Why the person in the meeting doesn’t sound like the person in the CV.
This dimension measures whether the real person comes through in English: the judgement, the humour, the seniority that colleagues in your first language take for granted.
Three moments people recognise
The two versions of the same engineer
Sharp, funny and decisive in Mandarin at lunch. Careful, flat and formal in English at two o’clock. The business only meets the second one.
The scripted answer
The rehearsed lines came out perfectly and sounded like rehearsed lines. The interviewer wrote down “hard to read”.
The personality tax
Every joke skipped, every aside dropped, every opinion rounded off. Safe, and invisible.
Why it happens under pressure
When the language channel is under load, personality is the first thing rationed. Speakers retreat to safe stock phrases, and the room meets a smaller version of them. Over months this compounds into a reputation: capable, quiet, not leadership material. The CV said otherwise. The meetings outvoted it.
The fix is not performance tricks. It is measuring how much of the person survives the channel, then widening the channel where the score says it narrows.
How it is scored
The SignalCheck scores whether the delivery sounds like a person or a script: range, natural phrasing, and whether the speaker’s actual judgement and character reach the room under pressure.
In the written report this dimension appears as Authenticity.
Natural delivery, scored on the same 100 point scale
The same bands are used in every session, so a score today can be compared with a score three months later.
SampleFive fixed bands
- Foundation0 to 40the room meets a script
- Emerging41 to 54glimpses of the person, mostly stock phrasing
- Developing55 to 69natural in calm stretches, flattening under pressure
- Strong70 to 84recognisably the same person as in their first language
- Exceptional85 to 100full range, under pressure, in English
This dimension rarely travels alone.
Measure it, then work on it.
A SignalCheck scores this dimension alongside the other four, under the same pressure, on the same bands. The report says where you stand and what to change first.
Not ready for a call? Take the free SignalScan first. 5 minutes, two of your five dimensions scored. It opens in August. Join the list