Assignment 1
Assignment 1
Task 1
Specific skills are skills such as, technical knowledge, an understanding of health and safety and good working attitudes. Technical knowledge is understanding how to use something needed for your job, so if you were a programmer then understanding how to use java would be an example of technical knowledge, or if you needed to use a piece of equipment then knowing how to use it would be technical knowledge. An employer would value technical knowledge as it is what allows you to do your job well, and the better your knowledge is the better your work will be.
Understanding the health and safety rules of a certain workplace is important to an employer, since you understand how to be careful around potentially dangerous objects and can make sure that work is carried out efficiently and safely. This would be if you are operating dangerous machinery then you would need to know how to operate it correctly and what to avoid in order to not cause damage to yourself or others.
A good working attitude is very important to an employer because having a bad attitude would mean you don't work efficiently. An employer wants to make sure that they are getting as much work out of you as they can for the money that they are paying you, so working hard would be considered a good working attitude, but being lazy and working at a slow pace wouldn't since it would take you longer to get work done and still be paid the same amount.
General Attributes:
General attributes are thing like, Planning skills, Organisational skills and time management. General attributes aren't specific to a certain job or role, but they are still helpful to an employer. Employers look for planning skills and organisational skills since they are useful in helping you work more efficiently, and planning ahead would make sure that you are using your time efficiently and completing the most amount of work that you can in your time, allowing you to easily meet deadlines and complete work in a good amount of time.
Attitudes:
Attitudes are things like, being determined, independent, confident or motivated. Some attitudes apply to specific types of jobs but most attributes are useful in every job, employers tend to look for people who are determined, hard working and motivated since these attributes help the employee to complete work quickly and have the drive to actually want to complete the work.
Task 2
These are things like adapting to cultural differences to say things differently to how you normally would so that you don't offend or upset anyone, since what people would normally say in a certain culture could be incredibly rude or offensive to the person that you are speaking to. Using certain terminology is also very helpful to making sure that you are understood by the person or people that you are talking to, because if you started using words that they may not understand or have never heard of before that are specific to the topic you are trying to talk to them about, then they won't be able to follow what you are saying and may lose concentration. So making sure to use terminology that anyone can understand when describing anything is very important. Using technology to keep and audience engaged on what you are saying and asking questions to the audience is also very helpful in making sure people are following what you are saying. If you were to ask someone questions about what you are saying as you explain it, you can figure out if they are understanding what you are saying correctly and correct anything that they might have wrong so that they can understand the point you are trying to get across much better.
Interpersonal Skills:
These are things like Verbal Exchanges, Signing, Lip reading, Body language and positive and negative language. If you were to just stand still in front of a crowd of people with a presentation and try to explain something to them they aren't likely to pay attention, or even understand and follow much of what you say. By using body language you can help to illustrate the point you are trying to get across and using negative or positive language you can help the audience think a certain way about it, whether you want them to see how good something is or how bad it is.
Communicate in Writing:
Using emoticons, letters, fax, emails, correct spelling and grammar, relevance, proofreading and note taking. It is important to make sure that you have some sort of written or typed up presentation to help you get your point across, as people will be able to read from something like a slideshow or power point presentation whilst you give a verbal explanation of it, and making sure that what is written on your presentation is different to what you are actually saying is important because then people can take in information that you are giving to them verbally and also read new information from the slideshow at the same time. Spelling and grammar is also of course very important in helping to get your point across since, people could misinterpret your point altogether or they could just not understand what it is you are trying to say since the presentation is poorly written.
Task 3
Background Noise:
Background noise can get between you and your audience when you are trying to get your point across. If there is something like construction work going on or people talking outside of the room it will be harder for the people you are addressing to concentrate on what you have to say. Background noise can be reduced by moving rooms so that you are away from the noise and set up somewhere quiet, or by asking the people that are making the noise if it is possible for them to move somewhere else.
Distractions:
Distractions would be things that catch the attention of your audience and make them focus on that instead of you, this can affect their understanding of what you are saying as they may miss key pieces of information while distracted, even if it is only for a few seconds. Distractions can be visual or audible although background noise covers audible distractions. Visual distractions can be avoided by closing blinds on a window if there is something outside of the window which is disturbing people.
Physical Barriers:
Theses are things like a room being too crowded or cramped, weather if you happen to be outside or in a room with a window or if the room is poorly ventilated and is too hot or too cold. These things can affect someone's level of concentration and can cause them to not give their full attention to your presentation, if someone is too hot all they will be able to focus on is how hot they are, and if a room is too crowded people will be aware of how close they are too other people and won't be able to concentrate as well. These can be avoided by planning ahead and making sure the conditions in the room are suitable for the people who will be using it, making sure that the temperature is reasonable and that there is enough space to fit all of the people who will be there. Or if it turns out that you get there and there isn't enough room you could try to find a new space with more room for people.
Location:
The location can be an issue when trying to get your point across at a presentation. Location is similar to physical barriers since it can involve things like a room being too cramped or weather being bad if you are outside. Location also includes whether the room you are using is near a busy road since this could cause audible distractions and these can all be fixed in the same way that you would deal with distractions, or with physical barriers. Although with weather it is much harder to deal with so you would have to find a room inside if weather is bad and make sure to plan ahead every time so that you can be almost certain that weather won't be an issue.
Lack of Concentration:
If the people you are giving your presentation to aren't really concentrating on what you have to say then you can deal with this by interacting with them and making sure that they are following what is being said. If you ask them a question and they are unsure of what you are talking about then you can explain to them what you meant, and if people know that they will be questioned on what they are listening, they are likely to pay more attention so that they will be able to answer any questioned directed at them. However barriers covered in other categories like background noise, location and distractions can also damage someone's concentration, so you should refer to ways of dealing with other barriers as well if you feel as though the audience aren't concentrating enough on what you are trying to say.