BUS 251: BUSINESS

COMMUNICATION

Spring 2019
 Lecture 18: Conducting a Winning Job Campaign (Chap 10)

Learning Outcomes:
▪ Job Search
▪ Writing a CV
▪ Constructing a Cover Letter
▪ Preparing for the Interview
THE JOB SEARCH
 Building a Network of Contacts

❖ You can begin the job search long before you are ready to find employment
by building a network of contacts – building relationships with people who can
help you find work when you need it.

❖ Such people include your classmates, professors, and businesspeople.

❖ In addition to these, you can work in community organizations as volunteer to

meet new people and interact with them.
 Finding Your Employer

❖ Career Centers: Make use of the nearby career center – start with the one at your
school. Attend job fairs .

❖ Network of Professional Contacts

❖ Classified Advertisements

❖ Online Sources: Chakri.com, Bdjobs.com, Kormo etc.

❖ Employment Agencies

❖ Webpage Profiles: Use LinkedIn to make yourself more visible to potential

employers.
WRITING YOUR CV
 Writing a CV

❖ Your CV is your opportunity to promote yourself to an employer. It is

NOT just a list of your education, employment history and interests.

❖ A CV is both historical (i.e. tells how you got to where you are now) and
current (i.e. gives your present circumstances)

❖ It is also a marketing statement, so a persuasive presentation of the

information is vital.
 Sections Normally Included in a CV

❖ Your sections will vary too depending on whether you choose a Traditional CV or a Skills
based CV.
1. Personal Details:
▪ Your full name will usually be at the top in bold big letters. It is not necessary to write
‘Curriculum Vitae’.
▪ Addresses, telephone numbers (land line and mobile) and a current e-mail address.
(Under Equal Opportunities, date of birth, nationality and marital status are optional
and NOT required.)
▪ Don’t forget to write your career objective.

2. Education and Qualifications:

▪ Start with your most recent qualification and education first.
▪ Main focus should be on degree or most recent qualification (highlighting any
projects/modules undertaken which are relevant to the job for which you are applying).
 Sections Normally Included in a CV

3. Work Experience/Work History/Employment History:

▪ Start with most recent first. Include work placements, summer jobs, voluntary work,
permanent, temporary or part-time work. You will have learned something from all of
them.
▪ Allow two or three lines to describe duties of work that you consider most relevant
(in its content and in the skills it enabled you to develop). Don’t waffle – try to
describe concisely.
4. Other Skills and Achievements:
▪ Not a section you necessarily have to include but can be useful if you have limited work
experience. You might include a driving license, typing speed (and qualifications) qualified
first aider, and any competence with languages.
▪ Skills that many students gain at university, but underestimate, are Word-processing and
Internet researching, both of which add to general competence and confidence with a
computer.
 Sections Normally Included in a CV

5. Interests and Activities:

▪ This section shows you are human and helps the recruiters see you as a whole person. It
also gives you the chance (out of a work context) to emphasize the skills they are looking
for i.e. team work, co-operation, organizing, motivating, leading, self-discipline, etc.
▪ Avoid straight lists – expand a little i.e. membership/positions of responsibility of any
clubs or societies, the level you play sport/musical instruments, etc.
6. Referees:
▪ You would normally quote a tutor as your first referee and possibly a present/previous
employer or someone else (NOT family) who knows you well.
▪ Always ask them first and if they agree include their name, job title, address, telephone
number and e-mail (if possible).
▪ It is acceptable to write ‘On Request’ under Referees on your CV if you would prefer not
to give their names straight away or are running out of space!
 Traditional CV or Skill Based CV: Which One to Use?

❖ The choice is really down to you and some students have both. Many students follow these
suggestions:

❖ Traditional CVs are very clearly laid out and let the employer see exactly what and
where your experience is and the skills you developed from that. Your experience and
skills are grouped together and basically says, “Look at all this experience and the skills I
have developed!”

❖ Skills based CVs primarily draw the employer’s attention to your skills (and away
from your experience) and they can see that you have developed communication
skills (for example) from many different sources such as work experience, interests and
academic study but still see a summary of your work experience if they wish. Your skills
are grouped separately and basically say, “Look at all these transferable skills I have
developed – I can use these to do this job!”
 Checking Your CV

❖ This is possibly the most important part of the entire CV process. A small error, or
misleading information, can seriously undermine all your effort.
▪ At graduate level, grammar, spelling and punctuation should all be impeccable.
▪ Do not provide false information
▪ Ensure that details, contact numbers and references are accurate
▪ Attention to detail is a skill that is important in all jobs and it begins with your CV. If you
have had to produce a CV at short notice then checking the details is especially important.
▪ FACT: Approximately 70 per cent of CVs received have at least one mistake in them.
The most common error on a CV is the misuse of apostrophes in it’s text.
▪ Proof reading your own work is difficult. Preferably get someone else to check it for you.
Also use common sense and question the logic in descriptive pieces. Do not rely solely on
a spell-checker
CONSTRUCTING COVER LETTERS
 Cover Letter

❖ The covering letter introduces you and makes references to your CV,
expanding on skills, abilities and experience which make you
particularly suitable for the post for which you are applying.

