{"id":25,"date":"2018-03-01T14:06:28","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T19:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/chapter\/1-1-why-communications\/"},"modified":"2023-12-19T20:46:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T01:46:44","slug":"1-1-why-communications","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/chapter\/1-1-why-communications\/","title":{"raw":"1.1: Why Communications?","rendered":"1.1: Why Communications?"},"content":{"raw":"Let\u2019s begin by answering the question that is probably on the mind of anyone enrolled in an introductory English Communications course. Why are you here? It\u2019s probably not because you chose this course out of your natural enthusiasm for English classes. It\u2019s because it is a requirement to advance in the program and graduate.\r\n\r\nSo why would the program administrators require you to take this course? Is it just a money grab? The short answer to the second question is: No. The answer to the first question is: because you need sharp communication skills to be able to apply the core skills you\u2019re learning in your other courses in the program. This textbook\u2019s first section expands on that answer in more detail so that you can proceed through this course in the right frame of mind. None of your course\u2019s lessons make sense unless you realize that communications skills are not merely nice-to-have assets in your program and in life, but absolutely necessary to your survivability in this social world and tough economy.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"#111\">1.1.1: Communications vs. English Courses<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"#112\">1.1.2: Communication Skills Desired by Employers<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"#113\">1.1.3: A Diverse Skillset Featuring Communications is Key to Survival<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"#114\">1.1.4: Communication Represents You and Your Employer<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h1><a id=\"111\"><\/a>1.1.1: Communications vs. English Courses<\/h1>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>LEARNING OBJECTIVES<\/h3>\r\n1. Distinguish between the nature of English and Communications courses.\r\n\r\n2. Explain the importance of studying Communications.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhether students enter their first-year college Communications courses right out of high school or with years of work experience behind them, they often fear being doomed to repeat their high school English class, reading Shakespeare and writing essays. Welcome relief comes when they discover that a course in Communications has nothing to do with either of those things. Why should it when no one in the modern workplace speaks in a Shakespearean dialect or writes expository essays? If not High School English 2.0, what is Communications all about, then?\r\n\r\nFor our purposes, Communication<em>s<\/em> (yes, with a capital <em>C<\/em> and ending with an <em>s<\/em>) is essentially the practice of interacting with others in the workplace and other professional contexts. Absolutely every job\u2014from A to Z, accountant to Zamboni mechanic\u2014involves dealing with a variety of people all day long.\u00a0You may deal with clients, managers, coworkers, stakeholders (people and organizations yours deals with, such as suppliers), professional organizations, a union perhaps, investors, the public, media, students, and so on depending on the nature of the job.\r\n\r\nWhen dealing with each of those audiences, we adjust the way we communicate according to well-known conventions. You wouldn\u2019t talk to a customer or client the same way you would a long-time friendly co-worker; depending on what kind of relationship you have with your manager, you probably wouldn\u2019t speak or write to them in the same way you would either of the others. Learning those communication conventions is certainly easier and more useful than learning how to interpret a four-hundred-year-old play. If we communicate effectively\u2014that is, clearly, concisely, coherently, correctly, and convincingly\u2014by following those conventions, we can do a better job of applying our core technical skills, whether they be in sales, the skilled trades, the service industry, health care, office management, the government, the arts, and so on.\r\n\r\nA course in Communications brings your existing communication skills up to a professional level by focusing on how to follow conventions for interacting with those various audiences in a variety of channels\u2014whether they be speaking in person, by phone, email, text, or emojis, for instance. That we don\u2019t generally communicate by emojis with clients or managers (unless they tell us that they prefer it), for instance, is a convention that doesn\u2019t occur naturally to some. Indeed, it may come as a surprise to some that you'd risk embarrassing yourself and permanently undermining your credibility if you added emojis to a message sent to a manager or client. Because we are not born with an instinct for staying within the bounds of respectable communication, the channel conventions must be learned and practiced.\r\n\r\nSome will approach this course with years of professional experience behind them and will appreciate that the communication aspect of any job is easy to underestimate. They will also appreciate that <em>not<\/em> abiding by those well-established communication conventions\u2014by going rogue and freestyling the way you communicate\u2014usually brings embarrassment and failure. To the audiences you deal with in the workplace, how well you communicate determines your level of professionalism. It\u2019s like your style of dress: a well-written email has the same effect as a nice suit worn in an office or a clean uniform worn by a service worker\u2014it suggests detail-oriented competence. Major writing errors are like big stains down the front of that suit or revealing rips in that uniform\u2014they make you look sloppy, foolish, and unreliable. Just as we spent decades getting to where we are now as communicators in whatever situation we find ourselves, we need a college course to iron out the wrinkles of our communication skills for the better workplaces we aspire to\u2014what we go to a vocational college for\u2014in ways that our previous work experience and high school English classes didn\u2019t.\r\n\r\nThis isn\u2019t to say that your high school English classes were useless, though few can claim that they prepared you adequately for the modern workplace. Arguably the movement away from English fundamentals (grammar, punctuation, spelling, style, mechanics, etc.) in Canadian high schools does a disservice to students when they get into their careers. There they soon realize that stakeholders\u2014customers, managers, co-workers, etc.\u2014tend to judge the quality of a person\u2019s general competence by the quality of their writing (if that\u2019s all they have to go on) and speaking. The topic of Communications, then, includes aspects of the traditional English class curriculum, at least in terms of the basics of English writing. But the emphasis always returns to what is practical and necessary for succeeding in the modern workplace\u2014wherever that is\u2014not simply what is \u201cgood for you\u201d in the abstract just because someone says it is.\r\n\r\nIf you feel that you are a weak writer but an excellent speaker or vice versa, rest assured that weaknesses and strengths in different areas of the communication spectrum don\u2019t necessarily mean that you will always be good or bad at communication in general. Weaknesses can and should be improved upon, strengths built upon. It\u2019s important to recognize that we have more communication channels available to us than ever before, which means that the communication spectrum\u2014from oral to written to nonverbal channels\u2014is broader than ever. Competence across that spectrum is no longer just a \u201cnice to have\u201d asset sought by employers, but essential to career success.\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>KEY TAKEAWAY<\/h3>\r\nBy teaching you the communications conventions for dealing with a variety of stakeholders, a course in Communications has different goals from your high school English course and is a vitally important step towards professionalizing you for entry or re-entry into the workforce.