Mar 04

How better business writing can help your career

Business Writing Skills, Communication Skills, Uncategorized, Writing Skills No Comments »

“Number of applications for this position: 100+.” This is something you commonly read on popular online job portals these days. So whether you are actively looking for a job or are considering a step up in your career, the ability to sell and market yourself effectively is more important than ever in these tough economic times. Written documents like your CV or covering letter still play a crucial part in this process, because they are often the first sight a recruiter or potential employer has of you. Improving your business writing skills will significantly contribute to making yourself positively stand out from the crowd of other applicants.

Business Woman on laptop 2 quavondo i How better business writing can help your career

© istockphoto.com/quavondo

What is more, social media platforms have added a whole new dimension to the range of information about you that is available to recruiters and employers. However, they offer you additional opportunities to market yourself effectively and can help to enhance your chances, provided that your profile and all activities that are linked to it such as group memberships, posts and discussions represent you in a professional way. A sloppily scribbled post or discussion comment will not show you in a good light but a well written and structured profile can be a stepping stone to new career opportunities.
So how do the general principles of good business writing apply to writing applications and to creating a professional online profile?

1. Consider what your reader requires
The purpose of your application documents and online profile is to provide an overview of your relevant qualifications and skills. Your application documents should clearly match the requirements given in the job specification, so that recruiters and potential employers can quickly check whether you ‘tick all the boxes’. Reading time for each document is limited, as it is not unusual to receive a huge number of applications.

When writing your online profile think about what key skills and qualifications are crucial for the industry or organisation you wish to work in and highlight these. A catchy summary containing relevant key terms will help to attract the right people to your profile.

2. Be clear and concise.
To cater for the specific needs of your reader, you have to master the art of short and succinct writing. Waffling and lack of focus in your covering letter and/or CV are likely to have an impact on whether your application lands on the right pile regardless of your skills and experience. It is not easy to cram a lot of relevant information into a short paragraph, but the harder you work on writing succinctly the easier and quicker it will be for your reader to grasp the relevant information. And you will also demonstrate your writing skills.

3. Put some thought into structure and layout
Structure also contributes to clarity and conciseness and the information you give about your experience, skills and qualifications needs to be connected and arranged in a logical way. You might think that the chronological order of your work experience or education dictates the structure of your CV. However, depending on the job description and employer, it does make sense to reconsider your structure. For instance, if you are applying for a job where international experience is crucial, highlight yours separately under a clear heading. This helps the reader to spot this information at one glance instead of having to skim read your whole CV.

4. Show, don’t tell
Provide evidence of your skills and give concrete examples. Use numbers and figures if you can to back up your arguments. For example, if you highlight your leadership qualities not only give the number of people in your team, but also say what they achieved under your management. Even if you cannot provide exact figures, it is still better to state that your implementation of an induction plan contributed to more effective training of new employees than simply mentioning that you implemented one. This clearly demonstrates how employers will profit from hiring you and how you can add value to their organisation.

5. Aim for perfection
Your CV and covering letter are not only a summary of your skills and qualifications, they also convey a first impression of the quality of your work. If, for example, you claim in your covering letter that you have a keen eye for detail, but have typos or punctuation mistakes in your documents, you are clearly undermining your credibility. Your application documents are your ultimate selling tool and therefore need to be impeccable. Therefore, ask someone who is proficient with grammar and punctuation to proofread your documents. A spell checker will not discover unclear formulations and you are likely to become ‘blind’ to your own mistakes after having read your own writing repeatedly.

6. Keep them up-to-date
Information stagnates quickly in the digital age. Three months may not seem like a long period of time but on a job portal a CV uploaded three months ago is likely to go unnoticed due to the huge amount of more recently uploaded applications from other job seekers. It is important not only to keep your documents themselves up to date but also to keep them fresh in the search cycle. You can keep your online profile current and up-to-date on social media platforms by posting interesting and relevant articles or by initiating and taking part in discussions. However, always remember to check what you post carefully to avoid creating a negative impression.

Never underestimate the time and effort it takes to create professional and well written application documents or maintain a dynamic online profile. However, the time and effort you spend investing in your business writing can make all the difference in helping you to land your dream job.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2013

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Feb 01

How to Write Winning Business Proposals

Business Writing Skills, Writing Skills No Comments »

In the current economic climate it is more important than ever that organisations increase their win-rate and sell more products and services to more clients. Often, one of the first steps towards making a new sale is writing an effective proposal. This is your opportunity to showcase not only your products and services but also the professionalism, credibility and effectiveness of your organisation and it warrants spending considerable time and effort making sure you ‘hit the spot’ and give your organisation the best chance of winning new business.

Business Meeting 12LajosRepasi i Copy How to Write Winning Business Proposals

© istockphoto.com/LajosRepasi

Follow our five step plan for writing winning business proposals and you should see an increase in the success rate of your bids and proposals.

1. Know your buyer: More important than anything else, make sure you have an in-depth understanding of your customer and before you even start writing be clear about what they require and what will be the winning factors for them. Hopefully you will have already had the opportunity to speak with them before getting started on your proposal but if not, ask for a few minutes on the phone or email a list of questions. And it goes without saying that you should do your own research on the client organisation; see if they have appeared in the news recently and familiarise yourself with their website so that you understand their brand ethos and values as well as practicalities such as locations, range of services and key personnel.

2. Focus on your solution: The majority of readers will be most interested in what you can do for them, how you propose to deliver your solution and how much it will cost so make sure this information is clearly defined and forms the core of your proposal. Show them that you understand their challenges and can offer a targeted solution. Make sure you explicitly highlight the benefits of your solution and if appropriate illustrate with samples or extracts.

