UNIT 4

Employment Oriented Communication

To represent your professional information in writing

To demonstrate the relationship between your professional information and the problem or
challenge the potential employer hopes to solve or address, often represented in the form of a job
description or duties

To get you an interview by clearly demonstrating you meet the minimum qualifications and have
the professional background help the organization meet its goals

An online profile page is similar to a résumé in that it represents you, your background and
qualifications, and adds participation to the publication. People network, link, and connect in
new ways via online profiles or professional sites like LinkedIn. In many ways, your online
profile is an online version of your résumé with connections and friends on public display. Your
MySpace and Facebook pages are also often accessible to the public, so never post anything you
wouldn’t want your employer (current or future) to read, see, or hear. This chapter covers a
traditional résumé, as well as the more popular scannable features, but the elements and tips
could equally apply to your online profile.

Main Parts of a Résumé

Regardless of the format, employers have expectations for your résumé. They expect it to be
clear, accurate, and up to date (Bennett, 2005). This document represents you in your absence,
and you want it to do the best job possible. You don’t want to be represented by spelling or
grammatical errors, as they may raise questions about your education and attention to detail.
Someone reading your résumé with errors will only wonder what kind of work you might
produce that will poorly reflect on their company. There is going to be enough competition that
you don’t want to provide an easy excuse to toss your résumé at the start of the process. Do your
best work the first time.
Résumés have several basic elements that employers look for, including your contact
information, objective or goal, education and work experience, and so on. Each résumé format
may organize the information in distinct ways based on the overall design strategy, but all
information should be clear, concise, and accurate (Simons & Curtis, 2004).

Contact Information

This section is often located at the top of the document. The first element of the contact
information is your name. You should use your full, legal name even if you go by your middle
name or use a nickname. There will plenty of time later to clarify what you prefer to be called,
but all your application documents, including those that relate to payroll, your social security
number, drug screenings, background checks, fingerprint records, transcripts, certificates or
degrees, should feature your legal name. Other necessary information includes your address,
phone number(s), and e-mail address. If you maintain two addresses (e.g., a campus and a
residential address), make it clear where you can be contacted by indicating the primary address.

Objective

This is one part of your résumé that is relatively simple to customize for an individual
application. Your objective should reflect the audience’s need to quickly understand how you
will help the organization achieve its goals.

Education

You need to list your education in reverse chronological order, with your most recent degree
first. List the school, degree, and grade point average (GPA). If there is a difference between the
GPA in your major courses and your overall GPA, you may want to list them separately to
demonstrate your success in your chosen field. You may also want to highlight relevant
coursework that directly relate to the position.

Work Experience

List in reverse chronological order your employment history, including the positions, companies,
locations, dates, duties and skills demonstrated or acquired. You may choose to use active,
descriptive sentences or bullet lists, but be consistent. Emphasize responsibilities that involved
budgets, teamwork, supervision, and customer service when applying for positions in business
and industry, but don’t let emphasis become exaggeration. This document represents you in your
absence, and if information is false, at a minimum you could lose your job.
Cover Letter

Cover letters should be different for every job seeker. They allow an opportunity for your
personality to come through and elaborate on your unique qualifications related to the job
description. Keep that in mind while taking inspiration from the cover letter examples below.
Also note that the name “cover letter” is misleading. Rarely will a cover letter be read as an
introduction to your resume. If your resume passes the test, only then will your cover letter be
able to boost your candidacy. At bigger companies, you’ll likely be contacted by a recruiter
based on the strength of your resume before a cover letter even makes it to the hiring manager.

Your cover letter could push you over the top, but your resume will get you in the door. Make
sure it hit addresses the top skills mentioned in the job description, contains the measurable
results recruiters want to see, and is compliant with applicant tracking system algorithms.

COVER LETTER EXAMPLES

Every cover letter should be approached the same way: based on the job you are applying for and
your experience. However, writing a cover letter for an internship can be a little trickier, since
you’re likely applying for the internship with little to no previous experience.

Since your biggest tool when applying for jobs is previous relevant experience, you might think
you’re out of luck if you don’t have experience. Not true! Remember, everyone starts out with no
experience. Volunteer work can be very valuable and should be mentioned in a cover letter if it is
relevant. Consider picking up some relevant unpaid work to help you in your search for an
internship or job.

Think of your education as your work experience. In the first paragraph, introduce yourself to the
hiring manager and tell them about what you are studying and why you are interested in the
offered job.

In the next paragraph, explain your goals for the rest of your education and your future career
(just the next few years). Make sure the goals you mention are relevant to the job for which you
are applying. For example, don’t tell the hiring manager of a marketing agency that your goal is
to be a Veterinarian.

In the final paragraph, thank the hiring manager for his or her time and leave your contact
information as well as a mention of any attached files. This paragraph is the same as it would be
for a paid job.
Preparing For The Interview

Find out as much as you can about the company.

