Category Archives: Career Success

Job References

Career Success

Job references can make or break your job offer.

During the interview process, most hiring companies do reference checks on potential employees.

Some companies ask for written references.  More likely, a company will conduct references over the phone.

When giving a person as a reference, get the person’s approval first.

In some cases, your current or former employer will not give information on your performance.  The employer may have a policy that limits giving employment information to the dates that you worked at their company.

Often the hiring company will speak with specific types of references.  For example, the company will ask to speak with current or former supervisors, co-workers, customers, vendors, or business connections.

In the case of reference checks for inexperienced workers, the hiring company may ask to speak with a neighbor, teacher, or classmate.

Here are common reference check questions.

  • How long have you know this person?
  • Would you hire or rehire the person today?
  • Why did this person leave the last job?
  • What was your relationship with the person?
  • What would you say about this person and how would you describe the person?
  • How well does the person handle conflict?
  • What are his/her strongest points?
  • How does this person work with other people?
  • How does this person respond to feedback and criticism?
  • What were the person’s greatest accomplishments?
  • How would you rate the person’s performance on a scale of 1-10?
  • What area of development could the candidate focus on?

Other helpful articles
How to Receive Job-Winning Reference Checks
Build a Powerhouse Reference List As Part of Building Your Professional Network.

How To Write Effective Business Letters

Career Success

How To Write Effective Business Letters: A business letter does four things.

  1. Communicates information
  2. Creates advertising awareness
  3. Creates an image of you or your company
  4. Creates actions and decisions

Put your company name and return address at the top of the letter. If you are using letterhead, the return address is already in your business letterhead.

Here is the format. Note that some companies put the date in the right corner of the letter. Other companies put the date below the name of the sender.

Your Company Logo and Contact Information

Your information

Company name (for letters without letterhead)
Street address
City, state, zip
Phone number
Email address

Date

Contact’s information

Name, titles
Company name
Street address
City, state, zip
Phone number
Email address

Dear Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss

Subject: (optional)

Start the body of the letter with a statement of the purpose of the letter.  For example, “I am writing this letter to order samples of your company’s products.”

State a call to action at the end of the body of the letter. For example, “Please send the samples today.”

Very truly yours,
Handwritten signature
Typed signature
Your title

Enclosures:  four pictures of samples

Great Grammar is So Easy to Practice and So Rewarding for Those Who Do

Career Success

Great Grammar is So Easy to Practice and So Rewarding for Those Who Do.

Little grammatical mistakes are so easy to make and can be so costly to the speaker or writer when those mistakes come to represent a person’s professional profile.

The purpose of this article is to highlight words that mask speaking and writing errors.

When speaking, there is no technology to aid us. We either choose the correct words, or we do not.

With today’s technology, writers have help in proofreading documents before publishing or emailing them. On the other side, writers have the disadvantage of having their grammatical errors highlighted in the document when the reader opens it. Using technology to proofread and improve the quality of your writing is so easy to do. Failing to use that technology can make you look sloppy, uneducated, unintelligent, and your document may disappear into the reader’s deleted folder.

Easy Steps to Great Grammar

All skills take initial development to acquire and regular practice to maintain. To acquire and strengthen your grammar is easy with the free online resources like this very website and others that provide ideas on becoming more successful in business or any other public setting today.

Developing great grammar does not have to be complicated. I have avoided using grammatical terminology in this article. I want the focus to be on words that mask errors.

Using the same process of simply becoming familiar with words that mask mistakes can help you keep the development of your grammatical skills simple. Unless you plan to teach grammar or find intrinsic value in developing a broader vocabulary in grammar, you might just ignore the grammatical terms in any article or textbook and focus on the examples that you find in the resources you are using.

Speaking with Grammatical Accuracy

To use accurate grammar in speaking, there is just one area of development: word selection. The speaker simply needs to know which words are correct to express an idea.

Again, the most effective and fastest way to develop accurate word selection is to highlight mistakes that occur most often. I am going to label this frequently made grammatical error “the ESPN Too©.”  Half the American sports commentators on live broadcasts make this simple grammatical error during on a regular basis. Just putting them in the situation of having to choose the correct use of the words “between” or “among” as well as the words that follow those two words, and the sports commentators will make the incorrect choices. Frankly, these sportscasters are not alone.

The words “between” and “among” are doubly confusing in terms of which words follow them and which of the two words to use in which situation.

The word “between” indicates that the matter is between two people. The word “among” indicates that the matter is among three or more people.

Try to remember that the words that follow the word “between” are the words “him, her, and me.”

The words that follow the word “among” are the words “him,” “her,” “me,” “themselves,” and “ourselves”

As awkward and as subliterate as the following statements may appear, these statements are grammatically correct:

  1. “This matter is between him and her.”
  2. “This matter is among her, him, and me.”
  3. “The team members want to keep the secret among themselves.”

Comparisons: Words with two Syllables

To create comparisons with one-syllable and two-syllable-words, add “er” or “est to the end of the word. Here are examples.