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>EXERCISE<\/h3>\r\nList your communication strengths and weaknesses. Next, explain what you hope to get out of this Communications course now that you know a little more about what it involves. Before you answer, however, read ahead through the rest of this chapter to get a further sense of why this course is so vital to your career success.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1><a id=\"112\"><\/a>1.1.2: Communication Skills Desired by Employers<\/h1>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n3. Identify communication-related skills and personal qualities favoured by employers.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nIf there\u2019s a shorthand reason for why you need communication skills to complement your technical skills, it\u2019s that you don\u2019t get paid without them. You need communication and \u201csoft\u201d skills to get work and keep working so that people continue to want to employ you to apply your core technical skills. A diverse skill set that includes communication is really the key to survival in the modern workforce, and hiring trends bear this out.\r\n\r\nIn its Employability Skills 2000+, the Conference Board of Canada lists \u201cthe skills you need to enter, stay in, and progress\u201d in the 21st century workplace. The first category listed is communication skills, specifically how to:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Read and understand information presented in a variety of forms (e.g., words, graphs, charts, diagrams)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Write and speak so others pay attention and understand<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Listen and ask questions to understand and appreciate the points of view of others<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Share information using a range of information and communications technologies (e.g., voice, e-mail, computers)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Use relevant scientific, technological, and mathematical knowledge and skills to explain or clarify ideas (Conference Board, n.d.a)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nLikewise, the non-profit National Association of Colleges and Employers in the US surveys hundreds of employers annually and has found that, in the last several years, they consistently rank the following four skills as most desirable ahead of fifth-ranked technical skills:\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Critical thinking and problem solving<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Professionalism and work ethic<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Teamwork<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Oral and written communication (NACE, 2016)<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nWhen employers include these interrelated soft skills in job postings, it\u2019s not because they copied everyone else\u2019s job posting, but because they really want to hire people with those skills. From experience, they know that such skills directly contribute to the success of any operation no matter whether you\u2019re in the public or private sector because they help attract and retain customers and client organizations.\r\n\r\nTraditional hiring practices filter out applicants who have poor communication skills, starting with a \u201cwritten exam\u201d\u2014the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and cover letter. As documents that represent you in your physical absence, these indicate whether you are detail oriented in how you organize information and whether you can compose proper, grammatically correct sentences and paragraphs. If you pass that test, you are invited to the \u201coral exam,\u201d where your face-to-face conversational skills are assessed. If you prove that you have strong soft skills in this two-stage filter, especially if you come off as friendly, happy, and easy to work with in the interview, an employer will be more likely to hire you, keep you, and trust you with co-workers and clients.\r\n\r\nThe latest thinking in human resources (HR), however, is that both of those traditional filters are unreliable. Applicants can fake them. Expensive as it might be, you could get someone else to write your r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and cover letter for you, or you can just follow a template and replace someone else\u2019s details with your own. Though most job competitions for well-paying jobs will yield exceptionally good and bad r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and cover letters amidst a tall stack of applications, most tend to look the same because most applicants follow fairly consistent advice about how to put them together. Likewise, you can train for an interview and \u201cfake it to make it\u201d (Cuddy, 2012), then go back to being your less hireable self in the workplace, only to be the first one \u201clet go\u201d when the next office \u201creorganization\u201d comes down.\r\n\r\nRecruiters at the most successful companies such as tech giant Google have looked at the big data on hiring and found that traditional criteria, including GPA and technical-skills test scores in the interview process, are poor predictors of how well a hire will perform and advance. New hires with only core technical skills, even if exceptionally advanced, don\u2019t necessarily become successful employees; in fact, they are the most replaceable in any organization, especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) industries (Sena &amp; Zimm, 2017). According to <em>Business Insider<\/em>, Google\u2019s recruiters took an analytics approach like that portrayed in the 2011 film <em>Moneyball<\/em> and found that key predictors of success are instead personal traits, especially:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Adaptability<\/strong>: the curiosity-driven agility to solve problems through independent, on-the-job learning<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Resilience<\/strong>: the \u201cemotional courage\u201d to persevere through challenges<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Diverse background<\/strong>: well-roundedness coming from exposure to multicultural influences and engagement in diverse extracurricular activities including sports<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Friendliness<\/strong>: being a \u201cpeople person,\u201d happy around others and eager to serve<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Conscientiousness<\/strong>: an inner drive to strive for detail-oriented excellence in completing tasks to a high standard without supervision (Patel, 2017)<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Professional presence<\/strong>: evidence of engaging in professional activities online<\/li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Social and emotional intelligence<\/strong>: according to the CEO of Knack, a Silicon Valley start-up that uses big data and gamification in the hiring process to identify the traits of successful employees, \"everything we do, and try to achieve inside organizations, requires interactions with others\"; no matter what your profession or \"social abilities, being able to intelligently manage the social landscape, intelligently respond to other people, read the social situation and reason with social savviness\u2014this turns out to differentiate between people who do better and people who don't do as well\" (Nisen, 2013).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIn other words, the quality of your communication skills in dealing with the various audiences that surround you in your workplace are the best predictors of professional success.\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\r\nEmployers value employees who excel in communication skills rather than just technical skills because, by ensuring better workplace and client relations, they contribute directly to the viability of the organization.