Look at their website, and any information that they have sent you, and see if you can find their
mission, objectives, any value statements and the like. It’s helpful to be familiar with the
organisation’s guiding principles. Also try to find out how the job that you have applied for fits
into the organisation.

Make a list of the questions about the organisation, ideally around work, such as the team you
will be working with, or the work that you will be doing on a daily basis. It’s OK to ask about
the on-site gym and the holiday allowance, but don’t sound as if you’re only interested in getting
away from work!

It’s probably not a great idea to ask whether you’ll be able to work part-time at this stage. Either
you should already have done that before applying, or you need to be prepared to work the hours
stated.

About you

You need to sit down with the person specification and your application, and develop some new
examples of how you meet at least a few of the requirements. It is fine to talk about the examples
on your application form or CV/covering letter, but it’s useful to have a few new ones too.
Describe the situation in one sentence or less, and focus on your actions, the results that you
achieved, and how you knew you were successful.It’s also helpful to prepare answers for some
of the standard icebreakers, such as ‘Tell me a bit about your current job’, or ‘Tell me why
you’ve applied for this job’. Your answers should focus on your skills, and how you can use
them in the new job, again based around the person specification. Don’t learn them off by heart,
but have a good idea of what you want to say.

Tests and Presentations

Some interviews require you to make a short presentation, or to take a test. The details will
always be included in the letter inviting you to interview, so you’ll have time to prepare. If
you’ve been asked to make a presentation, don’t assume that there will be PowerPoint, or that
you’ll be standing in front of a group.You may be invited to bring a handout. It’s worth spending
a bit of time making a one-page handout that fully summarises your presentation, whether it’s a
mind-map, a picture of some sort, or your five key take-home messages. Have a look at our page:
Creative Thinking for some ideas. Think about what you want them to remember from your
presentation, and make sure that’s clear from your handout.

Attending the Interview -Some General Dos and Don’ts

Arrive in good time. The interview panel may be interviewing a lot of candidates so do not keep
them waiting.

Dress appropriately. Some organisations, especially technology companies, have a very casual
dress code but, for most, a suit will be appropriate interview wear. Remember that you are being
judged on the appearance that you present.

Act appropriately, which usually means following the interviewer’s lead. If you are offered a
hand to shake, then shake it, but don’t offer your own hand if nobody else seems interested.

Engage with the interviewers. Smile, make eye contact, and build rapport.

Answer the questions that are asked, using relevant examples where at all possible.

Don’t:

Be afraid to blow your own trumpet a bit. After all, nobody else is going to blow it for you;
however do not lie or exaggerate. If you want the job, be enthusiastic and positive.

Be over-familiar or share too much information. For example, the interviewers don’t want to
know how you’re going to manage your childcare.

Types of Questions

Note: The interviewers are not trying to trip you up as a general rule so, if you get a question
that you don’t understand, just say so and ask them to expand a bit.

Interviewers often like to start with an easy ‘ice-breaker’ question, such as ‘What do you do in
your current job?” or “Tell us why you applied for this job?” If you’ve done your preparation,
you’ll be ready for this.Modern interviews tend to be ‘competence-based’, which means that they
focus on your skills, and how you can demonstrate them.

So questions will often be in the form of:

Tell us about the time when you…

Can you give us an example of a time when you…

From your previous experience, how would you deal with a situation like …

If you don’t have much work experience, don’t worry. Be prepared to say “Well, I haven’t
actually had to do that yet, but this is what I would do in the situation”. If you’re being
interviewed for a job where you don’t have much experience in the field, the interviewers will
usually try to help by giving you hypothetical questions and asking you how you would approach
a problem. They know you don’t have much experience, but they’re trying to give you a chance
to show that you can do the job.There are still interviewers around who believe in the benefits of
asking ‘off the wall’ questions like ‘If you were a car, what type would you be?’ and ‘What are
your best and worst traits?’ Just humour them! Have a fairly bland and generic reply prepared
such as ‘Well, I’m not sure what type of animal/car/bird/whatever I’d be, but I do know that I set
myself high standards and am not happy unless I’m working hard!”

At The End

At the end of the interview, you will probably be asked if you have any questions.

It is usually a good idea to ask a few questions about the organisation or role at this point.
However, if you really don’t have any questions, perhaps because you spoke to someone from
the organisation before the interview and they have answered all your questions, then it’s fine to
say so. Do explain that it’s because you spoke to [name] and they were able to answer all your
questions ahead of time.

It’s also acceptable to ask when the organisation will expect to let people know the outcome of
their application.It may also be worth asking if there is anything that they feel that you didn’t
address as well as you could have done, or that wasn’t entirely clear. It gives you a second
chance if you were a bit nervous and didn’t answer as well as you could have done early on.

