1. Communications Skills What Employers Want Prepared by Mr. Dana Kelly Owner, True Visionary Marketing

2. It’s a Contradiction Interconnectivity is at an all time high But employers say college graduates’ greatest deficiency is communication

3. 2006 HR Survey “Are They Really Ready To Work?”

4. 2006 HR Survey “Very important” knowledge skills Writing (90%) Language (88%) Reading Comprehension (87%)

5. 2006 HR Survey “Very important” applied skills Written Communication (93%) Oral Communication (95%)

6. 2003 NACE Survey #1 job candidate quality? Communications skills

7. 2002 Silicon Valley Study Primary areas of dissatisfaction with new hire college graduates Writing and proofreading Poor vocabulary Use of slang

8. Workplace Changes 1950 — manufacturing jobs were 33.1% of total 2003 — only 10.7%

9. Communications Skills In Demand Under Scrutiny Need Improvement

10. Students have PhDs in… TV Video games Facebook Text messaging

11. Second Language HAGD IDK BRB …and 1,700 more

12. Doing the Semester Math 1 college course in business communications — 100 hours? vs. TV watching — 504 hours Online — 109 hours Text Messaging — who knows?

13. Business Skill Set Résumés, cover & follow up letters Instructions, training, specifications Memos, reports, correspondence Reviews, recommendations, plans Presentations, meetings

14. Business Communications Clear Concise Accurate Persuasive

15. 4 Ps of Good Writing Preparation: research, organization Proper grammar Polish & personality Proofreading & double-checking

16. Opinions, Ideas How to engage students while teaching reading, writing & speaking? Internalize subject matter Comprehensive approach

17. Innovative & Creative Class Journals Current Events Memo Activity Reports

18. Thank You TAFN