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Reading Response Wk. 1

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Thu, 06/14/2007 - 12:16 — ssandqui

I could not agree more with the reading. Effective professional writing will become very important in everyone's future career. Actually, it should be very important now as we are all looking to land that great job or internship, or whenever we need to email a professor or teaching assistant about a class. I think that using this chapter will help you to create a resume fairly easily with the help of pages 221-227. Then you can analyze how well you put yourself on paper with the following pages. The steps taken on these pages seem fairly simple and obvious but most people skip steps here and there and may not make themselves out to be as professional or as qualified as they could be. I particularly like the section on how to analyze a job ad as looking for an internship or job is one of the toughest things to do. Had I known how to better analyze the jobs advertised for internships, I may have had to spend less time looking through ones that I wasnt interested in or qualified for.

The pages that discuss what and how your resume should be put together help a lot also. I like how they break down the different parts of the resume and show you what you should put on it and what is better left off. I can easily look at my resume and see if it is up to par with how it should look. Making a few adjustments could help me with future employers.

The part that talks about how to write memos seems to be outdated for the line of work I am in. Everything that I have used on jobs has been either been via email or has had a form written up for me to fill in the blanks. The example on page 232 looks like it needs to be revised as the margin says that memos are to convey info in clear and concise words. When I look and see big paragraphs of text I do not see that as being concise.

I expect to get good ideas on how to better my resume and cover letter writing. I also see myself improve my writing in many different aspects for future jobs.

Comments

Thu, 06/14/2007 - 13:33 — rkottke

Reading Response Week #1 Reply

I agree not only is professional writing important for the future when we get jobs and have careers but we should all be writing professionally every day when we contact people like professors to ask questions. Not too long ago before school got out I had some trouble with my school counselor, she was not going to let my job qualify as an internship even though she had already approved it. I had corresponded with her over about a two to three week period through email to just get it approved! And did it take some professional and persuasive emails to finally make her realize that what she was doing was wrong and she has pre-approved it and that it wasn't right that at the last minute she wasn't going to let me has it be an internship. What I would really like to be able to learn more then any thing from this class is to be able to write more like that and be professional to get my point across and get the job done in a professional setting.
Thu, 06/14/2007 - 18:51 — aurban

Comments

I am in agreement as well that professional writing is important in many different ways. Whether it is used when applying to a job or internship or just emailing a professor to ask a question, both are situations that we should write professionally. On another note, analyzing job ads is very critical. I agree that if I was better equipped to pull out the key parts of the ad, I would spend a lot less time looking at each individual job description. Having the ability to better analyze job ads would allow me to quickly discard those that I do not fit into. With the time I could save from these, I could be able to find more jobs that actually do fit me.
Sat, 06/16/2007 - 14:24 — terr4741

reply

I agree that Business Writing is important in the last days until we graduate. Being able to produce a resume and cover letter effectively will eventually land us with the job of our dreams.
Thu, 06/14/2007 - 21:07 — amwillis
amwillis's picture

Comment

I definetely I have had many problems that have had to be resovled via email. Emails are very pertinent especially when you need to do something important in a short time. I also agree that the guidelines for writing a successful resume are fairly easy. Sometimes many people do skip over the simple tasks, and then problems arise. Alayna Willis
Fri, 06/15/2007 - 01:03 — RachB487
RachB487's picture

Comment

I agree with what you said about having to deal with problems through email. My job requires me to do the same thing. It's really important that the emails be short and to the point, without leaving out anything important. Lengthy emails can become hard to follow and just annoying to read. And on the subject of the resume guidelines, I think they are very easy to understand and follow. I liked that it had an example of a rough draft with the comments and corrections as well as the final draft. I think they will be very helpful to me.
Fri, 06/15/2007 - 11:07 — deagan
deagan's picture

Email

Email is very important in the typical business. I agree that people don't like to see something long and drawn out. Even if what you are saying is very important often times it may be skimmed because of how long it looks. Emails are different then other forms of communication because they provide a history of what was said. Someone can look up emails and read stuff. It is also very easy to forward emails, thus it is important to keep in mind other may see it. And if you are working for a company it is possible it could be used in law suits or audits.
Fri, 06/15/2007 - 22:51 — pstudtma
pstudtma's picture

email reply

I completely agree with you. In the typical business, and everyday life, email has become greatly important. I think you make a great example by pointing out emails can be forwarded so easily. I understand a written document can be shown to other people, but and email can be forwarded to hundreds of people with the click of a few buttons. Many people don't realize emails should be professional and they should have time put into them. Emails are often just through together as if someone was talking to another person. I believe this sometimes comes from an age barrier. For example, when my mother and father use email, it is rarely thought through and organized.