And Finally…

Before you leave, thank the interview panel for the chance to attend the interview and say that it
was nice to meet them. Smile, gain eye contact and shake hands if appropriate. Always leave a
good final impression.You will find out in due course if you were successful. If you were not
then it can be a good idea to ask for feedback. You may gain some useful tips and advice to
improve your chances at your next interview.

Group Discussion

Tips to ace Group Discussion Round in a Job Interview

Group Discussion Rounds have become an integral part of Job Interview process. Here are a few
tips that will help you ace GD round in a job interview.

Businesses today are all about 3D’s i.e. debates, discussions and decisions. So, it doesn’t come
across as a major surprise that Group Discussions have become a norm when it comes to job
interviews. Along with your educational backgrounds and technical or core skills; recruiters also
pay a lot of attention to soft skills, especially communication skills. And what better way to
judge someone’s communication skills other than a group discussion round.
With the increasing dominance of group discussions as part of the hiring process for corporates;
it is time that job seekers start training for them properly. Many young candidates who go for job
interview are often unprepared for the job interview round and end up losing out on their dream
job opportunity. If you don’t want to be one of them, you can follow the simple tips and tricks
given below to improve your chances of cracking a job interview easily.

Understand the GD Topic

Group Discussions are generally held around a topic. Generally speaking, companies organize
the GD round on interesting topics that are in news or a topic that is specifically related to their
industry or domain. Like all discussions, the only way you can positively contribute to the GD
round and leave a mark upon your interviewer is by understanding the topic well. If you are
completely unaware of the topic, try a simple Google search and catch up on the latest trends.
Once you get basic understanding of topic, framing quality arguments would be much easier.
This way an insightful understanding of the topic will help you to impress the interviewers.

Know the evaluation criteria

Ever tried appearing for an exam without knowing the paper pattern or the exam format? It
would be super difficult for you to ace a Group Discussion if you don’t know on what factors
you are going to be graded upon. Therefore, you should focus on the key aspects on which you
would be evaluated for during a group discussion.

But, unfortunately there is no singular formula that can help you understand the selection criteria
and in majority of the cases it would depend upon the kind or type of job profile that you are
interviewing for.

For instance, if you are appearing for a sales interview, your convincing power would matter the
most in a group discussion. Similarly, if you were interviewing for the role of a manager, your
creative ideas and how you manage the group would have more weight. So, always keeps the
evaluation criteria in mind when it comes to group discussion and prepare yourself accordingly.

Opening Statement Matters

The old adage of ‘first impression is the last impression’ holds great truth when it comes to
group discussion. The first words that come out of your mouth in a group discussion hold great
value and will play a major role in your selection in the job interview process.

Therefore, your opening statement in a group discussion should be well thought-out and
articulated well. As a candidate appearing for a job interview, you should use small and thought-
provoking opening statements to impress others participating in the Group Discussion. You may
not have a prepared speech for that, but an introduction with the use of catchy phrases with
business jargons could do the job well. You can use the phrases we have enlisted below in case
you don’t know how to initiate GD.
Don’t hog the spotlight

The whole point of a group discussion is to discuss any given topic as a group. Therefore, along
with sharing your own viewpoints, it is very important that you allow others to do the same.
Interviewers who are grading the group discussion do not look kindly upon candidates who try to
hog all the lime-light by merely imposing their own views upon others.

Therefore, be open to views shared by others and be respectful towards counterview points as
well. This will showcase you in better light as a person who is more open and respectful towards
others’ viewpoints. So, don’t interrupt anyone while speaking. It can help you to understand their
viewpoints and arguments even if you don’t agree with them. So, try listening to others
participants as well.

Unique questions that are asked in job interviews

State your viewpoints clearly

Without stating your views clearly, you can’t make an impact even if you have more insightful
knowledge about Group Discussion topic. So, try to state your opinions clearly. But, don’t forget
to use simple and easily understandable words while speaking. And one more thing to remember
is that don’t get aggressive even if you’re disagreeing with someone. All these key things can
help you to convince others on your logical and right ideas on the topic given in GD.

Don’t let the discussion go off the track

During a Group Discussion, in the course of arguments and counter-arguments, participants often
ignore the topic of discussion. In such situation, you must take the lead and try to bring the
discussion back to the right path.

So, to showcase your leadership in a group discussion, try to keep the discussion in right
direction. If anyhow it loses the right direction, then try get back it on right track. It can help you
to impress the selectors who closely observe every candidate participating in the GD.

How to Impress Your Interviewer?

To sum up…

Group discussion round is the most important step of the pre-selection screening process in a job
interview and it isn’t easy to crack. But, with insightful understanding about the topic of GD,
selection criteria, strong and effective opening statement, listening and understanding others’
viewpoints, and speaking clearly, you can easily crack it.