ENG211- Technical Writing M03/M04 Discussion: Professional Writing

ENG211- Technical Writing M03/M04 Discussion: Professional Writing

Initial Post (due Wednesday, 03.27): Some of you are already aware of how professional writing skills will be used in your future personal and professional lives, but others may be unsure. Take a look at THIS (Links to an external site.) article from Forbes Magazine entitled “5 Ways to Grow Professionally While Helping Others” and discuss how professional writing skills apply to the suggestions listed there. Which of the five ways interests you the most, and why?

Then, perform a quick internet search to see if you can find other examples of how professional writing skills can be, or have been, used in a positive way; conversely, you may find and write about an example of how professional writing has had negative consequences for an individual or a business. Cite your source in APA format.

Build technical skills: Building technical skills in areas such as public speaking would be very beneficial to just about anyone. Being able to communicate with bosses, supervisors, coworkers, and others in your work environment is essential in putting your best foot forward to being a successful, reliable, and trusted employee or boss. When writing, it is important to then learn to apply these technical skills within your communication among other workers and managers.

Expand worldview: Having some experience with communicating with other countries is a plus when looking for a job. No matter what you will be doing at this new job, being able to communicate with foreign people, and understand their point of view of things will not only allow them to see that you care and are considering what they think but also allows your new boss to see how you can manage a diverse group of negotiators. Like your writing, it is important to consider viewpoints from other people from diverse areas who are also experienced because right when you think you have got the best idea for something, someone else from around the world might have a better, more efficient solution.

Making connections: They always say, “It’s all about who you know.” I think this is very true. The more opportunities you can take to meet new people and explore people’s ideas, whether it is career related or not, the more you will know about different things for yourself and for your future career. It never hurts to gain more knowledge as long as you can keep it in memory. In writing, it is important to learn exactly how you should respond and send out information such as an email or memo to a coworker or to someone working in another facility that you may need to receive information from or send to them.

Identifying needs: I think the idea of “identifying needs” is a characteristic that the employee may not always be thinking of, but the employer will certainly have it in mind. Regardless of what position you work in or what job you have, it is very important and also a good sign of insight when a person is able to identify what is needed beyond the basic necessities. A good way of doing this would be to look at the situation and ask, what could make this work, how can this be more efficient, or what can be done to make this situation better. In writing, it is also important to include these types of things for example into a memo to your boss.

Finding passion in service: All my life I have been told that when I grow up to find something you truly enjoy spending time doing or are interested in and try to find a career that involves that particular interest. I think this is the most important of all five characteristics listed because if you do not go into something you enjoy or at least are interested in, you may find yourself very unhappy with yourself at work. People who go work for someone or someplace that they are interested in, tend to be happy, they want to do well because they enjoy it, and when you are enjoying what you do and work hard, you will become successful in that area of work. When writing, if you are writing about things you are interested in or are passionate about, you will find that you have more to say about the topic.

It is hard for me to pick one of these five suggestions because I can understand the importance of each one. If I had to pick one, finding a passion for the work you do, or rather, finding a career that involves the things you enjoy would be the most interesting to me. This suggestion is most interesting to me because I do think it is important to find a career or field of study in which you can go out every day and be happy with what you're doing.

One thing I looked into that would be a positive consequence of professional writing skills for a business is being a good online marketer. Although this type of thing might fall under the category of building technical skills, I figured it would be a good, specific reason for a positive thing involving professional writing. As a smart online marketer, you would be able to communicate to the consumers with the correct words and descriptions of products the business has to offer as well as properly informing them about deals on products, bundles, etc. A skilled, professional online marketer would be a reasonable asset to consider for the growth and success of your business.

Reference:

Gabbard, D. (2014, May 05). 7 Reasons Why Marketers Need to Be Excellent Writers. Retrieved from https://www.scripted.com/content-marketing/why-marketers-must-learn-write