Effective People, Communication and Information

The TNT Express Head Office Legal Department provides all types of legal advice, at a Divisional level, to TNT Express Management and is the central co-ordination point for provision of legal services (both internal and external) to TNT Express worldwide in relation to business related issues, including but not limited to contracts, litigation and regulatory matters. The Department is placed under the authority of TNT Express Legal & Insurance Director and consists of a central team of 4 lawyers assisted in their tasks by regional teams of TNT Express lawyers (with whom they enjoy a functional relationship) located across the globe.

The TNT Express Head Office Legal Department is currently seeking a Legal Counsel with a solid experience in business legal practice to support its activities.

Key activities of the position will be

To provide high quality, business-orientated, timely and professional legal advice and Assistance to the Express Division of TNT to ensure its interests are protected from a contractual point of view and its national and international Express commercial activities comply with laws, regulations and internal policies and to minimise liabilities. To foster co-operation from in-house legal (at Head office or Business Unit’s level) counsel and external legal counsel working for TNT Express.

Your profile

* National and/or international law degree

* Around 2 years of post graduate experience as in-house legal counsel of an international company or as a lawyer in a prominent international law firm, most preferably with transport experience

* Fluent in English, both written and spoken

* Strong communication skills

* Flexible and responsible attitude

Contact

For a complete job description or for inquiries please contact:

Sylvia Negrijn, Kim Schmidt or Rachida Ait Rian :

Human Resources Services – Recruitment: + 31 (02) 500 6443, +31 (21) 500 8679

of +31 (02) 500 8525.

Your application

Please send your application letter in English + curriculum vitae to:

TNT Head Office

Attn. Recruitment

Neptunusstraat 41-63

2132 JA Hoofddorp

e-mail: [email protected]

* 20082304 Job Profile Junior Legal Counsel [48,7kb]

* Working conditions of employment and facilities [28,7kb]

B) A sample completed application, CV and application letter

Hardenbergerweg 33

7731 HE Ommen

30 May 2008

TNT Head Office

Attn. Recruitment

Neptunusstraat 41-63

2132 JA Hoofddorp

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to apply for the Junior Legal Counsel position in your company. As requested, I am enclosing a completed curriculum vitae.

The opportunity presented in this listing is very interesting, and I believe that my strong communication skills and education will make me a very competitive candidate for this position. The key strengths that I possess for success in this position include:

I follow an education called: International Business Studies. It’s a study in English, so speaking English is no problem for me. I haven’t got any professional experience yet, but this advertisement really appeal to my sentiment. I’m very inquisitive.

I have a job as a waitress in a restaurant where it could be really busy and chaotic.

I can handle stress, I’m fast and I’m really social to my customers.

Furthermore I have a type course and I can work with Word and Excel.

Please see my Curriculum Vitae for additional information on my experience and personal skills.

I can be reached anytime via my cell phone, +31630740132. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to speaking with you about this employment opportunity.

Sincerely yours,

Nadie Orange

C) An overview of selected practice

Here I will explain the recruitment of TNT post.

I copied the good and bad practice from: www.nottingham.ac.uk/sedu/recruitment/summary/summary.php

Key stages of recruitment below:

1. Identify a vacancy

2. Prepare job description

3. Prepare person specification

4. Advertise the post

5. Manage the response

6. Short-list from CV / application form

7. Visits

8. References

9. Arrange interviews

10. Conduct the interview

11. Make the decision

12. Convey the decision

13. Make the appointment

14. The process as a whole

Identify vacancy

Good practice

Bad practice

* Review existing job specification or prepare a new one;

* Prepare background information about the workplace and notes for the applicant.

* Spend insufficient time on reviewing the job description and person specification.

TNT:

TNT prepares new refreshing job specifications. They don’t put a lot of background information in the job specification.

Prepare job description

Good practice

Bad practice

* Speak to all those involved with the post to establish tasks required;

* Ensure that all those involved with the post agree with the role;

* Describe accurately the require-ements and duties of the job;

* Avoid wording which implies that members of one sex are more

* likely to be able to do the job; Avoid wording such as “fit and able-bodied” – concentrate on the tasks required to fulfil the post.

* No job description provided;

* Job description full of jargon;

* Unnecessary conditions or standards.

TNT:

TNT doesn’t use words such as ‘fit and able-bodied’. TNT concentrates on the tasks that are required to fulfil the job. TNT creates advertisements that are modern and that attract suitable people. They don’t use jargon. Everyone on the department will know that there is going to be a new employee.

Prepare person specification

Good practice

Bad practice

* Produce a specification of the essential / desirable attributes and characteristics of the person required to carry out the job satisfactorily;

* Assess each individual against set standards.