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Go to the Government of Canada\u2019s Job Bank site and find your chosen profession (i.e., the job your program will lead to) via the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/es_all-eng.do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Explore Careers by Essential Skills<\/a> page. List the particular document types you will be responsible for communicating with in a professional capacity by reading closely through the Reading, Document Use, and Writing drop-downs. List the in-person responsibilities and communication technologies featured under the Oral Communication drop-down.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Go to the Conference Board of Canada\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/PUBLIC_PDFS\/es_toolkit_preview.sflb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Employability Skills Toolkit preview<\/a><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> document and scroll down to p. 4 (numbered p. 8). Copy the communication skills listed in the middle column. Next, format a checklist document like that on the following page (numbered p. 40). Add to it some of the other personal qualities listed in the section above. For each skill or quality, write the best example you can think of demonstrating it in your current or past employment experience, academic program of study, or personal life.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<h3>REFERENCES<\/h3>\r\nConference Board of Canada. (n.d.a). Employability skills 2000+. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/EDUC_PUBLIC\/esp2000.sflb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/EDUC_PUBLIC\/esp2000.sflb<\/a>\r\n\r\nConference Board of Canada. (n.d.b). Employability skills toolkit for the self-managing learner (preview). Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/PUBLIC_PDFS\/es_toolkit_preview.sflb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/PUBLIC_PDFS\/es_toolkit_preview.sflb<\/a>\r\n\r\nCuddy, A. (2012). Your body language may shape who you are<em>. TED Talks<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are<\/a>\r\n\r\nGovernment of Canada. (2017). Explore careers by essential skills. (2017). Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/es_all-eng.do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/es_all-eng.do<\/a>\r\n\r\nNational Association of Colleges and Employers. (2016, April 20). Employers identify four \u201cmust have\u201d career readiness competencies for college graduates. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naceweb.org\/career-readiness\/competencies\/employers-identify-four-must-have-career-readiness-competencies-for-college-graduates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.naceweb.org\/career-readiness\/competencies\/employers-identify-four-must-have-career-readiness-competencies-for-college-graduates\/<\/a>\r\n\r\nNisen, M. (2013, May 6). Moneyball at work: They've discovered what really makes a great employee. <em>Business Insider<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/big-data-in-the-workplace-2013-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/big-data-in-the-workplace-2013-5<\/a>\r\n\r\nPatel, V. (2017, August 7). Soft skills are the key to finding the most valuable employees. <em>Forbes<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/theyec\/2017\/08\/07\/soft-skills-are-the-key-to-finding-the-most-valuable-employees\/2\/#5604d5c616e7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/theyec\/2017\/08\/07\/soft-skills-are-the-key-to-finding-the-most-valuable-employees\/2\/#5604d5c616e7<\/a>\r\n\r\nSena, P., &amp; Zimm, M. (2017, September 30). Dear tech world, STEMism is hurting us. <em>VentureBeat<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2017\/09\/30\/dear-tech-world-stemism-is-hurting-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2017\/09\/30\/dear-tech-world-stemism-is-hurting-us\/<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1><a id=\"113\"><\/a>1.1.3: A Diverse Skillset Featuring Communications Is Key to Survival<\/h1>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft wp-image-22\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2018\/03\/target.png\" alt=\"target icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>4. Consider how communication skills will ensure your future professional success\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe picture painted by this insight into what employers are looking for tells us plenty about what we must do about our skillset to have a fighting chance in the fierce competition for jobs: diversify it and keep our communication skills at a high level. Gone are the days when someone would do one or two jobs throughout their entire career. Rather, if the current job-hopping trend continues, \u201cCanadians can expect to hold roughly 15 jobs in their careers\u201d (Harris, 2014) and the future for many will involve gigging for several employers at once rather than for one (Mahdawi, 2017).\r\n\r\nFuturists tell us that the \u201cgig economy\u201d will evolve alongside advances in AI (artificial intelligence) and automation that will phase out jobs of a routine and mechanical nature with machines. On the bright side, jobs that require advanced communication skills will still be safe for humans because AI and robotics can\u2019t so easily imitate them in a way that meets human needs. Taxi drivers, for instance, are a threatened species now with Uber encroaching on their territory and will certainly go extinct when the promised driverless car revolution arrives in the next 10-15 years, along with truckers, bus drivers, and dozens of other auto- and transport-industry roles (Frey, 2016). They can resist, but the market will ultimately force them into retraining and finding work that is hopefully more future-proof\u2014work that prioritizes the human element.\r\n\r\nIndeed, current predictions from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship at Ryerson University in Toronto are that 42% of Canadian jobs\u2014especially low-paying ones\u2014are at high risk of being affected by automation by the mid-2020s to 2030s. Some of those will be eliminated outright, but most will be redefined by requiring new skillsets that cannot be automated so easily. The 36% of jobs at low risk are those that require either advanced soft skills and emotional intelligence featured in roles such as managers, nurses, and teachers (Lamb, 2016), creativity, or advanced STEM skills in developing and servicing those technologies (Mahdawi, 2017; Riddell, 2017).\r\n\r\nSince the future of work is a series of careers and juggling several gigs at once, communication skills are key to transitioning between them all. The gears of every career switch and new job added are greased by the soft skills that help convince your new employers and clients to hire you, or, if you strike out on your own, convince your new partners and employees to work with or for you. Career changes certainly aren\u2019t the signs of catastrophe that they perhaps used to be; usually they mark moves up the pay scale so that you end your working life where you should: far beyond where you started in terms of both your role and pay bracket.\r\n\r\nYou simply cannot make those career and gig transitions without communication skills. In other words, you will be stuck on the first floor of entry-level gigging unless you have the soft skills to lift you up and shop you around. A nurse who graduates with a diploma and enters the workforce quilting together a patchwork of part-time gigs in hospitals, care homes, clinics, and schools, for instance, won\u2019t still be exhausted by this juggling act if they have the soft skills to rise to decision-making positions in any one of those places. Though the job will be technologically assisted in ways that it never had been before with machines handling the menial dirty work, the fundamental human need for human interaction and decision-making will keep that nurse employed and upwardly mobile. The more advanced your communication skills develop as you find your way through the gig economy, the further up the pay scale you\u2019ll climb.