Lessons

The lesson/assignment that I found the most helpful was the Resume assignment. It showed me how to properly format and structure my resume depending on my personal work experience and skills. It was nice being shown what type of information to include and how to go about including enough information if the experience was lacking. The cover letter was helpful too in that I have never written one before when submitting a resume to an employer. I can now see its usefulness and how it could benefit me in the future when applying for potential jobs and careers. It shows an employer that you are informed on the basics of the company and that you are genuinely interested and motivated to earn an interview there. The cover letter was helpful for me because it just gave me another way to make myself standout in an interview process.

I also liked the letter of recommendation assignment. It showed me how to give recommendations to another business person without being too pushy and without being too passive. It showed that you need to get to the point quickly and make sure your points are relevant and truthful.

My favorite blog topic was the one with the question “If you were writing a recommendation report for an audience that doesn’t know you, would you use the direct approach, focusing on the recommendation, or the indirect approach, focusing on logic”. I liked this topic because it caused me to read more into this speaking subject. It is very useful to know the difference between the direct approach and the indirect approach when speaking to an audience. Typically I would imagine myself using just the direct approach; however it made more sense to me when the book described the difference between direct and indirect as a focus on the recommendation versus a focus on logic, respectively. If I don’t know the audience, which typically I haven’t when speaking publically, it would benefit me greatly to focus more on logic rather than the recommendation itself.

Overall, I enjoyed learning more about how to properly communicate in the business world. I learned that there is a happy medium between  including too much information and not including enough information.

Feedback

Having a boss who isn’t open to ideas from his or her employees make giving feedback almost impossible. However, in order to be fully content with your job, you need to feel free to give your feedback without fear of repercussion. I would start a conversation with my boss over my concerns on this issue by first describing the atmosphere of the workplace. I would explain that if he or she could be a little more open to ideas and criticism then fellow employees would feel more comfortable and maybe even work harder. People are more likely to produce better work if they’re not worried about an uncomfortable environment. Next, I would explain to my boss why employees offer criticism. I would tell my boss that the criticism isn’t directed at him or her, but that it shows that employees are interested and want to help improve the company. It’s not a personal thing, but a company thing, and as employees, feedback and criticism shows interest. From there, I would explain to him or her how agreeing with everything he or she says just because we fear the consequences of expressing other ideas, will only hinder the company. My boss would need to understand that as employees, we are only trying to give input that we believe will benefit the company and that with the ideas of all the employees and bosses, the company has the potential to truly thrive. Agreeing with everything someone says will never let a company to improve.

Solicited Proposals

If a company receives a solicited proposal from another company, then that means that they asked for the proposal. Unsolicited proposals are those that are not requested. Is it ethical for a company to use recommendations from the proposal without hiring the submitting company? I believe it is unethical. In essence, it is stealing another company’s ideas and taking credit for it. Although I believe this to be very unethical, it is also a very common thing in the business world today. A way to avoid this would be to create a contract that is agreed to before submitting the proposal. The contract should state that the submitting company’s proposal recommendations are to not be used by the receiving company without some type of compensation whether it be hiring or just a payout. This contract would prevent the receiving company from stealing ideas without compensating the submitting company.

In the eyes of the receiving company, stealing recommendations from a company submitting a proposal that you asked for, will give you a bad reputation. If other companies are aware of your unethical tendencies, then they will most likely avoid doing business with you in order to stay away from unethical business practices.

In my opinion, if a company submits a proposal with recommendations that you agree with, then the ethical thing to do would be to hire that company to carry out those specific recommendations. They will be the one with the most knowledge of the proposal, so they are the best company to hire. If they are offering it at a price that is too high, then you should just negotiate to an agreeable price.

Recommendation to Unfamiliar Audiences

If I were writing a recommendation report for an audience that doesn’t know me, I would use the indirect approach. I would focus more on logic than on the recommendation itself. If I were part of an audience who was unfamiliar with the speaker, then I would most likely be more influenced by their appeals to logic rather than their emphasis on the recommendation itself. As a speaker speaking to an unfamiliar audience, I would remain as neutral as possible. I would avoid personal opinions and would try to base my points on facts. This would hopefully keep the audience tuned in and unhostile. I wouldn’t want to offend anyone in the audience by being so biased toward my recommendation that they fail to understand the problem and solution that I am speaking of. Logic will gain an unfamiliar audience’s attention more efficiently than opinionated statements.