Fri, 06/15/2007 - 23:03 — kmayes
kmayes's picture

email reply

I have had problems such as grades to items I purchased online settled through e-mail. As far as problemsolving it is important that the problem be addressed promptly and maybe a solution too. Emails are a great way to communicate, especially since one click of a button can have a message to a person in seconds. I too think emails should be straightforward and short if possible. Long emails can sometimes be difficult to follow and just a chore to read. If we are more careful when sending and addressing emails it may solve even more problems.
Sat, 06/16/2007 - 14:26 — terr4741

email reply

I agree that email replies are important and effective in this class. I am worried though that I am not completing everything that may need to be completed in this class due to the various threads that we have to comment to.
Fri, 06/15/2007 - 14:20 — Suchet
Suchet's picture

comment

I agree that Professional writing will come important in everyone’s life at one point of time. We don’t only use it for writing resumes or cover letters when we have to find jobs and internships, we also use it in our daily life such as writing emails. Writing emails are very important these days, emails are written everyday no matter if it’s to a teacher, professor, a co-worker or a friend. I agree that people don’t like to read long emails even though what’s written in it is very important. People generally just skim through it till the end. So I think on the other hand emails should be kept short and to the point, which includes all the main points, so people could actually read it and not just skim through it.
Fri, 06/15/2007 - 17:05 — pkamdar
pkamdar's picture

Reply

You have brought up a very valid point of solving problems via emails. I feel professional writing will play an important role here also. An email to your boss cannot be written just like that. It obviously matters how one writes an email. The professionalism that we shall learn in this course will help us in future in writing professional emails. Through emails the problems are solved much quicker and they are a very fast means of communication. I also agree with the thought of missing out some points when putting your self on paper. Many of us I feel are not being able to express our self well on paper. I feel this course will help us in thoroughly developing our writing skills.

Fri, 06/15/2007 - 18:34 — archit
archit's picture

Reading comment# 1

I totally agree with the way u have described the book. I surely had some difficulties in the starting when i had to prepare a resume but gradually I got the knowledge to produce a fine resume and with the help of the chapter in the book it has become totally clear for what is the stuff to be put in a resume. The resume is the most important thing. The resume can only be one page long and thus it is very important to decide as to which information qualifies to be on it.
Fri, 06/15/2007 - 22:52 — kmayes
kmayes's picture

Reading Response Wk. 1 Reply

I agree that professional writing will have an effect on all of are careers. Writing is thought of as a way of communication on the job, and if able to do it well then success is on the way. I also agree on the ways to tell if a job analysis appeals to me is also helpfule. As for the resumes I also like how the Thompson Handbook breaks down how to make a successful resume. Through improving our writing I think we will be improving our chances of obtaining the job.
Sat, 06/16/2007 - 08:15 — Ddgr22
Ddgr22's picture

Comment

I agree with what you are saying, professional writing is very important in everyone's future career. Especially as most of us begin to look for internships. I also agree with you that most people skip the steps outlined in the book and that as a they do not reflect themselves to be professional or as qualified as they could be. I think that if all we do in this class is learn how to pay more attention to those steps that we can increase are chances of getting a job by a lot. I know that this class is supposed to help us learn how to communicate professionally in multiple situations, but lets face it getting a job is the most important thing.
Sat, 06/16/2007 - 21:44 — kim264

Importance of professional writing

I agree that professional writing has become very important in every work place including college. I see a professor with fluent professional wrting and speech skill gives better idea to students. And I also agree that the sample resume part was very obvious and helpful. Sometimes one picture explains much more things than explanation. I think resume is one of the cases. Information about which skill to mention and how to organize it had become clearer in my head after seeing the sample resume. Since I haven't work before, I am impressed about that the memo format given in the text is outdated these days. It sounds plausible since we use emails and company massenger alot more than written documents.