\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\r\n<img style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2023\/10\/writing.png\" alt=\"pen and paper icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>1. Again using the Government of Canada\u2019s Job Bank site, go to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/wage-outlook_search-eng.do?reportOption=outlook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Explore Careers by Outlook<\/a> page and search for your chosen profession (i.e., the job your program will lead to). Using the sources listed below as well as other internet research, explain whether near- and long-term projections predict that your job will survive the automation and AI revolution or disruption in the workforce. If the role you\u2019re training for will be redefined rather than eliminated, describe what new skillsets will \u201cfuture proof\u201d it.\r\n\r\n2. Plot out a career path starting with your chosen profession and where it might take you. Consider that you can rise to supervisory or managerial positions within the profession you\u2019re training for, but then transfer into related industries. Name those related industries and consider how they too will survive the automation\/AI disruption.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<h3>REFERENCES<\/h3>\r\nFrey, T. (2016, April 5). <em>128 Things that will disappear in the driverless car era<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.futuristspeaker.com\/job-opportunities\/128-things-that-will-disappear-in-the-driverless-car-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.futuristspeaker.com\/job-opportunities\/128-things-that-will-disappear-in-the-driverless-car-era\/<\/a>\r\n\r\nGovernment of Canada. (2017). <em>Explore careers by outlook<\/em>. (2017). Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/wage-outlook_search-eng.do?reportOption=outlook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/wage-outlook_search-eng.do?reportOption=outlook<\/a>\r\n\r\nHarris, P. (2014, December 4). <em>How many jobs do Canadians hold in a lifetime?<\/em> Workopolis. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/how-many-jobs-do-canadians-hold-in-a-lifetime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/how-many-jobs-do-canadians-hold-in-a-lifetime\/<\/a>\r\n\r\nLamb, C. (2016, June). <em>The talented Mr. Robot: The impact of automation on Canada\u2019s workforce<\/em>. The Brook\u00acfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/brookfieldinstitute.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/TalentedMrRobot_BIIE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/brookfieldinstitute.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/TalentedMrRobot_BIIE.pdf<\/a>\r\n\r\nMahdawi, A. (2017, June 26). <em>What jobs will still be around in 20 years? Read this to prepare your future.<\/em> The Guardian. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/jun\/26\/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/jun\/26\/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health<\/a>\r\n\r\nRiddell, C. (2017, February 10). <em>10 high-paying jobs that will survive the robot invasion<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/10-high-paying-jobs-will-survive-robot-invasion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/10-high-paying-jobs-will-survive-robot-invasion\/<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1><a id=\"114\"><\/a>1.1.4: Communication Represents You and Your Employer<\/h1>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<img style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2018\/03\/target.png\" alt=\"target icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>5. Recognize that the quality of your communication represents the quality of your company\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nImagine a situation where you are looking for a contractor for a custom job you need done on your car and you email several companies for a quote breaking down how much the job will cost. You narrow it down to two companies who have about the same price, and one gets back to you within 24 hours with a clear price breakdown in a PDF attached in an email that is friendly in tone and perfectly written. But the other took four days to respond with an email that looked like it was written by a sixth-grader with multiple grammar errors in each sentence and an attached quote that was just a scan of some nearly illegible chicken-scratch writing. Comparing the communication styles of the two companies, choosing who you\u2019re going to go with for your custom job is a no-brainer.\r\n\r\nOf course, the connection between the quality of their communication and the quality of the job they\u2019ll do for you isn\u2019t water-tight, but it\u2019s a fairly good conclusion to jump to, one that customers will always make. The company representative who took the time to ensure their writing was clear and professional, even proofreading it to confirm that it was error-free, will probably take the time to ensure the job they do for you will be the same high-calibre work that you\u2019re paying for. By the same token, we can assume that the one who didn\u2019t bother to proofread their email at all will likewise do a quick, sloppy, and disappointing job that will require you to hound them to come back and do it right\u2014a hassle you have no time for. We are all picky, judgmental consumers for obvious reasons: we are careful with our money and expect only the best work value for our dollar.\r\n\r\nGood managers know that about their customers, so they hire and retain employees with the same scruples, which means they appreciate more than anyone that your writing represents you and your company. As tech CEO Kyle Wiens (2012) says, \u201cGood grammar is credibility, especially on the internet\u201d where your writing is \u201ca projection of you in your physical absence.\u201d Just as people judge flaws in your personal appearance such as a stain on your shirt or broccoli between your teeth, suggesting a sloppy lack of self-awareness and personal care, so they will judge you as a person if it\u2019s obvious from your writing that \u201cyou can\u2019t tell the difference between their, there, and they\u2019re\u201d (\u00b66).\r\n\r\nAs the marketing slogan goes, you don\u2019t get a second chance to make a first impression. If potential employers or clients (who are, essentially, your employers) see that you care enough about details to write a flawless email, they will jump to the conclusion that you will be as conscientious in your job and are thus a safe bet for hire. Again, it\u2019s no guarantee of future success, but it increases your chances immeasurably. As Wiens says of the job of coding in the business of software programming, \u201cdetails are everything. I hire people who care about those details\u201d (\u00b612-13), but you could substitute \u201cprogrammer\u201d with any job title and it would be just as true.\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\r\n<img style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2023\/10\/key.png\" alt=\"key icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>The quality of your communication represents the quality of your work and the organization you work for, especially online when others have only your words to judge.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\r\n<h3>Exercise<\/h3>\r\n<img style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2023\/10\/writing.png\" alt=\"pen and paper icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>Describe an incident when you were disappointed with the professionalism of a business you dealt with, either because of shoddy work, poor customer service, shabby online or in-person appearance, etc. Explain how the quality of their communication impacted that experience and what you would have done differently if you were in their position.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<h3>REFERENCES<\/h3>\r\nWiens, K. (2012, July 20). <em>I won't hire people who use poor grammar<\/em>. Here's why. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2012\/07\/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/hbr.org\/2012\/07\/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo\/<\/a>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s begin by answering the question that is probably on the mind of anyone enrolled in an introductory English Communications course. Why are you here? It\u2019s probably not because you chose this course out of your natural enthusiasm for English classes. It\u2019s because it is a requirement to advance in the program and graduate.