According to Business Communications Essentials, there are two types of indirect approaches to logically build the conclusion or recommendation. The first is the “2+2=4 approach” which persuades readers by demonstrating that everything ultimately adds up to the conclusion. The second approach is the “yardstick approach” which uses a number of criteria to decide which option to select (263). The main goal of an indirect approach is to give the audience a valid reason as to why they should agree with the recommendation. It relies on factual evidence and logical reasoning rather than opinions. Staying away from stating opinions helps the speaker remain unbiased and will gain the audience’s attention much quicker than the direct approach.

Qualifications Summary

Having extensive professional experience in your desired career is not a requirement for including a qualifications summary in your resume. According to Business Communications Essentials, the goal of including a qualifications summary is to “let a reader know within a few seconds what you can deliver” (366). The book also suggests using a qualifications summary if you do not have extensive career experience. If work experience is lacking, then using skills acquired through education is an alternative way to create a qualifications summary.

During college, every student has that awkward point when he or she is ready to apply for real jobs but he or she has no experience to prove that it would benefit the employer to hire him or her. There is no way to avoid this lack of experience phase because we are not just born with work experience; everyone has to start somewhere. In lieu of incorporating skills achieved through past work experience, I have included skills that I acquired through education, sports, and extracurricular activities. Even though I wasn’t able to incorporate skills form work experience, it is more beneficial to include some skills than to include none at all. Qualification summaries not only give insight to employers on your capabilities, but they also show a sign of confidence in yourself. Confidence is necessary when it comes to corporate jobs. If you cannot explain to a company how you could be of benefit, then why should they choose you? Know your strengths and put them in your qualifications summary regardless of whether or not you have work experience in your desired career.

Resumes and a Career Path

In my opinion, having a clear career path in mind makes creating your resume an easier task than when you’re unsure of a career path. It helps you determine which jobs to apply for and what skills or interests to include on your resume. With that being said, not having a clear career path is not something that negatively affects your resume. It does, however, affect the way you create your resume.

When writing a resume, it is critical to understand who your audience is and to adapt your information to their needs/wants. You need to be sure to list skills relevant to the jobs they are hiring for, however you do not want to limit yourself to one specific job by blatantly stating it. According to Business Communications Essentials, “Some experts advise against including a career objective because it can categorize you so narrowly that you miss out on interesting opportunities…” (365). The book also states that it is important to remember that although you want to appeal to the employer’s needs, the most important thing is that your resume helps you to fulfill your own desires.

If I were in a situation where I had no particular career path in mind, my uncertainty would affect the format of my resume and the information I include. I would choose to write my resume in the chronological approach but would list my education first. With lack of personal experience, this would be the best layout for me. I would also include a variation of skills that I hold instead of only mentioning a specific area in which I excel. I would avoid being too detailed, but would make sure I’m not so broad to the point that it seems fake.

Presentations and Audiences

When giving a presentation, as the speaker, you need to analyze your audience. Giving an in-depth presentation on the company’s new marketing programs to marketing specialists is different than giving that same presentation to the company’s top executives. Marketing specialists know the technicalities behind marketing and want to hear the step by step implementation. They know the terminology and the processes so having a detailed speech will help them understand best.

 When presenting to company executives, you need to modify your presentation by analyzing the new audience you will be speaking to. According to Business Communications Essentials, you should “analyze why audience members are attending” and “analyze whether everybody has the same background and level of understanding”. Top executives are interested in how they can improve the company overall, so you should emphasize the main ways the new marketing program will improve the company as a whole. They don’t want the detailed and technical information because they are not as familiar with that area as the marketing specialists are. Business Communications Essentials also says that you should “analyze what the audience expects from you” and to “anticipate possible objections or questions”. Top executives typically are not going to spend their time listening to a presentation unless they believe it will be beneficial for them to hear and will result in possible knowledge that will improve the company. In order to fulfill their expectations, be sure to focus on how this new program will benefit the company. Also, you need to be sure that you are prepared for questions. Top executives will always be asking questions because they are constantly trying to find new ways to improve the company. Preparation comes from knowing your topic and knowing the audience and their level of knowledge of the subject being presented.