Effective Communication-Benefits of Effective Communication in your Career.

Benefits of Effective Communication in your Career

Your job, promotion, and professional reputation often depend on doing well in written and oral communication. Also, your ability to communicate effectively is a valuable asset for many activities in your personal life.

A Valuable Job Requirement

If your career requires mainly mental rather than manual labor, your progress will be strongly influenced by how effectively you communicate your knowledge, proposals, and ideas to others who need or should receive them.

   Strong communication skills were found in the job descriptions listed by numerous companies advertising positions. For example, Francis W.Weeks, executive director emeritus of the association for business communication, found in a 6 year study of job listing at the University of Illinois coordinating placement office that 340 jobs in 30 fields required communication ability. In addition Vanessa Dean Arnold's analysis of communication requirements listed in job descriptions of only one issue of the National Business Employment weekly, a publication of the wall street journal, found that of 120 listings, 85 emphasized communication skills and described the specific skills needed. Among the job descriptions found in this study were requirements like following:

 

Job Title	Communication Skills
Finance Associate	Must be able to communicate clearly to clients and other finance professionals
Fiscal Officer	Superior writing and presentation skills
Product Manager	Develop and communicate product objectives and strategies
Senior Sales Representative	Excellent communication and follow-up skills ; ability to write proposals and quotations
Contracts Administrator	General knowledge of proposal preparation: good oral/written communication skills

Communication is a primary responsibility in many careers, such as customer relations, labor relations, marketing, personnel, public relations, sales, and teaching, also technical and scientific fields need editors, producers, researchers, and writers. Advancement can be made to management, research, training, and consulting positions.

   Communication skills play a major role in congressional and senatorial offices at the state and national level. For instance, some senators in Washington from their chiefs of staff on down, have in excess of 60 people handling correspondence, preparing speeches, meeting with constituents, assisting with fundraising, helping write legislation, communicating with business. Other governmental departments are equally fully-staffed to handle communication issues, each department seeking to communicate clearly internally and externally, searching for competent communication people to decrease fuzzy double-talk from government officers is ongoing. As you know, government is the country's biggest business.

Even if you work is mainly with figures, as in the accounting profession, the ability to communicate to those who read your financial reports is essential. The Journal of accountancy, in a study cited in Horizons for a Profession, emphasized the importance of writing. A group of accountants who were considered "the most knowledgeable and forward-looking segment of the accounting profession" ranked 53 subjects that a beginning CPA should be familiar with first place went indisputably to written and oral English--even over accounting therapy and practice ! In addition, a study done by Hiemestra, Schmidt, and Madison in the December 1990 Bulletin of the Association for the Business Communication showed that the Certified Management Accountants surveyed believed that the importance of the communication skills has increased significantly since they first began their accounting careers. The federal government's Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) has a two volume manual that accountants must follow in auditing government contract. While instructions are detailed as to which material should be audited, one chapter is devoted entirely to writing.