The purpose of business writing is to convey information to someone else or to request information from them. To be effective writing for business, you must be complete, concise, and accurate. Your text should be written in such a way that the reader will be able to easily understand what you are telling or asking them.
What have I taken from this subject and how will it affect me moving forward? Although there were many things covered in just 8 short weeks, the most valuable item to me was creating a cover letter and rebuilding a resume. My original documents, although it was formatted professionally and had a very appealing appearance, had not been updated since the year I graduated from Kaplan University in 1990’s. I was also very surprised at how much success this resume had produced with poor formatting and simple writing mistakes. Even though the document contain years of experience, it really did not tell a story of what I really could provide if hired. After taking this class and using the material within the Writing for Business text book, I now understand the important structure of how to create a polished resume.
The book provides many interesting topics, some of these rules I now apply in my daily communication at work. As a Computer Technician my previous writings when it came to creating documentation and email, were very short with few details. My communication style lacked the ability to appeal to all audiences. Although I have not implement all idea’s presented by the book, I now use the top down structure.
One topics also covered during this class had to do with Social Media, how it will evolve and if it is being used in my work environment. My company policy states only those using social websites for the act promoting the corporation will have access. The only area’s falling under this definition are Sales and Communication. Due to the risk of Computer Hackers, Viruses and Malware, these sites are not accessible to ordinary users. During our discussion related to Social Media and how your presence on the internet will become your future resume, I disagreed for that reason. We have determined, until social media sites are both safer and trustworthy, Information Technology will continue to block these sites and approach them cautiously.
Personally I think Twitter and Facebook do offer a good idea. I also believe they will survive in some form. I can honestly say I may never Tweet and blog again. My personality when it comes to social networking is strictly interaction between close friends only. Although I try not to generalize, Blogs and Tweeter seem to be filled with those whom are either subject experts or standing philosophers. As far as I know, none of my Facebook friends are heavy tweeters. I would also be surprise if many of them have Twitter accounts.
Finally I can say Blogs and Twitter really have become a new way of presenting hot off the press news. News Media organizations have been very successful in their approach of streaming new information. Without realizing how we interact with the Internet, we really have already bought into blogs or Twitter in some form. Websites such as MSN, CNN and ESPN.com have taken the same format. All you really need to do is scroll to the bottom of the article. There you will have opportunity to leave a comment or voice a concern.
