At the beginning of the semester, skills in active listening, interpersonal communication and oral communication were important to me. However, after taking this module, it has changed my understanding a little.
Now, I feel that skills in job search communication are very important too. Writing resumes and cover letters and experiencing mock interviews made me realize that there are many things to learn and discover about job search communication. The first step to impressing your potential employer is your cover letter and resume. In this course, we learnt to write effective cover letters and resumes to convince the employer to arrange for an interview with us. Mock interview sessions were then carried out to teach us how to answer interviewers’ questions intelligently and honestly. Therefore, job search communication skills are vital in my application for internships or jobs.
However, skills in active listening, interpersonal communication and oral communication are still important and useful to me. Without these skills, we would not be able to communicate effectively with other people. In this course, the research project experience has helped me to develop many communication skills. During project meetings, our group always ensured that we gave constructive comments and listened actively to what each other had to say. Besides that, interpersonal communication played a huge role in reducing conflicts. Working with people whom you did not know very well initially might be difficult, but having the willingness to understand each other definitely made the process easier. Interpersonal communication is important because we needed to communicate effectively with one another whenever we had different ideas and opinions. The final part of the research project was the oral presentation. After looking at the comments from our classmates and tutor, I realized that a successful oral presentation requires many different elements and I still have a lot more room for improvement. The Question & Answer session was also a good channel for us to learn to use the correct language and attitude to answer queries.
On the overall, taking this course has definitely helped me to develop different communication skills and it encourages me to learn more about them.
8 comments:
I agree with you that interpersonal communication is really important in our daily lives to maintain a good harmonious working relationship within each other. Communication makes a bridge between us to build a great interpersonal communication skill. Moreover, Job search communication skills are essential for our career too. Before oral presentation, rehearsals are very important for us to familiarize with the things and to heighten our confidence. I realized from my presentation that nervousness can be reduced if presenters have sufficient preparation and rehearsals. Therefore, I will practice more and try to learn the experience from this presentation. Finally, I realized that Es2007s course is a really inspiring and pleasant course for me. I have learnt various aspects of communication skills from this course.
Hello Kai ling!
Initially at the start of this course, I thought that active listening, interpersonal and oral communication were the skills that would benefit me the most too. Right now, I also come to realise the importance of other aspects of communication like writing. Learning to write effective cover letters and resumes has indeed come in handy as I have started to search for a suitable job. I am thankful for the mock interview lessons we had in class as they prepare me for future interviews which I will be going for.
I am glad that this course has benefited you. Thanks for being such an understanding and nice group member. I enjoyed working with you and Sheen Yee. :)
You are right. Job search communication is a very important skill that one must have too. Like what you have said, the first step to impressing the potential employer is through our cover letter and resume. Initially, I thought that it is alright to create one copy of resume and send it to all the potential employers. However, after this course, I realized that this is a big "No No". We must always write the resume and cover letter to suit the job we are applying for. Being aware of this mistake allows me to write better resumes in the future so that I can stand a better chance in "selling" myself to the employer.
The oral presentation was also one area where I understand where my weaknesses are. Oral presentations require a lot of preparation beforehand and we also need to prepare answers to potential questions from the audience. By doing so, we can conduct a presentation smoothly and answer questions from the audience convincingly.
Hi Kai Ling,
I agree with you that job search skill is a very useful skill all of us have learned through this module. This module teaches us how to impress our potential employer by sending persuasive cover letter and resume and how to answer interviewers' questions professionally, so that there is higher chance to get our desired job. In the mock interviews, in addition to learn how to answer interviewers' questions intelligently, I also learned what the interviewers are looking for. Therefore I can prepare better for interviews in the future. Do you feel the same way too?
To master communication skills is a life-long journey. I hope you can apply what you have learned from this course and continue improving in the future.
Hi Kai Ling, I agree with you that from this course we did realize the importance of the job search and application. I remember a senior told me that in a job application, the resume and cover letter were more important than the interview itself. I did not agree with him before, but after this course, I did realize the importance of them. Like what you said, it was the first step to impress the potential employees. If the resume and cover letter is not good enough, you may not get a chance to present yourself to any employees.
I believe everyone felt that they benefitted a lot from this course, and one of the communication skills we have learnt a lot from is job search communication skills. Job search communication skills are the most applicable when we graduate and prepare to enter the workforce. I definitely agree with Regina that mastering communication skills is a life-long journey! There is always a lot more to learn and let's all work towards improving our communication skills!
Hi Kai Ling,
Yes, although it's important to develop competencies in other communication skills such as writing resumes, oral presentation skills, etc. which are more practical and useful in your job search, you are right in saying that interpersonal communication skills are still very important and useful because we are communicating all the time with people around us - no man is an island.
Thanks for your hard work and effort during the semester.
All the best in your journey towards becoming a more effective communicator!
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