* No person specification, outlining skills, experience and knowledge needed;

* Base the specifications on the personal qualities of the person currently in post rather than the tasks needed;

* Standards are set which are higher than necessary, there physical ability is required (e.g. strength);

* Unnecessarily high education standards are set if these are not required for the job;

* Marriage plans, marital status, numbers and ages and care of children or any other personal considerations such as age, religious belief or sexual orientation included in the person specification.

TNT:

TNT doesn’t do the bad practices. It could be possible that the last one that’s one the list of bad practice is going to be looked after when TNT receives the C.V.

*

Advertise the post

Good practice

Bad practice

* Post should be advertised in appropriate areas e.g. correct publications and journals;

* Consideration should be given to advertising in publications targeted at minority groups, such as the Caribbean Times;

* Draft advertisement to reflect job description;

* Give closing date of a minimum of two weeks after the advertisement appears;

* Inform job-centres, private employment agencies and management consultants that you are keen to interview minority groups.

* Advert is worded badly;

* Advert is placed in wrong publication where only a portion of potential applicants see it;

* Advert is placed in correct publication on the wrong day e.g. not the specialist day for education;

* Advert placed only in very specialist journal – read mainly by those already involved, encouraging the “old boy” network;

* Wording or illustrations used which could be taken to indicate a preference for members of one sex or ethnic group;

* Advertisements placed in journals or papers which are intended primarily for men or primarily for women, or for those of one specific sexual orientation.

TNT:

TNT advertises online. You can find their advertisements on their site or vacancy sites. That are online job-centre to make it easier to find a job. Further more, they advertise in newspapers and magazines.

*

Manage the response

Good practice

Bad practice

* Send out the application form or invite CVs to be sent in;

* Ensure that candidates are sent information about the post including the job description and person specifications;

* Log applications received;

* Acknowledge receipt of applications.

* Application asks for irrelevant information such as maiden name, date of birth etc.;

TNT:

TNT does everything that’s described above.

TNT also asks for the date of birth and your full name.

Shortlist from CV / application form

Good practice

Bad practice

* Use the objective set standards of the person specification as the basis for short-listing;

* Arrange for people to be part of a short-listing panel;

* Make sure they are available for interviews;

* Make sure all short-listing panel members understand the selection criteria;

* Send papers in advance;

* Read applications;

* Short-list and record decisions;

* Process men and women’s applications in exactly the same way;

* Write to unsuccessful candidates.

* Allow too little time for short-listing;

* Allow too little time to get references (people who will suffer most from this bad practice are those who are not the standard applicant and whose application will probably take more time to process);

* Applications rejected on the basis of assumptions about the abilities of men and women in general, people from a particular race or those with a disability;

* Notes taken of names which are not obviously white British.

TNT:

TNT doesn’t write to all the candidates that are unsuccessful. This is because they have applications that go via the Internet. Through the Internet you will get lots and lots more applications with many people that might not fit.

Visits

Good practice

Bad practice

* Arrange where appropriate;

* Avoid unless this is an opportunity that every candidate is able to take advantage of.

* People who ask to come for an informal visit are judged as being more enthusiastic and committed because they have made the effort and shown the initiative to visit the University in advance of the interview.

TNT:

TNT takes good care of its applicants. They will judge correctly.

*

References

Good practice

Bad practice

* Send a copy of the job description and allow time for return before interview date.

TNT:

TNT doesn’t send a copy of the job description to their homes.

They also don’t ask for a verbal report rather than a written one. Ask for a verbal report rather than a written reference.

Arrange interviews

Good practice

Bad practice

* Send papers to interviewers in advance;

* Write to candidates with details of the interview, including any tests which might be used;

* Book an appropriate room – check if candidates have any specific requirements e.g. access might require a ground floor room.

* Book a noisy room;

* Don’t inform candidates about tests they will be asked to do;

* Don’t send a map showing how to get to the University.

TNT:

TNT doesn’t send papers in advance.

Conduct the interview

Good practice

Bad practice

* Assess candidates against selection criteria;

* Relate the questions to the requirements of the job. Where it is necessary to assess whether personal circumstances will affect performance of the job, discuss this objectively without detailed questions based on assumptions about marital status, children and domestic obligations;

* Base assessments, wherever possible on factual evidence of past performance, behaviour and achievements;

* Arrange for candidates to be assessed by a panel rather than by one person alone;

* Record decisions on individual interview sheet.

* Inappropriate questions used;

* Candidates get very different length interviews;

* Different personnel, from short-listing panel sit on interview panel;

* Panel appoints people like themselves rather than the best candidate;

* All candidates are treated identically – this may not be appropriate;

* Decisions made based only on impressions formed during the interview, instead of using facts;

* Discriminatory questions asked.

TNT:

TNT assesses the candidates against a selection of criteria’s. They will ask ques-tions that are related to the requirements of the job. They also won’t ask a lot of detailed questions.