<\/p>\n<p>So why would the program administrators require you to take this course? Is it just a money grab? The short answer to the second question is: No. The answer to the first question is: because you need sharp communication skills to be able to apply the core skills you\u2019re learning in your other courses in the program. This textbook\u2019s first section expands on that answer in more detail so that you can proceed through this course in the right frame of mind. None of your course\u2019s lessons make sense unless you realize that communications skills are not merely nice-to-have assets in your program and in life, but absolutely necessary to your survivability in this social world and tough economy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#111\">1.1.1: Communications vs. English Courses<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#112\">1.1.2: Communication Skills Desired by Employers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#113\">1.1.3: A Diverse Skillset Featuring Communications is Key to Survival<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#114\">1.1.4: Communication Represents You and Your Employer<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1><a id=\"111\"><\/a>1.1.1: Communications vs. English Courses<\/h1>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>LEARNING OBJECTIVES<\/h3>\n<p>1. Distinguish between the nature of English and Communications courses.<\/p>\n<p>2. Explain the importance of studying Communications.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Whether students enter their first-year college Communications courses right out of high school or with years of work experience behind them, they often fear being doomed to repeat their high school English class, reading Shakespeare and writing essays. Welcome relief comes when they discover that a course in Communications has nothing to do with either of those things. Why should it when no one in the modern workplace speaks in a Shakespearean dialect or writes expository essays? If not High School English 2.0, what is Communications all about, then?<\/p>\n<p>For our purposes, Communication<em>s<\/em> (yes, with a capital <em>C<\/em> and ending with an <em>s<\/em>) is essentially the practice of interacting with others in the workplace and other professional contexts. Absolutely every job\u2014from A to Z, accountant to Zamboni mechanic\u2014involves dealing with a variety of people all day long.\u00a0You may deal with clients, managers, coworkers, stakeholders (people and organizations yours deals with, such as suppliers), professional organizations, a union perhaps, investors, the public, media, students, and so on depending on the nature of the job.<\/p>\n<p>When dealing with each of those audiences, we adjust the way we communicate according to well-known conventions. You wouldn\u2019t talk to a customer or client the same way you would a long-time friendly co-worker; depending on what kind of relationship you have with your manager, you probably wouldn\u2019t speak or write to them in the same way you would either of the others. Learning those communication conventions is certainly easier and more useful than learning how to interpret a four-hundred-year-old play. If we communicate effectively\u2014that is, clearly, concisely, coherently, correctly, and convincingly\u2014by following those conventions, we can do a better job of applying our core technical skills, whether they be in sales, the skilled trades, the service industry, health care, office management, the government, the arts, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>A course in Communications brings your existing communication skills up to a professional level by focusing on how to follow conventions for interacting with those various audiences in a variety of channels\u2014whether they be speaking in person, by phone, email, text, or emojis, for instance. That we don\u2019t generally communicate by emojis with clients or managers (unless they tell us that they prefer it), for instance, is a convention that doesn\u2019t occur naturally to some. Indeed, it may come as a surprise to some that you&#8217;d risk embarrassing yourself and permanently undermining your credibility if you added emojis to a message sent to a manager or client. Because we are not born with an instinct for staying within the bounds of respectable communication, the channel conventions must be learned and practiced.<\/p>\n<p>Some will approach this course with years of professional experience behind them and will appreciate that the communication aspect of any job is easy to underestimate. They will also appreciate that <em>not<\/em> abiding by those well-established communication conventions\u2014by going rogue and freestyling the way you communicate\u2014usually brings embarrassment and failure. To the audiences you deal with in the workplace, how well you communicate determines your level of professionalism. It\u2019s like your style of dress: a well-written email has the same effect as a nice suit worn in an office or a clean uniform worn by a service worker\u2014it suggests detail-oriented competence. Major writing errors are like big stains down the front of that suit or revealing rips in that uniform\u2014they make you look sloppy, foolish, and unreliable. Just as we spent decades getting to where we are now as communicators in whatever situation we find ourselves, we need a college course to iron out the wrinkles of our communication skills for the better workplaces we aspire to\u2014what we go to a vocational college for\u2014in ways that our previous work experience and high school English classes didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t to say that your high school English classes were useless, though few can claim that they prepared you adequately for the modern workplace. Arguably the movement away from English fundamentals (grammar, punctuation, spelling, style, mechanics, etc.) in Canadian high schools does a disservice to students when they get into their careers. There they soon realize that stakeholders\u2014customers, managers, co-workers, etc.\u2014tend to judge the quality of a person\u2019s general competence by the quality of their writing (if that\u2019s all they have to go on) and speaking. The topic of Communications, then, includes aspects of the traditional English class curriculum, at least in terms of the basics of English writing. But the emphasis always returns to what is practical and necessary for succeeding in the modern workplace\u2014wherever that is\u2014not simply what is \u201cgood for you\u201d in the abstract just because someone says it is.<\/p>\n<p>If you feel that you are a weak writer but an excellent speaker or vice versa, rest assured that weaknesses and strengths in different areas of the communication spectrum don\u2019t necessarily mean that you will always be good or bad at communication in general. Weaknesses can and should be improved upon, strengths built upon. It\u2019s important to recognize that we have more communication channels available to us than ever before, which means that the communication spectrum\u2014from oral to written to nonverbal channels\u2014is broader than ever. Competence across that spectrum is no longer just a \u201cnice to have\u201d asset sought by employers, but essential to career success.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>KEY TAKEAWAY<\/h3>\n<p>By teaching you the communications conventions for dealing with a variety of stakeholders, a course in Communications has different goals from your high school English course and is a vitally important step towards professionalizing you for entry or re-entry into the workforce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>EXERCISE<\/h3>\n<p>List your communication strengths and weaknesses. Next, explain what you hope to get out of this Communications course now that you know a little more about what it involves. Before you answer, however, read ahead through the rest of this chapter to get a further sense of why this course is so vital to your career success.