  1. This car is fast. This second car is faster. The third car is fastest.
  2. This flower is pretty. These flowers are prettier. Of all the flowers, these flowers are the prettiest.

Comparisons Words with Three or More Syllables

To create comparisons with words with three or more syllables, use the words “more” and “most” in front of the word used for comparison. This English professor is intelligent. The math professor is more intelligent. The music professor is the most intelligent of the three professors.

Writing with Grammatical Accuracy

Developing writing skills that contain great grammar is different from developing speaking skills that contain great grammar. However, writing complicates word selection with the issue of similar sounding words: Affect / Effect, Break / Brake, Capital / Capitol, Compliment / Complement, Desert / Dessert, Guest / Guessed
Heard / Herd, Illusion / Allusion, New / Knew, Principle / Principal, Rain / Reign, and so forth.

Rather than trying to learn every set of similar sounding words you can find in English (English language is redundant.), you might just become aware of your own tendencies in word selection. For reason, I developed the habit of adding a syllable to the spelling the of word “athlete.” I intuitively tend to type the word “ath-e-lete.” So, I try to watch for that type of error in my writing.

Avoiding Apostrophes

Writers enjoy using an informal style and will use apostrophes to replace letters as part of that style of writing. However, this practice can mask writing mistakes.
One of the most common instances of apostrophes creating confusion and masking writing errors comes when a writer is trying to choose whether to use “its” or “it’s.”

Forget about learning the grammar as to which words to choose. Just try to stay away from using apostrophes to replace letters. Business writing is not informal anyway.

So, try this method. Just type, “It is.” If the two words “it is” do not express what you are trying to express, then the word “its” is the correct word to use between the choices of “its” or “it’s”. Does that make sense?

Having to focus on whether you should type “there, their, or they’re,” you can reduce the risk of errors creeping into your writing with the statement, “They are.”

Your quick wit indicates that you are smart.

Learning as a Lifestyle

I continue to read articles on basic grammar and watch for my own mental blocks that can mask errors in grammar. Speaking and writing correctly is critical to the success of anyone’s career. Practicing great grammar is so easy to do and so rewarding.

How to Write Anything and Make It Easy to Read

Career Success

In an earlier post, I wrote about how to write letters that are easy to read.  What I wrote in that post applies to anything that you write.

Writing is part of the job for professionals in all types of fields and responsibilities. Here is an easy to use format anyone can use.

State the purpose in the opening sentence.  The first sentence expresses the subject.  If there are two or more subjects, list each of the subjects in the opening paragraph or in a list format below the opening paragraph.  The first paragraph is a summary of the information.  You tell the reader what you are going to tell them.

Capitalize the first line of the paragraph for each new subject.  The reader may only have time to scan information.  Your key points stand out in the brief statements that are in the capital letters.

When you are continuing with the same subject and want to emphasize a new element or change the subject from one sentence to the next, let the reader know.   Here are some ways to help your reader follow you.

  1. Write a transitional statement such: “Now I would like to discuss a new subject.”
  2. Use transitional words or phrases such as also, so, for this purpose, later.
  3. Use bold type for the first sentence.
  • Start the first sentence of your paragraphs with the words First, Second, Third, and so forth.
  • However, do not use bullets or numbered list to change the subject.  These lists organize the points of a one specific subject.

 Grammar is as important as content. I carefully review what I have written and use word processing software to check for mistakes.  I still make mistakes.  If you see any mistakes in my writing, please let me know.

In conclusion, the formula for writing anything is simple. State the subject in the opening sentence.  If you wish to write about multiple topics, just say so clearly in the opening paragraph.  Use capital letters and transitional devices to introduce each new subject.

Your readers will appreciate your writing so that what they are reading is easy to read.  You will find that the readers’ response to your writing will be more favorable as well.

“The World’s Most Noble Headhunter!”

Writing Letters That are Easy to Read

Career Success

Writing is a daily part of the job for professionals in all types.  Here is an easy format anyone can use.

State the purpose in the first sentence. The first sentence expresses the subject of the letter.  If there are two or more subjects to a letter, list each of the subjects in the opening paragraph in list below the opening paragraph.

Use bold face or capital letters to show that you are making a change from one key point to another.  A writer’s use of bold face or capital letters is helpful to the reader.  The reader may only have time to scan a letter.  If so, the key points stand out in the brief statement that is in bold face or capital letters.

Carefully review your letter for grammar.  I carefully review what I have written by rereading the letter inside a word processor or text editor that checks grammar.

Ask someone to help you proofread your material.  I am careful to correct what I write but I still overlook mistakes.

In conclusions, the formula for writing letters is simple.  Introduce the topic in the opening sentence.  If you wish to write about multiple topics, just say so clearly in the opening paragraph.  Use bold face or capital letters to introduce new subject so that the reader receives a little alert of the transition in the subject.

Your readers will appreciate writing that they can read easily.  You will find that the readers respond to your letters will be more favorable as well.