Make the decision

Good practice

Bad practice

* Decisions on all candidates made at the end of the interview;

* Base judgments on facts rather than impressions;

* Match the profile of all job requirements against the complete profile of the individual;

* Pause and question whether sex or racial bias has influenced the proposal to reject a candidate;

* Allow each assessor to form an independent view. Allow junior members of the panel to express their opinions first (to avoid influence);

* Final decision is summarised and recorded.

* Candidates are compared against each other rather than against the agreed selection criteria;

* Candidates are discussed as interviews go along, rather than at the end of the interview.

* Appointment made on the basis of assumed “acceptability” to colleagues.

TNT:

TNT will not specific precede these steps but in wide lines it’s the same.

Convey the decision

Good practice

Bad practice

* Candidates are written to with the decision;

* Appropriate feedback is given;

* All interview documents are kept.

* Candidates are kept waiting to hear of appointments;

* Others are told of decisions before the candidates.

TNT:

TNT makes sure that all the documents are kept for a specific time. They will give the employee feedback when it’s needed.

Make the appointment

Good practice

Bad practice

* Agree starting date;

* Make any necessary pre employment checks;

* Issue appointment letter.

* “Letter of Appointment” sent by wrong part of University – e.g. … department rather than Human Resources;

* Appropriate terms and conditions are not given to the successful candidate.

TNT:

TNT makes sure that everything is arranged when having the appointment. They will give the employee a set of terms and conditions.

The process as a whole

Good practice

Bad practice

Be objective and seek to identify the candidates’ abilities. Judge on individual merits and set the same standards for all.

Generalised assumptions made about ability or ambition, based on applicant’s sex, race, age, religious belief, sexual orientation or any disability.

TNT:

TNT identifies the candidates’ abilities. They judge everyone by the same standards. What there is been written by the bad practice isn’t something that you can find out if TNT is doing that.

D) An outline of the retention process

Keeping staff is really important, this is known as staff retention.

When a business has spent a lot of time and money in their staff it needs to make sure that they are going to stay with the organisation and work to the best of their ability. If an employee joins a business and then decides to leave quickly the business will have to pay recruitment costs again and retrain another member of the staff.

Step 1: Recruit to retain!

Use behaviour based interviewing (see last quarter’s issue). Ensure that all interviewers are “in-sync”; that is, they’re reading off the same sheet of music. Look at the competencies that will be needed to reach strategic goals, and then hire people who posses those competencies. Use indicator assessments to help you better screen candidates and ensure that the job fit is correct. Realistically preview jobs; neither overselling nor underselling benefits the interviewee or the organization. And, don’t forget reference and credential checks. In certain positions, full background checks may be needed. Carefully evaluate each position, especially when one becomes vacant. Is a replacement truly needed? Are there better ways of structuring positions? Look for employee input as well as management input. How does your organization stack up against the competition? If salaries, benefits and other “maintenance” factors aren’t keeping up with the market, the other areas don’t matter. Consider getting outside market surveys for comparative data.

Step 2: Make everyone a part of the family

Set up orientation programs that embrace new employees. Look at orientation as a long-term process, not just the first day or week of employment. Use your orientation process to build employee involvement and commitment. That means making it interactive from the beginning, and involving all parts of the organization. Use a buddy system for that critical introductory period time (or some other time parameter). It’s nice to have a buddy to explain the ropes and to have someone to have lunch with. Check back regularly with new employees to “see how it’s going”. Find out if what was described during the formal orientation day is indeed what they’re experiencing at their worksite. Don’t wait for the resignation that triggers an exit interview to find out what caused an employee to leave. Don’t wait for the exit interview to find out where the organization has some opportunities for improvement. Use both formal and informal systems. For example, “Pulse Check” interviews done at three or four months after hire date can give a standardized indication of what’s going well and where improvements can be made. Culture and climate surveys provide indicators, and focus groups can provide in-depth information on specific areas. “MBWA”, Managing By Walking Around, is a great way to get up close and personal with employees. It gives you first hand information, and allows you to view the workplace “as it is”, rather than your perception from your office.

Step 3: Develop current and future competencies

Skill development is for everyone – old and new employees alike. Proactively assist employees in setting goals that link their development to the organization’s overall goals. Provide opportunities for both the short term and long term. Reward and recognize employees based on results achieved pertaining to that skill. It isn’t enough just to learn it. Determine tangible results based on mastering the skill. If you don’t already have a mentor program, consider this for every employee.