❖ Cover letters come in two types: (1) Solicited letter – written in response to
an actual job opening (2) Unsolicited letter – when you don't know whether
a job exists but would like to investigate the possibility of employment with a
company.
 Points to be Noted…

❖ A covering letter should be concise and ideally no more than one page
long. It needs to introduce you to the potential employer, say what you
want to do for the employer, and show how and why you are suited for
that particular work.

❖ The style of the covering letter should be reasonably formal and business-
like and match the CV or application form you are sending.

❖ Always write to a named individual, whether you are applying for a job or
writing a speculative letter. If you don’t know who to address the letter to,
use your initiative and contact the company to find out the name of the
relevant person.
 Cover letter Format

❖ Introduction

▪ The opening paragraph should let the reader know who you are and why
you are writing to them.
▪ If you are writing to apply for a position with their company/organization,
make clear which position you are applying for and where you saw the
advertisement.
▪ Give the title and date of the publication that the vacancy was advertised in.
▪ For speculative letters, outline and be specific about the kind of work you
are looking for.
 Cover letter Format

❖ Body

⮚ Why You?
▪ Why are you are interested in the job? What particular
skills/abilities/experience you have to offer.
▪ Explain why you want to work there and emphasize what you can do for the
company.
▪ Avoid using phrases like ‘I think I could gain valuable experience with your
company’ or ‘this is an area of my skill I have always wanted to develop’.
The employer will hire you for what you can do for the company, not for
what you think you can get from working there.
 Cover letter Format

❖ Body

⮚ Why them?
▪ Try to show you have done your research.
▪ You need to show an interest in the position you are applying for and that
you have some knowledge of the employer/organization.
▪ Find out about the company by looking for other advertisements it may
have, search the Internet for its website, look through the company’s
literature and scan business journals and newspapers for other general
information.
 Cover letter Format

❖ Positive Conclusion (contribute)

▪ When you are available for interview and that you look forward to hearing
from them, etc.
▪ Finish the letter with a strong, proactive phrase that sets the scene for the
next stage – being called in for an interview, e.g. I am available for interview
at your convenience and would welcome the opportunity of meeting you.
▪ If you have addressed the letter to a named person (and you should have
done), you should end the letter with ‘Yours sincerely’, if you wrote Dear Sir
or Madam, it should end with ‘Yours faithfully’.
PREPARING FOR INTERVIEW
 Interview

❖ A procedure designed to obtain information from a person through oral

responses to oral inquiries

❖ There are two parties involved -

Interviewer: The person who conducts the interview sessions
Interviewee: The candidate or the person who is interviewed
 Prepare Yourself

❖ Investigating the Company

▪ Products or Services, Personnel, business practices, current activities,
management etc.
❖ Making a good appearance
▪ Conservative business colours, well groomed, limited jewellery, subtle
perfume and makeup (for women) etc.
❖ Anticipating Questions and Preparing Answers
▪ Education, Experience, interests, career, goals, location preference, and
activities in organizations.
 Prepare Yourself (Contd.)

❖ Study the job description and job specification

▪ Job description includes the responsibilities and roles of the job while job
specification contains the skills and knowledge people need to do the job
❖ Putting yourself at ease
▪ The first impression is crucial, be calm, talking in a clear and strong
voice, controlling facial expressions and body movements
❖ Helping to control the dialogue
▪ Only answering questions is not enough. Not only are you being
evaluated but you are evaluating others as well.
 Understanding the Interview Process

• Structured interview: the interviewer asks a series of questions in a

predetermined order.
• Unstructured interviews: An unstructured conversational-style interview in
which the interviewer pursues points of interest as they come up in
response to questions.
• One-to-one interview: Two people meet alone and one party (the
interviewer) involves obtaining information from other (interviewee) through
oral responses.
• Panel interview: The team of interviewers together interview one
applicants
• Mass/group interview: The team of interviewers will interview several
candidates at the same time. You and several other candidates meet with
one or more interviewers at once.
 Types of Interviews

❖ Situational interview: you are asked to explain how you would handle
various hypothetical situations.
• For example, as a supervisor, how would you deal with a subordinate who is
late 3 days in a row?

❖ Behavioural interview: you are asked to describe how you handled a

situations from your past.
• For example, Could you please tell me about a time when you as a
supervisor dealt with a subordinate who was late several days in a row?
 Types of Interviews

❖ Stress interview: An interview in which the interviewer seeks to make the

applicant uncomfortable with occasionally rude questions that supposedly to
spot sensitive applicants and those with low or high stress tolerance.

❖ Example-
1. see this pen I’m holding. Sell it to me
2. How would you evaluate me as an interviewer?
3. How would you evaluate me as a speaker or presenter?
THANK YOU