Communication and Employability
Skills
Personal attributes valued by employers
Within jobs many different employers value your skills and make sure you have the correct attitudes and attributes towards work. Your employers value many of your multiple skills and here is some examples, Technical knowledge is a key factor and with in this you should be capable to perform capabilities to perform specialized tasks relating to a certain task. A key part to your specific skills is health and safety for example if you are working with in a ICT department you are going to need to be safe with any drinks you take in because if you spill a drink this can cause problems and damage property.
General Attributes.
To be successful in work and be a key part of your work team you need to be able to have a lot of different skills like planning skills in my opinion you cant be successful without planning ahead you need to plan to have success. Another skills employers need and value is your verbal skills and communication skills because if your shy and afraid to speak up employers don't like this your employers want you to be confident and able to speak up for yourself. Organisation is a main part also because you need to be organised and ready for work or you are going to slack behind and be unsuccessful. Another key attribute is time management you need to be able to keep track of time for deadlines if you get set a task that is due in a week your time management needs to come into place and make sure your managing to get the task due in with in that week.
Attitudes.
Your attitudes in work are the most important thing you need to manage because if you are acting inappropriate disobeying rules you aren't going to last within your job.
A key attitude you need is that you are willing to be determined and dependable because you need to push yourself to your limits and be a great team worker. The last attitude I stated (determination) also fits in with confidence and motivation because on the job id your not confident and motivated to succeed in your new role your not going to be working to your optimum level.
The principles of effective communication
General communication skills
When you are working in an IT company you are going to be talking and seeing people from all different cultures and races and you need to learn how to adapt yourself to them for example if you are talking to a person from USA and you are from UK you are going to need to adapt to the accent. Another way you need to have a general communication skill is if you are giving a presentation to a group of people from another IT company from another country you need to be able to use the correct terminology so it professional but understandable for the viewers and also if they ask you questions and answers you need to know the correct way to reply to the questions so they understand and also it is in a professional manner.
Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills means skills that allow to communicate with people with impairments for example you learn how to communicate with others with deaf impairments by showing sign language this is a great example of a interpersonal skill.
Also linking in with the thought of sign language another way you can communicate with deaf impairments is lip reading if you can lip read or communicate by using lips this is another example of your interpersonal skills that can help and cause a success for your job. The third interpersonal skill is body language when you are trying to talk to someone for example an interview your body language counts because if you are sat with your arms folded you look like you are in a defensive position but on the other hand if you are sat with your hands on your knees this looks professional and a well way to sit for your interview.
Communicate in writing.
When you are communicating in writing this is letters , emails and with in writing you need to make sure your spelling and grammar is correct because it is going to look very unprofessional when you are spelling words wrong and using the wrong were,where / see, sea you need to make sure everything is correct and up to a professional standard. Also what you should not use is emoticons for example if you are sending your boss a letter you don't want to be putting a smiley face emoticon it is very unprofessional and once you have written a letter like this without the emoticon you need to proofread it to make sure it is 100% accurate and correct.
Potential barriers to effective communication
Physical barriers to non-verbal communication, this can be examples like seeing what is around the job that you are on and what your surroundings are.
Physical disabilities such as hearing problems or speech difficulties. If you were deaf and had to have a group activity this disability would stop you from participating in the activity as much as you would have wanted to. Speech difficulty e.g stutter would make you feel nervous and shy to do the activity these are some barriers to stop effective communication.
Language differences and the difficulty in understanding unfamiliar accents. If you were English for example and went for a job interview in Dubai the accent or language may be unfamiliar so you won't fully understand what is getting told or asked this may be a barrier to effective communication.
Background noise is a difficult place to participate it work because if you need to be quiet and concentrate with your task and someone is playing music and singing in the background you are not going to be able to concentrate so your concentration levels are going to drop.
location can effect communication because you and another person could be in different countries and need to have a meeting and the only way you can have a meeting is face-time , Skype something along the lines of these applications and it keeps freezing , reconnecting this is a big barrier to effective communication .
Distractions can effect communication because if someone is speaking to you and you are getting distracted only a small amount percent of what they are saying will be going in the rest will be straight in and out of your ears this is why when someone is speaking to you , you need to make sure that at all times you are listening and taking everything in.
Mechanisms to reduce the impact of these barriers.
To get over this barrier it may be good to get a helper in the room to let you understand what is going on in the room and there surroundings. Also that you can understand what is going to be needed of you what the expectations are of the job.
Physical disability
This may need a helper that show sign language to the person that is deaf this would make them fully aware of what is going on in the group activity and help them participate with in the activity.
For the speech difficulty they may let them have a written input or get someone they a familiar with to help them along the way this may help with confidence and help them excel in their not so stronger points of the job.
Language differences
This barrier would need a translator in the room to convert the languages that are getting spoke so both people understand what each other are saying. A language difference is a very common thing with in jobs nowadays so this means people from all other countries need to be able to rather learn there accent or have someone to help understand what each other is saying.
Attitude Barriers
This could affect this are behaviors or perceptions that prevent people from communicating effectively because if they are prone to causing conflict this could affect a interview or work place because if they cause conflict within work members this can cause problems and even worse fighting in the work place. To get over this may be counselling or a therapist could help calm the person down and help them respect the people around them.
Background noise
To reduce the impact of background noise it most probably be the best idea to take your work into a silent room or some place else that has not got any background noise this means you are left to peace to reach your best potential skills and you are in a better working environment that you are happy to work in.
Location
This is a hard method to reduce but if both people that are in different locations have representatives this maybe a solution for people in different locations can have meetings or other job opportunities.
Distractions
If you know that you are easily distracted maybe take the person you are talking to or the job you are working on into some were less distractive and some were that you will concentrate and be able to take everything in remember everything and make sure you are fully aware what is told to you.