Reading Response - Week 2
The “Ten Habits of Successful Emailers” on page 606 of The Thomson Handbook were great tips to follow. I definitely agree with the first one, reply promptly to email that requires a response, ideally within 24 hours. I always try to respond to emails as quickly as possible and one of my pet peeves is when people ignore my emails or choose not to respond. However, I felt that the list was missing one of the main criteria when communicating with anyone. You must know your audience in order to respond properly. Just as in communicating in person or giving a speech, you need to know your audience so the message will be interpreted the way you want. Overall, this list should always be remembered when sending an email and these items should become habits.
Emailing is very different from text messaging. Emails are able to be much longer than text messages or emails on a PDA or cell phone. Emails can also contain attachments and although you can send an email with an attachment to a PDA or cell phone, page 617 of The Thomson Handbook states that attachments sent to cell phones may not be received. In my opinion, I consider email to be used for professional and personal use. However, I only text message my friends. Email is used more frequently in business because it is very fast and easy. Messages are received the same day and replies are often sent the same day too. You can also communicate easily through email without leaving the office. It is very easy to check your email and respond and then continue working in a matter of minutes. Although email can have negative effects like the email from Cerner Corporation being posted on the internet, email is a great form of communication especially in the professional world.
I was surprised at the differences that HR personnel treat different parts of the resumes especially the objective. Douglas B. Richardson states: “When stating your objectives, be brief and tell me how your skills can be applied. I know my own needs. Your objectives or aspirations interest me only to the extent they correspond with what I'm looking for.” Richardson believes the objective is an important part of a resume. However, the author of A Glimpse and a Hook, states concerning the objective: “This is likely your lead paragraph and I skipped it.” Also, all my past professors have stated the importance of the objective. After all the different opinions and views, I don’t really know what to do with the objective although I think it is important especially for a job-specific resume. In order for my resume to receive adequate attention, I plan to be honest in my resume and make it job-specific. I also plan to change the format/design in order for it to catch the reader’s attention. I will also make it very easy to read.
Comments
Reply to Reading #2
I too am surprised at how the HR personnel ignored the objective. It does make some sense as to why this person blew off this section. There is a reason why they got the resume in the first place and more than likely they know what positions they are looking to fulfill. You got the counselors at the career center telling you how critical this portion is and then you go and reading something like this. It is hard to judge just how important some aspects of the resume really is. Regardless of what I read, I still am going to work hard on each section, whether it is taken into consideration or not.
objective
That's a sound policy. It's probably too idiosyncratic to tell who will value the objective statement and who won't. However, if you have an objective statement that is doing what you think it should be doing, then it can only help you. One thing I don't think the HR people mentioned was how they would react if you left those sections they skip off. They may not read them, but I wonder if they would react negatively if you didn't bother to put one there.
E-mails vs. Texting
I agreed with everything you had to say about E-mailing. E-mail is so common in the business world. It is easy, fast, and effective. It is a quick way to communicate with others without having to get on the phone or have to talk to some face to face. E-mailing is a great way to get a quick answer or address an issue without any distractions. In my opinion, texting is something separate from the business world. Texting is a casual way of quickly communicating with others in a few sentences used outside of the business world. E-mail on the other hand can be both casual and professional. In the business world, E-mails are more reliable and efficient in communicating to others than texting.
Reply
I agree that the first point was very important and it is something that I know I look past a lot. I will read an email and tell myself that I will just reply to it later but then it gets stuck in a list of emails and I forget about it. I usually eventually remember to reply but feel bad that I waited so long. I have found that replying right away is best for me so that I do not forget. It is important to know your audience when emailing which I could see as something important to put on the list. There are times when it is okay to be less formal and times that it is important that you use proper writing techniques.
I also agree that emails are very different then text messages. Text messages are usually very short and sent mostly to close friends and acquaintances and are a lot less formal. Many times words are not even spelled out all the way.
I agree that the different opinions about the objective statement do make it difficult to decide how much to put into it. I think as long as you are specific with your job and do not write too much you will most likely be okay. I feel that it is also important to make sure you use appropriate vocabulary when writing your objective.
Reading Response Comment
I think that the first habit is the most important. I find it extremely frustrating when people do not respond promptly to emails, especially business professionals. I always reply to my emails as soon as possible and I wish that everyone else would show the same courtesy. There is nothing worse than when working on a deadline and you receive a response after the deadline has past. I also agree that emails should be tailored to the audience to which you are sending the message to. If you don’t address the recipients of your message accordingly, your message could easily be misunderstood or taken the wrong way and it could tarnish your relationship with those people.