Business Communication Today, Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Building Careers and Writing Resumes.

Most people think that when they give there resume when applying they are grantee a job at that company, well think again. A resume is only there to get you in the door.  It sure won’t get you the job. But getting in the door now a day is very hard. This chapter shows you how to make you stand out from the rest.  One key thing to remember is that a resume shouldn’t have your whole life story on it. A resume should only have things relevant to the job you are applying to. About only 95% of resume get seen, the rest are seen for about 5mins. When the look at your resume they want to know “why should I call this person?” make sure to make your resume short. Less is more. Showing volunteer jobs are good, especially when during gaps between jobs. Also put down internships, this way it looks as though you did something during your time off. You don’t want people thinking you were a bum at home. Make yourself look productive and outgoing. Make sure self a go-getter. With your resume, you have 3seconds, so make it catch attention.

Some key words to use in your resume are: (pg. 536)
Accomplished            Demonstrated                Joined                       Streamlined
Achieved                   Developed                    Launched                  Strengthened
Administered             Directed                        Maintained                Succeeded
Approved                  Established                   Managed                   Supervised
Arranged                   Explored                      Motivated                 Systematized 
Assisted                    Forecasted                   Operated                   Targeted
Assumed                  Generated                     Organized                 Trained
Budgeted                  Identified                      Oversaw                    Transformed
Chaired                     Implemented                Participated                 Upgraded
Changed                    Improved                    Performed
Complied                   Initiated                       Planned
Completed                 Installed                       Proposed
Coordinated               Introduced                  Recommended
Created                     Investigated                  Sparked

                      

A good tip is also getting a quote from a professor or old employer and put it on the top of your resume. Something you should never do no matter what is lie on your resume. Some companies even hire private investigator to do background checks on you to make sure what you say is true before hiring you. So don’t ever lie. Also write your resume in “their language” meaning use their corporate jargon. Use the terms that the company uses, this shows them you know what they are talking about.
For your career objective, you should be whatever the company wants. “Show the love” by showing them there is where you want to be. That is your objective, their company. “That is your dream”, in reality it doesn’t have to be but they need to believe that it is because why would they want someone who doesn’t want it as bad.
Also something that most people don’t do but would be very cool is adding a link on resume about yourself. Give a link about a 5 minute intro about yourself on youtube. Make sure to be in a tie and suit and prepare a speech.

How to Create a Resume

Business Communication Today, Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Writing Reports and Proposals


Proposals are written for both internal and external. Internal proposals request decisions from managers within the organization, such as proposals to buy new equipment or launch a new research project.

Long and complex reports demand a lot from readers, making the “you” attitude especially important. Your report can be read for several months or years after you wrote them and people you never thought would see it can. So make sure your proposal is flawless here are some things to remember. 

Crafting Report Content: (pg.409-410)

·         Accurate: the information provide by you must be accurate and factually correct. Always double check your facts before giving in your report. You don’t want someone to call you out on your own words. Also make sure grammar is correct and that there aren’t any typos.

·         Complete: to help your audience make informed decisions, include all the information necessary for readers to understand the situation, problem, or proposal. Make sure to add appropriate combination of illustration, explanations, and facts.

·         Balanced: it is important to present all sides of the issues fairly and equitably and to include all the essential information. Even if this doesn’t support your side but it shows that you are being fair and honest to your reader making them trust your instincts.

·         Clear and Logical: making sure your sentences are uncluttered saves your reader time. Make sure to use well chosen words and proceed logically. Make the transition form one point to the other clear to your reader. Don’t ramble.

·         Documented properly: when you use primary and secondary sources for your report, make sure to properly cite your work. You want to make sure you don’t take credit for something you didn’t do. In chapter 11 it helps you how to do this. 

Here is a link to a sample business proposal:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/244716/sample-business-proposal

Business Communication Today, Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Designing Visual Communication

To make sure to get your point across visual communication is essential. The power of an image goes a long way. Like words, visuals often carry connotative or symbolic meanings.  Some good tips for visual design are following these principles: (pg.344)

·   Consistency:  you can achieve visual parallelism in a variety of ways, including through consistent use of color, shape, size. Texture, position, scale, or type face.

·   Contrast:  to highlight the different ideas, illustrate objects in contrasting colors, shapes, or sizes.