3. Demonstrate your credibility: Potential customers will be more convinced of the value of your products and services if you can give concrete examples of how other similar organisations have benefitted from your services. If the competition has bought then they should be buying too!

4. Speak your buyer’s language: As a general rule of thumb, use every day language that is easy to understand yet persuasive. Your reader is more likely to be won over by clear and simple language rather than complex structure or impenetrable terminology. Unless of course you know that your proposal will be read by technical experts in which case your proposal should use the language they understand. This is with the proviso that many proposals are read by multiple readers who may not all share the same level of technical expertise.

5. Appeal to all their senses: We don’t all necessarily process information in the same way and successful proposals reflect this by displaying information and using language that appeals to different processing styles – or to all the senses. Make sure that your proposal is visually attractive using graphics, images and colour as appropriate. Include statistics and other data for the more analytical thinkers among your decision makers. And finally use a variety of language that will appear to auditory (harmonise, resonate, clearly express) and kinaesthetic (energise, solid foundations, concrete examples) styles as well as more logical approaches.

Effective Proposal Writing can be challenging but combine these steps with the core principles of good business writing such concise style or thorough proof-reading and you should see an improvement your win rate.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2013

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Nov 05

Replacing Jargon with Clear Writing

Business Writing Skills, Communication Skills, Writing Skills No Comments »

In today’s increasingly busy business environment it is vital to produce audience–friendly documents written in clear and accessible language. However, all too frequently we see an over-use of specialist language or jargon making it challenging for many readers to understand. This is particularly prevalent in specific business sectors such as law, banking or engineering and can cause confusion and frustration to others not working in the same industry and can reduce the impact of our written communication.

Business Writing Viorika Prikhodko i Copy Replacing Jargon with Clear Writing

© istockphoto.com/Viorika Prikhodko

The Plain English Campaign has recently named and shamed the UK government again as a major jargon culprit. In October 2013 the UK’s credit regulations are going to change. These complex changes are very important and need to be explained to the public clearly and simply. However, the Department for Work and Pensions writes like this: ‘Transitional Protection will be calculated by comparing the total household monthly benefit and tax credit receipt at the point of migration with the total first household Universal Credit entitlement’. This type of financial language can be confusing to those of us who are not experts in the field and is often the source of much confusion and frustration among the public. It can also waste time for the government officials who have written in this way as they will have to deal with enquiries from people who do not understand the new regulations or with those of us who misinterpret them.

Below are some tips for replacing jargon with clear writing:

  • If you are a specialist in a specific industry or sector you may not even be aware of how much jargon you use in your written communication
  • If you can, ask someone less specialist to review your writing and check for jargon and technical gobbledegook. Use short, simple language to convey your message – where there is a shorter equivalent use it, don’t utilise it!
  • Don’t use acronyms unless they are very well-known – otherwise they can appear like undecipherable code words
  • Where possible avoid using nouns ending in –ation, for example precipitation instead of rain, or utilisation instead of use
  • Avoid using business speak and clichés such as ‘leverage’ or ‘granularity’

When working in your own specialist field it can be difficult to distinguish between what you see as clear writing and others read as jargon. Jargon to others can be your everyday workplace language. It is essential to try to understand your audience and their level of knowledge and expertise in order to know how best to pitch your written communication. Remember effective written communication is not about impressing your reader with your technical knowledge but conveying effectively and clearly the information that needs to be understood. This could save you time, confusion and a lot of headaches. Many organisations now invest in the soft as well as technical skills of their expert teams and offer business writing courses that train staff to consider their audience and write in clear, reader-friendly language.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2012

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Jun 09

Do Grammar and Punctuation Matter in Business?

Business Writing Skills, Communication Skills, Writing Skills 1 Comment »

London’s Evening Standard has recently been running a campaign to improve literacy in London. It has published a series of reports that highlight the capital’s poor literacy rates which affect the population from primary school children to disenfranchised school leavers through to recent graduates new to the corporate world. The paper suggests that the British education system is failing to equip our children with the fundamental basic skills to help them enter the job market. This can range from an inability to read basic instruction manuals through to poorly constructed emails to customers or more complex business reports or proposals.

Business Writing Viorika Prikhodko i Do Grammar and Punctuation Matter in Business?

© istockphoto.com/Viorika Prikhodko

Recruiters are finding that many CVs and letters of application just aren’t up to scratch and four in ten job applications are rejected due to poor grammar and spelling. Even the best candidates often need help with their basic skills and the CBI has quoted that 17% of British firms are concerned by the low literacy skills of graduates.

It is strange that many British employees demonstrate a lack of concern regarding the accuracy of their written communication and are either unaware of or unconcerned by basic errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling. The ubiquitous use of email and instant messaging means that written communication is much quicker and more immediate than ever before. However, this should not mean that it is of a lower standard or lacking in professionalism. A misplaced apostrophe, the use of text abbreviations or poor grammar can all cause misunderstanding, frustration and leave a poor impression on the reader’s screen. Few of us would attend an important meeting or job interview with a stain on our jacket or unkempt hair and so why would we think it acceptable to send written communication that we have not checked for visible errors?

Many organisations tackle these issues early on and include basic business writing skills courses as part of their training offering to new recruits. Only when elementary errors of grammar and punctuation have been rectified can employees then go on to develop more sophisticated writing skills that will enable them to convince colleagues, persuade clients and win business for their organisations.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2011

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