring up? Thanks!
I do not stutter so I have not faced your dilemma, OP. Here is what I would consider doing...
1. Do not mention it in the email.
2. Mention it on the phone/zoom/coffee meeting early. Like "Hey nice to meet you/thanks for taking the time. Just a heads up I have a stutter so don't get scared/feel weird etc" In other words embrace it. It's you and that's totally cool.
Remember (and this is not a political statement) Joe Biden is President of the USA and he has a stutter. No need to let it own you/bring you down.
Godspeed and Good Luck
Edited to add: [BumbleBee45] beat me to it on Biden...
I’d only add that disclose your stutter with a smile / positive attitude so your interviewers don’t feel awkward/feel like you are fishing for sympathy. Candidates that I went out of my way to help were always the ones with really good attitude despite some sort of challenges in life. These stories just energizes everyone so own up to it and be confident!
you could poke fun at it and say something like "oh btw just a heads up, it might sound like I have bad cell service but I just have a stutter sometimes haha"
(disclaimer: don't have a stutter but my mindset is to try to own my shortcomings and be able to laugh at them)
I have a mild stutter as well. The key is to never let it discourage you. Stuttering is psychological. If you let it control some of your decisions, then it will start to control more and more of your life. I would recommend speech therapy as well. Therapy has helped me a lot.
When recruiting, I never mentioned it, but I think it can be a good idea to mention it since it’s such a commonly known issue (our president has a stutter). Don’t be afraid to stutter. Half of stuttering is the fear of stuttering, not the stuttering itself. Good luck man!!
Make a joke of it at the start of the call like “btw I have a stutter so if I do take some long pauses don’t worry it’s not the connection” but this should be more to make you feel comfortable than for them.
I don’t think you should feel the need to tell them for their sake, it’s a speech impediment and nothing more, if you stutter you stutter.
Stern grad here (A2A at BofA/CS/Citi) I suffer from a pretty moderate stutter and it was for sure a concern of mine during the recruiting process. Slowing down my speech definitely helped me power through my flare ups on those networking calls. You are stronger than your stutter and overcoming the impediment will make you even stronger!! Jack Welch, Jes Staley did just fine with their stutters