·   Balance:  it can go two ways, formal or informal. Formal is where the elements of the images are fixed to fit symmetrically around a single point. Informal is where the elements don’t tribute evenly. However, it can show the differences between stronger objects and weaker ones with different sizes.

·   Emphasis: to demonstrate your most important information using bright colors to catch people attention.  Make it the most dominant element in your representation.

·   Convention: just as written communication visual communication is guided by an array of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage conventions.

·   Simplicity: as a general rule, simple is better. Even when it comes to visuals for business communication. Too much of anything will lose your audience. Simple and to the point is always great to get your message across.

Verbal

Information Retained

Studies show that people remember

·         10% of what they hear and

·         20% of what they read, but about

·         80 percent of what they see and do

Verbal + Visual

Information Retained

Studies show that people remember:

·         10% of what they hear

·         20% of what they read

·         80% of what they see and do

Knowing what visual design to use is crucial. Here are some ideals.

v  To present individual exact values

Ø   Table

Example:

v  To show trends in one or more objects, or the relationship between them, over time

Ø  Line chart

Example:     

v  To compare two or more sets of data

Ø  Bar chart

Example:

v  To show frequency or distribution of parts in a whole

Ø  Pie chart

Example:

v  To compare entities against two or three variables

Ø  Scatter charts, bubble charts

Example: Scatter chart  

Bubble chart

v  To show massive data sets, complex quantities, or dynamic data

Ø  Data visualization

Example:  

And

Always remember that your visual must show what you are trying to say.

Powerpoint On Effective Visual Design  

Business Communication Today, Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Finding, Evaluating, and Processing Information

Make sure to support your messages with solid research. The worst thing you can do is plagiarize. If you get caught plagiarizing as a student that will go on your record and will make it hard to get a degree anywhere after. If you get caught and you work for a company then you might get sued and fired from your job. Always make sure to give credit where credit is due, your source. A company may even ask for their money back because since its not your work then its not your money.

The research process: (pg. 315)

1.      Plan: Maintain research ethic and etiquette. Familiarize yourself with the subject; develop problem statement. Identify information gaps. Prioritize research.

2.      Locate data and information: evaluate sources. Collect secondary information at the library, online, or elsewhere. Document your sources. Collect primary information through surveys and interviews.

3.      Process data and information: Quote, paraphrase, or summarize textual information. Analyze numerical information.

4.      Apply your findings: summarize findings. Draw conclusions. Make recommendations.

5.      Manage information: make research results available to other via your company’s knowledge management system.

Surveys: If you can’t find information online, a good tip is creating a survey. Just make sure that if you do create a survey that you get enough people to fill it out or else it will be useless. You cant have 10 people fill out a survey because then the margin error will be huge if there are 100s of people out there. Small numbers are not very representative. One thing about surveys is you can manipulate the outcome of the survey with leading questions. Basically, with your questions you can get people to say what you want. Not that this is what you should do but you can. However I would say not to do this because in the end it won’t help in your research.

Conducting a Survey: (pg. 328)

·         Provide clear instructions.

·         Keep the questionnaire short and easy to answer.

·         Whenever possible, formulate questions to provide answer that are easy to analyze.

·         Avoid leading questions

·         Avoid ambiguous questions.

·         Ask only one question at a time

·         Make the survey adaptive

Examples: Types of Surveys (pg.329)

Multiple Choice: Use a multiple-choice question when you want your respondents to choose the best possible answer among all options presented.

Example

What is your current marital status? (Select one.)
Single
Married
Divorced
Separated
Widowed

Likert-Scale: Use a Likert-scale question when you are trying to determine respondents’ attitudes or feelings about something.

Example

How important do you think SAT scores are to a college student’s success? (select one):

Not very important 1   2   3   4   5   Extremely important

Focus Groups:

     They don’t work! Normally during a focus group they give people free stuff and this makes people feel like they need to say something good even if it’s a lie. This is a technique they use to make you bend what you really think to not look bad. When in a focus group they tend to buy you in. they do this so when you do say something bad you look like a jerk after they just gave you a free gift.

Helpful Links: Learn how to make your own survey.

 http://www.zoomerang.com/free-account-surveys/?_kk=create%20survey&gclid=CIuysoja9qUCFRVx5QodalNzqQ