Professional communications: Entry 3

[This blog entry is out of order for what I originally intended, but I have been thinking about the topic lately]

Professional Communications

There are other written communications to focus on, other than scholarly, academic writing. Our school, and other schools of social work, are very concerned with instilling professional behavior in our students in internships, and also in the classroom and other academic settings. Here are some recent problems I have encountered:

1. E-mail communications: I have been getting a lot of e-mails lately with poor grammar, improper capitalization and short hand or "texting" language. Maybe I am an old fogey, but I think you should strive for a minimum of correct grammar, capitalization and clear sentences, especially for professional communications. You will need to learn this style of writing to get and keep a professional job.

2. E-mail addresses: If you send a professional e-mail from your personal e-mail address, what might the recipient think of an e-mail address that reads usexythang@server.com or hotbabe@server.com or stoner4@server.com? I have seen variations on all of these. They do not look good on a job application or resume, or to your professor.

3. Exams: though teachers generally have lesser grammatical standards for test answers than papers, try to write in full sentences, using proper punctuation and grammar.

4. Answering machine messages: if you are using an answering machine on a phone that may get professional calls, make sure the message is short, businesslike and clear. No music, cute messages, children giving part of the message, dogs barking, funny voices, etc...

I'll post more on this as it comes up!