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1><a id=\"112\"><\/a>1.1.2: Communication Skills Desired by Employers<\/h1>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<p>3. Identify communication-related skills and personal qualities favoured by employers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>If there\u2019s a shorthand reason for why you need communication skills to complement your technical skills, it\u2019s that you don\u2019t get paid without them. You need communication and \u201csoft\u201d skills to get work and keep working so that people continue to want to employ you to apply your core technical skills. A diverse skill set that includes communication is really the key to survival in the modern workforce, and hiring trends bear this out.<\/p>\n<p>In its Employability Skills 2000+, the Conference Board of Canada lists \u201cthe skills you need to enter, stay in, and progress\u201d in the 21st century workplace. The first category listed is communication skills, specifically how to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read and understand information presented in a variety of forms (e.g., words, graphs, charts, diagrams)<\/li>\n<li>Write and speak so others pay attention and understand<\/li>\n<li>Listen and ask questions to understand and appreciate the points of view of others<\/li>\n<li>Share information using a range of information and communications technologies (e.g., voice, e-mail, computers)<\/li>\n<li>Use relevant scientific, technological, and mathematical knowledge and skills to explain or clarify ideas (Conference Board, n.d.a)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Likewise, the non-profit National Association of Colleges and Employers in the US surveys hundreds of employers annually and has found that, in the last several years, they consistently rank the following four skills as most desirable ahead of fifth-ranked technical skills:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Critical thinking and problem solving<\/li>\n<li>Professionalism and work ethic<\/li>\n<li>Teamwork<\/li>\n<li>Oral and written communication (NACE, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>When employers include these interrelated soft skills in job postings, it\u2019s not because they copied everyone else\u2019s job posting, but because they really want to hire people with those skills. From experience, they know that such skills directly contribute to the success of any operation no matter whether you\u2019re in the public or private sector because they help attract and retain customers and client organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Traditional hiring practices filter out applicants who have poor communication skills, starting with a \u201cwritten exam\u201d\u2014the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and cover letter. As documents that represent you in your physical absence, these indicate whether you are detail oriented in how you organize information and whether you can compose proper, grammatically correct sentences and paragraphs. If you pass that test, you are invited to the \u201coral exam,\u201d where your face-to-face conversational skills are assessed. If you prove that you have strong soft skills in this two-stage filter, especially if you come off as friendly, happy, and easy to work with in the interview, an employer will be more likely to hire you, keep you, and trust you with co-workers and clients.<\/p>\n<p>The latest thinking in human resources (HR), however, is that both of those traditional filters are unreliable. Applicants can fake them. Expensive as it might be, you could get someone else to write your r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and cover letter for you, or you can just follow a template and replace someone else\u2019s details with your own. Though most job competitions for well-paying jobs will yield exceptionally good and bad r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and cover letters amidst a tall stack of applications, most tend to look the same because most applicants follow fairly consistent advice about how to put them together. Likewise, you can train for an interview and \u201cfake it to make it\u201d (Cuddy, 2012), then go back to being your less hireable self in the workplace, only to be the first one \u201clet go\u201d when the next office \u201creorganization\u201d comes down.<\/p>\n<p>Recruiters at the most successful companies such as tech giant Google have looked at the big data on hiring and found that traditional criteria, including GPA and technical-skills test scores in the interview process, are poor predictors of how well a hire will perform and advance. New hires with only core technical skills, even if exceptionally advanced, don\u2019t necessarily become successful employees; in fact, they are the most replaceable in any organization, especially in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) industries (Sena &amp; Zimm, 2017). According to <em>Business Insider<\/em>, Google\u2019s recruiters took an analytics approach like that portrayed in the 2011 film <em>Moneyball<\/em> and found that key predictors of success are instead personal traits, especially:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Adaptability<\/strong>: the curiosity-driven agility to solve problems through independent, on-the-job learning<\/li>\n<li><strong>Resilience<\/strong>: the \u201cemotional courage\u201d to persevere through challenges<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diverse background<\/strong>: well-roundedness coming from exposure to multicultural influences and engagement in diverse extracurricular activities including sports<\/li>\n<li><strong>Friendliness<\/strong>: being a \u201cpeople person,\u201d happy around others and eager to serve<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conscientiousness<\/strong>: an inner drive to strive for detail-oriented excellence in completing tasks to a high standard without supervision (Patel, 2017)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Professional presence<\/strong>: evidence of engaging in professional activities online<\/li>\n<li><strong>Social and emotional intelligence<\/strong>: according to the CEO of Knack, a Silicon Valley start-up that uses big data and gamification in the hiring process to identify the traits of successful employees, &#8220;everything we do, and try to achieve inside organizations, requires interactions with others&#8221;; no matter what your profession or &#8220;social abilities, being able to intelligently manage the social landscape, intelligently respond to other people, read the social situation and reason with social savviness\u2014this turns out to differentiate between people who do better and people who don&#8217;t do as well&#8221; (Nisen, 2013).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In other words, the quality of your communication skills in dealing with the various audiences that surround you in your workplace are the best predictors of professional success.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\n<p>Employers value employees who excel in communication skills rather than just technical skills because, by ensuring better workplace and client relations, they contribute directly to the viability of the organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to the Government of Canada\u2019s Job Bank site and find your chosen profession (i.e., the job your program will lead to) via the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/es_all-eng.do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Explore Careers by Essential Skills<\/a> page. List the particular document types you will be responsible for communicating with in a professional capacity by reading closely through the Reading, Document Use, and Writing drop-downs. List the in-person responsibilities and communication technologies featured under the Oral Communication drop-down.