Unit: 8 Business Communication

Writing resume and application letter Employment messages are the initial set of activities and efforts made by a job seeker while targeting a particular job opportunity. Writing an impressively presentable resume is the first step in this regard. And it is generally accompanied by a job application letter.

Writing Resumes Planning Your Resume Writing Your Resume Producing Your Resume ●Analyzing the purpose and targeted audience ●Gathering the relevant information ●Selecting the best medium ●Organizing the resume around your strengths ●Keeping your resume honest ●Adapting your resume to your audience ●Composing your resume ●Revising your resume ●Producing your resume ●Proofreading your resume ●Distributing your resume

Planning your resume a)Analyzing your purpose and audience b) Gathering relevant information c) Selecting the best medium d) Organizing your resume around your strengths

Analyzing your purpose and audience As part of your planning, you should be very clear about the purpose that the resume would serve. A resume would not get you a job; rather it is a tool that would help you get there. Resume, normally, serves the purpose of getting you an interview.

Gathering relevant information You need to be aware of as many relevant things as possible, regarding your employment hunting. Gather information about potential organizations, and try to find out any specific information that can be helpful to understand the expectations of prospective employer.

Selecting the best medium Select the most appropriate medium for your resume, which should be relevant to the kind of jobs that you are targeting. There are several options available; MS Word document, Electronic profile, multimedia resume, or a plain-text document.

Organizing your resume around your strengths Your resume should be designed around the best possible things that you can serve the prospective employer with. An employer, normally, prefers to get those people on board who have the ability to take it on from the word go, and who can timely produce the results as per organization’s needs.

Types of job interviews There are several types of a job interview: Structured Interview Open-ended Interview Group Interview Stress Interview Situational Interview Behavioral Interview Working Interview

Structured Interview Structured interviews are such job interviews where a pre-set series of questions is asked to the applicant by the employer or interviewer. Asking same question with same amount of allotted time and same sequence provides uniformity to the recruitment & selection process.

Open-ended Interview Unlike the structured interview, in open-ended interviews the applicant is asked open-ended questions without any pre-set sequence. These types of interviews are useful to bring out applicant’s personality.

Group Interview Having a combined sitting of several job candidates, and interviewing them at the same time is called as group interview. Being present in a group of people, this type of interview can help in assessing the applicant`s interpersonal skills.

Stress Interview A candidate may not like to experience such an interview, where the employer imposes stress on the candidate, by asking the question that can unsettle the candidate.

Situational Interview In a situation interview, a candidate is given a particular scenario and his/her answers and reactions to such scenarios are noted. The scenarios, normally, are related to the respective job. So, it may help to project a candidate’s reactions to on- job happenings.

Behavioral Interview In behavioral interviews, the candidates reaction and strategy to handle a particular situation in past is assessed. This type of interview tries to explore candidate’s behavioral patterns in different type of situations.

Working Interview Working interviews are the one where the candidate is actually asked to perform tasks of the actual job. For example, a Customer Care job candidate may be asked to attend a customer’s call and provide required services to the customer using his knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Preparation for job interviews Get knowledge about the employer Think and plan for expected questions Build the confidence Polish your interview style Plan to look good Be ready when you arrive

Attending job interview The Warm-Up Stage The Question-Answer Stage The Closing Stage

After the job interview Thank-You message Message of Inquiry Letter of accepting or rejecting an offer Letter of separation from previous job

Today we discussed: Writing resume and application letter Types of job interviews Preparation for job interviews Attending job interview After the job interview

List of References: Elder, B, (1995), Communication and Job- seeking Skills, MACMILLAN EDUCATION AUSTRALIA PTY LTD.,Maryborough.