Chapter 7-Notes - Lecture notes 7 PDF

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Book Notes for chapter seven of Business comm. book. Online course. ...

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Chapter 7 Choosing a Career 

Make sure that your career path fits your personal and financial needs before seeking a job

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If you are unsure, take an aptitude test.

Finding Job Openings 

Once you find a specific career, use online recruiting services

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Let your friends and close acquaintances know that you’re seeking employment, lots of jobs go unadvertised.

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Create an Elevator speech for job searches and the like\

Preparing Employment Documents Create a PACS plan for employment-related activities. This includes clarifying your purpose, analyzing the audience—including recruiters, managers and HR, analyzing the context—study each job description and company carefully, and develop an appropriate strategy. Application (or Cover Letters) 

These are useful to inform, persuade, and build trust with an employer when seeking a job

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These are more effective when applying to a specific position because it is easier to tailor your resume to fit their needs

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Use the OABC format:

o Include an opening that focuses on the employer’s needs, rather than an opening entirely about yourself o Show passion in your work, share experiences with their product, show a good fit with education, or mention your acquaintance with an employee. o The middle paragraphs are the paragraphs are the persuasive part of the message, so include the most convincing information here o In the last paragraph, refer the reader to your resume Resume A resume is a tool used to market yourself to an employer, use this to your advantage, but do not embellish “strengths” that are not true. If this happens, you may find. Yourself looking for a new job. You can use either chronological or functional format to create your resume, but chronological is most commonly used Chronological: Most employers are familiar with this format and prefer it, it lists the content in reverse-chronological order. Heading: Include your telephone number, name, and email address with your name larger for emphasis Summary: Create a professional summary that captures your skills, strengths and job qualifications Education and Experience: List the more impressive section first, and most recent degree or job first. Do not include high school information. Try to tie keywords of the job position into previous experience. Try to include quantifiable results. Additional Sections: Use these to include awards, special achievements, volunteer service or other relevant information

Length: One page, especially if you’re early in your career. Design: Use an attractive format and high-quality stationery. Functional Resume Guidelines: This is used to emphasize a person’s skills and competencies and de-emphasize the career path. This is used when a person doesn’t have an impressive career path or want to make a career shift. Heading: Create this in the same way as chronological Objective: For unsolicited resumes, you may include an objective that states the type of employment you are seeking. Relevant Content: Create a section to include knowledge, skills, and abilities that are relevant to the employment you are seeking. Organize under appropriate headings such as: communication skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, or technical skills Additional Sections: Create any additional sections that may be valuable to the employer.

Preparing for Interviews The employee selection process takes many forms. It starts with the review of Cover letters and resumes, and they throw out the unqualified candidates. The phase may reduce the candidates about 90%. After this, employers conduct screening interviews of 2 to 3 candidates that are on the short list. This is the first opportunity to meet face-to-face with employers. Lastly, the final stage may include many different phases including stress interviews, candidate testing, and stress intervies.

When You Are Being Interviewed Interviews often follow the business message format. They include an opening, a body and a closing. The opening often includes a warm-up phase, a questioning phase, and a closing phase.

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When the interviewer opens a question such as: “Tell me about yourself”, this is a good place to have an elevator speech to modify.

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These questions do not seek a specific question, but they do have a first impression on the person who is interviewing you

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The goal is to determine whether your personality fits the job and to see if you can complete the work adequately.

These guidelines will help with successful interviews: 1. Do your homework: Learn about the organization’s history and agenda, also keep their competitors in mind so you have a thorough understanding of the company 2. Be Prepared and On Time: Avoid unexpected delays by leaving early. Have a pen and paper to take notes 3. Dress Appropriately: Wear appropriate clothing; business casual is not casual assume a light-colored, appropriate blouse and skirt that does not come above the knee 4. Be Sensitive to Body Language: Shake hands, remain interested, and pleasant, Avoid nervous mannerisms and watch your own nonverbal language, while being aware of the interviewer’s. 5. Speak confident and clearly: Listen carefully and appropriately answer questions. Don’t dominate the interview with over-explaining. 6. Be honest!: Never lie. Be honest and genuine 7. Tie your answers to the job description: Remember to sell your qualifications and human attributes. 8. Strengthen your content: Make sure your answers are informing, interesting, and convincing. This will make the interviewer remember your response

PAR answers are good for behavioral questions. Prepare one for each major skill and ability. a. Describe a problem or situation you were in b. Explain what action you took to deal with the problem c. Highlight the Result 9. Have questions to ask the interviewer: The interview is not one-sided, have questions ready to ask about the organization. 10. Expect some surprise questions: Sometimes they’re asked, and often the interviewer is not seeing if you provide an exact response—just how you respond under pressure Phone call interviews may happen, to be prepared, do the following: 

Dress as if you were face-to-face

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Speak clearly

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Keep copies of important documents on the desk in front of you

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Have water, just in case!

When You Are Interviewing Others When you’re the interviewer, there are many things to consider such as: the comfort of the interviewee, questions, and setting. 1. Prepare well: Review the resume thoroughly to get to know the person before meeting them. Prepare questions in advance—all individuals should be asked the same questions. 2. Take good notes and record your impressions during or immediately after the interview: Evaluate each person against the factors you are using to make the hiring decision. Document each interview in case someone wants to take yo’ ass to court. 3. Start out with a brief warm-up phase to put the interviewee at ease: Ask about a hobby or something that someone is comfortable talking about.

4. Be a good listener: Provide encouraging nonverbal communication, and use reflective listening as needed. 5. Use closed and open questions effectively: Open questions are sometimes needed to get more information 6. Use probing questions appropriately: Probing questions are sometimes necessary if the interviewee is not giving detailed, or off-track answers 7. Use behavioral questions appropriately: A behavioral question is an open question to assess how an individual acted in a situation. PAR response is preffered, but probing questions may be necessary

Preparing Follow-up Letters and Recommendation Documents Additional documents are involved in the job world, including thank you letters and recommendation letters. Thank you, letters/emails: Send a letter or email to the person who interviewed you within 24 hours, include: a sincere thanks, something about the interview that you particularly enjoyed, and a statement or two reaffirming your interest in working for the organization. Recommendation Letters: When asking for people, be sure to make sure they are comfortable doing it, and provide them with a job description and a copy of your resume, highlighting areas that have relevance to the job title you’re seeking

Negotiating and Accepting Employment Offers Sometimes, the offer isn’t exactly tailored to your needs. In cases like this, negotiation can be key to getting the salary and responsibilities desired....