<\/li>\n<li>Go to the Conference Board of Canada\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/PUBLIC_PDFS\/es_toolkit_preview.sflb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Employability Skills Toolkit preview<\/a><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> document and scroll down to p. 4 (numbered p. 8). Copy the communication skills listed in the middle column. Next, format a checklist document like that on the following page (numbered p. 40). Add to it some of the other personal qualities listed in the section above. For each skill or quality, write the best example you can think of demonstrating it in your current or past employment experience, academic program of study, or personal life.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<h3>REFERENCES<\/h3>\n<p>Conference Board of Canada. (n.d.a). Employability skills 2000+. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/EDUC_PUBLIC\/esp2000.sflb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/EDUC_PUBLIC\/esp2000.sflb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Conference Board of Canada. (n.d.b). Employability skills toolkit for the self-managing learner (preview). Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/PUBLIC_PDFS\/es_toolkit_preview.sflb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.conferenceboard.ca\/Libraries\/PUBLIC_PDFS\/es_toolkit_preview.sflb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cuddy, A. (2012). Your body language may shape who you are<em>. TED Talks<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Government of Canada. (2017). Explore careers by essential skills. (2017). Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/es_all-eng.do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/es_all-eng.do<\/a><\/p>\n<p>National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2016, April 20). Employers identify four \u201cmust have\u201d career readiness competencies for college graduates. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.naceweb.org\/career-readiness\/competencies\/employers-identify-four-must-have-career-readiness-competencies-for-college-graduates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.naceweb.org\/career-readiness\/competencies\/employers-identify-four-must-have-career-readiness-competencies-for-college-graduates\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Nisen, M. (2013, May 6). Moneyball at work: They&#8217;ve discovered what really makes a great employee. <em>Business Insider<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/big-data-in-the-workplace-2013-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/big-data-in-the-workplace-2013-5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Patel, V. (2017, August 7). Soft skills are the key to finding the most valuable employees. <em>Forbes<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/theyec\/2017\/08\/07\/soft-skills-are-the-key-to-finding-the-most-valuable-employees\/2\/#5604d5c616e7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/theyec\/2017\/08\/07\/soft-skills-are-the-key-to-finding-the-most-valuable-employees\/2\/#5604d5c616e7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sena, P., &amp; Zimm, M. (2017, September 30). Dear tech world, STEMism is hurting us. <em>VentureBeat<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2017\/09\/30\/dear-tech-world-stemism-is-hurting-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2017\/09\/30\/dear-tech-world-stemism-is-hurting-us\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1><a id=\"113\"><\/a>1.1.3: A Diverse Skillset Featuring Communications Is Key to Survival<\/h1>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-22\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2018\/03\/target.png\" alt=\"target icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2018\/03\/target.png 100w, https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2018\/03\/target-65x65.png 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 70px) 100vw, 70px\" \/>4. Consider how communication skills will ensure your future professional success<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The picture painted by this insight into what employers are looking for tells us plenty about what we must do about our skillset to have a fighting chance in the fierce competition for jobs: diversify it and keep our communication skills at a high level. Gone are the days when someone would do one or two jobs throughout their entire career. Rather, if the current job-hopping trend continues, \u201cCanadians can expect to hold roughly 15 jobs in their careers\u201d (Harris, 2014) and the future for many will involve gigging for several employers at once rather than for one (Mahdawi, 2017).<\/p>\n<p>Futurists tell us that the \u201cgig economy\u201d will evolve alongside advances in AI (artificial intelligence) and automation that will phase out jobs of a routine and mechanical nature with machines. On the bright side, jobs that require advanced communication skills will still be safe for humans because AI and robotics can\u2019t so easily imitate them in a way that meets human needs. Taxi drivers, for instance, are a threatened species now with Uber encroaching on their territory and will certainly go extinct when the promised driverless car revolution arrives in the next 10-15 years, along with truckers, bus drivers, and dozens of other auto- and transport-industry roles (Frey, 2016). They can resist, but the market will ultimately force them into retraining and finding work that is hopefully more future-proof\u2014work that prioritizes the human element.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, current predictions from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship at Ryerson University in Toronto are that 42% of Canadian jobs\u2014especially low-paying ones\u2014are at high risk of being affected by automation by the mid-2020s to 2030s. Some of those will be eliminated outright, but most will be redefined by requiring new skillsets that cannot be automated so easily. The 36% of jobs at low risk are those that require either advanced soft skills and emotional intelligence featured in roles such as managers, nurses, and teachers (Lamb, 2016), creativity, or advanced STEM skills in developing and servicing those technologies (Mahdawi, 2017; Riddell, 2017).<\/p>\n<p>Since the future of work is a series of careers and juggling several gigs at once, communication skills are key to transitioning between them all. The gears of every career switch and new job added are greased by the soft skills that help convince your new employers and clients to hire you, or, if you strike out on your own, convince your new partners and employees to work with or for you. Career changes certainly aren\u2019t the signs of catastrophe that they perhaps used to be; usually they mark moves up the pay scale so that you end your working life where you should: far beyond where you started in terms of both your role and pay bracket.<\/p>\n<p>You simply cannot make those career and gig transitions without communication skills. In other words, you will be stuck on the first floor of entry-level gigging unless you have the soft skills to lift you up and shop you around. A nurse who graduates with a diploma and enters the workforce quilting together a patchwork of part-time gigs in hospitals, care homes, clinics, and schools, for instance, won\u2019t still be exhausted by this juggling act if they have the soft skills to rise to decision-making positions in any one of those places. Though the job will be technologically assisted in ways that it never had been before with machines handling the menial dirty work, the fundamental human need for human interaction and decision-making will keep that nurse employed and upwardly mobile. The more advanced your communication skills develop as you find your way through the gig economy, the further up the pay scale you\u2019ll climb.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2023\/10\/writing.png\" alt=\"pen and paper icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>1. Again using the Government of Canada\u2019s Job Bank site, go to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/wage-outlook_search-eng.do?reportOption=outlook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Explore Careers by Outlook<\/a> page and search for your chosen profession (i.e., the job your program will lead to). Using the sources listed below as well as other internet research, explain whether near- and long-term projections predict that your job will survive the automation and AI revolution or disruption in the workforce. If the role you\u2019re training for will be redefined rather than eliminated, describe what new skillsets will \u201cfuture proof\u201d it.