#BUcityplanning Professor Shares Best Practices for Effectively Communicating in a Competitive Job Market
On the 13th of November, the City Planning and Urban Affairs Program hosted a Professional Communication and Career Workshop from 6 to 8pm in the CAS building. #BUcityplanning adjunct professor Dr. William Koehler addressed a packed room on the tools and best practices for clearly and effectively communicating in the highly competitive job market. In this workshop, Dr. Koehler covered the key concepts, interaction types, essential principles, and goals of professional communications, as well as giving tips on writing professional emails and producing resumes and cover letters.
The students were asked to list the goals of professional communication, and suggested the following: to communicate and receive knowledge, deliver information, establish rapport with other people based on shared interests and goals, to control self-presentation; to create a personal brand, and to come to an understanding of wants and needs. Dr. Koehler stressed that when you introduce yourself, you choose what you want to reveal, and that in turns shows what traits and aspects of yourself you value. A few key concepts also discussed were the “Four C’s” – clarity, conciseness, correctness, and cogency were all valued in communication; that is to say, communication should be clear and focused on the topic, have good grammar and spelling, and be easy to follow. Dr. Koehler also mentioned the quote “If you can say the same thing using fewer words, do so” as a good rule of thumb in terms of communication.
The group briefly discussed the different types of interaction and potential positives and negatives of each. For face-to-face or group presentations, more preparation might be needed but it would be
easier to communicate your point. For phone and Skype calls, the difficulty lies in the ability to see the other person’s facial expression and to take visual cues from that in that manner. Next, the group moved onto the goals and objectives of professional communications and touched on professional etiquette. When in a professional situation such as interviews or a workplace setting, titles and formal address should be used, especially in written communication such as emails. The importance of politeness also cannot be understated; a simple “please and thank you” can show someone that you value their time and respect them, and set you apart from others. In professional communication, reason should come before emotion. Additionally, leaving a paper trail, such as a business card or other means of connection are also very helpful in the followup process. These tips could apply to any range of professional activities, such as employment opportunities, collaboration, personal branding, as well as marketing and self-promotion.
Some essential principles that were mentioned included appearance, use of voice, eye contact, and the flow of conversation. In terms of appearance, Dr. Koehler suggested to always dress a half-step more professional than you think you need to be. Some tips he also gave included paying attention to pacing, tone and volume of the voice, as well as distributing your attention and eye contact around the room when presenting to or interacting with a group. Road mapping and refreshing would also help the other person focus and make conversation easier to follow.
In conclusion, Dr. Koehler summed up some tips for writing emails, resumes and cover letters. For emails, the subject line is important as an indicator of content; senders should always include a salutation and signature, as well as checking their grammar, spelling and punctuation. Emails should be as brief as possible, with a minimum amount of links and attachments.
For resumes, Dr. Koehler stated that a clear format, chronology, balance of space, and using active language were all important aspects in creating a document that would be easy to follow and catch the reviewer’s attention. Active language includes action verbs such as “produce”, “lead”, “coordinate”, “facilitate”, and “direct” talks about what the applicant has already accomplished and suggest competence and drive going forward. According to Dr. Koehler, recruiters only take an average of 30 seconds to read through each resume, which is why clarity of layout is very important. Additionally, Dr. Koehler suggested that the GPA of the applicant should only be listed if it is good (a 3.0 or above), and honors as well as relevant coursework and projects should be listed.
Cover letters should be written in a block format, with around three to four paragraphs and two thirds of a page in length at a maximum. Organization of the letter should be as follows: introduction, content, and action close. In the letter, applicants should demonstrate their understanding of the position and firm; more specifically, what the job does and why it is suitable for the applicant, why the job and employer appeals to the applicant, and relating qualifications. The action close constitutes the applicant’s written acknowledgement to follow up. This time frame for following up is around two weeks, and applicants were advised to vary their methods of following up, for example by phone and with email.
Article by Meaghan T’ao, CAS ’18
Poster by Jiayu Zhou, CAS ’19