<\/p>\n<p>2. Plot out a career path starting with your chosen profession and where it might take you. Consider that you can rise to supervisory or managerial positions within the profession you\u2019re training for, but then transfer into related industries. Name those related industries and consider how they too will survive the automation\/AI disruption.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<h3>REFERENCES<\/h3>\n<p>Frey, T. (2016, April 5). <em>128 Things that will disappear in the driverless car era<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.futuristspeaker.com\/job-opportunities\/128-things-that-will-disappear-in-the-driverless-car-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.futuristspeaker.com\/job-opportunities\/128-things-that-will-disappear-in-the-driverless-car-era\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Government of Canada. (2017). <em>Explore careers by outlook<\/em>. (2017). Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/wage-outlook_search-eng.do?reportOption=outlook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.jobbank.gc.ca\/wage-outlook_search-eng.do?reportOption=outlook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Harris, P. (2014, December 4). <em>How many jobs do Canadians hold in a lifetime?<\/em> Workopolis. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/how-many-jobs-do-canadians-hold-in-a-lifetime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/how-many-jobs-do-canadians-hold-in-a-lifetime\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lamb, C. (2016, June). <em>The talented Mr. Robot: The impact of automation on Canada\u2019s workforce<\/em>. The Brook\u00acfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship. Retrieved from <a href=\"http:\/\/brookfieldinstitute.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/TalentedMrRobot_BIIE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/brookfieldinstitute.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/TalentedMrRobot_BIIE.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mahdawi, A. (2017, June 26). <em>What jobs will still be around in 20 years? Read this to prepare your future.<\/em> The Guardian. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/jun\/26\/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/jun\/26\/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Riddell, C. (2017, February 10). <em>10 high-paying jobs that will survive the robot invasion<\/em>. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/10-high-paying-jobs-will-survive-robot-invasion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/careers.workopolis.com\/advice\/10-high-paying-jobs-will-survive-robot-invasion\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1><a id=\"114\"><\/a>1.1.4: Communication Represents You and Your Employer<\/h1>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2018\/03\/target.png\" alt=\"target icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>5. Recognize that the quality of your communication represents the quality of your company<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Imagine a situation where you are looking for a contractor for a custom job you need done on your car and you email several companies for a quote breaking down how much the job will cost. You narrow it down to two companies who have about the same price, and one gets back to you within 24 hours with a clear price breakdown in a PDF attached in an email that is friendly in tone and perfectly written. But the other took four days to respond with an email that looked like it was written by a sixth-grader with multiple grammar errors in each sentence and an attached quote that was just a scan of some nearly illegible chicken-scratch writing. Comparing the communication styles of the two companies, choosing who you\u2019re going to go with for your custom job is a no-brainer.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the connection between the quality of their communication and the quality of the job they\u2019ll do for you isn\u2019t water-tight, but it\u2019s a fairly good conclusion to jump to, one that customers will always make. The company representative who took the time to ensure their writing was clear and professional, even proofreading it to confirm that it was error-free, will probably take the time to ensure the job they do for you will be the same high-calibre work that you\u2019re paying for. By the same token, we can assume that the one who didn\u2019t bother to proofread their email at all will likewise do a quick, sloppy, and disappointing job that will require you to hound them to come back and do it right\u2014a hassle you have no time for. We are all picky, judgmental consumers for obvious reasons: we are careful with our money and expect only the best work value for our dollar.<\/p>\n<p>Good managers know that about their customers, so they hire and retain employees with the same scruples, which means they appreciate more than anyone that your writing represents you and your company. As tech CEO Kyle Wiens (2012) says, \u201cGood grammar is credibility, especially on the internet\u201d where your writing is \u201ca projection of you in your physical absence.\u201d Just as people judge flaws in your personal appearance such as a stain on your shirt or broccoli between your teeth, suggesting a sloppy lack of self-awareness and personal care, so they will judge you as a person if it\u2019s obvious from your writing that \u201cyou can\u2019t tell the difference between their, there, and they\u2019re\u201d (\u00b66).<\/p>\n<p>As the marketing slogan goes, you don\u2019t get a second chance to make a first impression. If potential employers or clients (who are, essentially, your employers) see that you care enough about details to write a flawless email, they will jump to the conclusion that you will be as conscientious in your job and are thus a safe bet for hire. Again, it\u2019s no guarantee of future success, but it increases your chances immeasurably. As Wiens says of the job of coding in the business of software programming, \u201cdetails are everything. I hire people who care about those details\u201d (\u00b612-13), but you could substitute \u201cprogrammer\u201d with any job title and it would be just as true.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2023\/10\/key.png\" alt=\"key icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>The quality of your communication represents the quality of your work and the organization you work for, especially online when others have only your words to judge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox exercises\">\n<h3>Exercise<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/404\/2023\/10\/writing.png\" alt=\"pen and paper icon\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/>Describe an incident when you were disappointed with the professionalism of a business you dealt with, either because of shoddy work, poor customer service, shabby online or in-person appearance, etc. Explain how the quality of their communication impacted that experience and what you would have done differently if you were in their position.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<h3>REFERENCES<\/h3>\n<p>Wiens, K. (2012, July 20). <em>I won&#8217;t hire people who use poor grammar<\/em>. Here&#8217;s why. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/hbr.org\/2012\/07\/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/hbr.org\/2012\/07\/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"Why Communications?","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[49],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-25","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":21,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/25\/revisions\/238"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/21"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/25\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cmn279\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}