Mentors can help to guide and develop every employee, and the relationship is invaluable in raising the comfort level of employees and the productivity standard bar in the organization. Managers are critical in retention efforts, so think about what you’re doing to develop yours. Employees don’t leave companies; they leave their managers! Make your managers are ones that employees will stick to like glue! But be forewarned, management development is an individualized, long-term commitment. It’s not a few programs that the organization mandates every manager must attend. Use a variety of tools and methods for developing employees. Assessments, web-based training, classroom instruction, team learning and on-the-job training are just a few of the methods. Each person is different in how they take in and process information. Find out what works best with each person, and then capitalize on it.

Step 4: Learn from the past with an eye on the future

Even with the best work environments, employees do leave for a variety of reasons. Find out why your voluntary terminations resign by conducting structured exit interviews. Then, use that data to make positive changes in your workplace. If recurring themes come up, verify them with existing employees. Ask employees to form teams to develop recommendations to improve those areas. As for involuntary terminations….study them carefully. Are there trends? Do certain supervisors have a higher than normal percentage of involuntary terminations? What are the reasons? How can these be avoided in the future? By implementing principles of the Four Building Blocks, you can build a strong process for holding on to your employees. This, of course, is by no means exhaustive…but it’s a good start!

Task 2.1

Describe the main employability, personal and communication skills required when applying for a specific job role. You must draw up a list of the requirements for that post, and describe the attributes you already possess or expect to possess by the end of the course.

.

The description should include:

A. A job role you would like to apply for in an organisation in order to help you to prepare the information requested by the human recourses manager.

B. Give examples, describe the following skills required for your selected job role:

1. Employability skills

2. Personal skills

3. Communication skills

C. Describe how your employability, personal skills and communications skills match the selected job role.

A.

I’m going to use the job role that I used in Task 1.

This is the profile that I needed to apply for the job:

‘We are looking for a Junior Legal Counsel for the TNT Express legal department at the TNT Head Office in Hoofddorp.

Your profile

* National and/or international law degree

* Around 2 years of post graduate experience as in-house legal counsel of an international company or as a lawyer in a prominent international law firm, most preferably with transport experience

* Fluent in English, both written and spoken

* Strong communication skills

* Flexible and responsible attitude’

B.

Employability skills

Employability skills are a range of skills that will allow a person to perform different jobs well. These are essential to be able to work effectively in a modern workplace. You can subdivide employability skills, I explain them below.

Suitable qualifications.

For different types of jobs there are different types of qualification required. Egg. Professional careers such as accountancy, human resources and marketing employers will often look for candidates with problem solving and critical skills who have at least A- level.

To work at TNT as Junior Legal Counsel you need a completed education business economics and you need National and/or international law degree.

Experience in similar job roles.

If you have done a similar work in a organisation, it should indicate that you can do this again in a other organisation. When you are applying for a job, you should thing about what experience you already have and if some of those experiences also can be successful in the new role. If you already worked in the same industry, you should make this very clear in your CV and letter of application because such experience could be very valued for the prospective employer.

Experience of specific industry.

If you can show that you have worked in a specific industry before, you should demonstrate this when you are applying for a job. If you already have worked in the same industry, employers do not have to train you again.

TNT would appreciate experience. This means that a person is able to handle the functions that are described in the advertisement.

Knowledge of services and products.

To improve your chances by obtaining for a job if you can demonstrate a sound understanding of the products or services the company provides, so product knowledge is essential, especially if you want to work in a customer service role.

TNT provides services. TNT has a website with a lot of information about all their insurances and services they provide, so you can read about the product you sell.

Effectiveness in meeting personal and team’s or departments targets. Meeting targets is essential for every business’s success, and employees must be able to meets targets too. If there is worked for targets in your previous jobs too, you should be able to explain how successful you have been in your job-interview or letter of application.

TNT asks for someone who is not going to be stressed out at the end of the deadline. Planning and making schedules are necessary.

Ability to observe and raise professional standards of production or service delivery

Employees who are able to work consistently with the standards of the organisation will be appreciated by the organisation, which aims are to improve the standards by suggesting and the implementation of better ways of doing the job are even more successful. Candidates who can describe or demonstrate how they have done this in previous posts will undoubtedly improve their chances of being employed.

It’s not very useful to immediately wanting to improve standards by suggesting and implementing thins at once. When you are new, you first need to observe the company.

Personal skills

Certain skills will be beneficial regardless of the job or career that you pursue and these transferable personal skills make a candidate attractive to a new employer.

Hardworking and patient.

Someone who gets a lot of work done is bound to be valued, if those workers spend much time with answering their mobile phones & surfing the Internet during working hours will not make a good impression. So have a good handle against the distractions of modern life. Patience is also required in many jobs, especially if you are dealing with members of the public!

It’s not only TNT who needs people that are hardworking and patient. Every manager would like these skills. It’s good for the organisation.

Good interpersonal skills.

Interpersonal skills can enable us to get working along with other people, promoting good relationships at the workplace and enable us to do the work better or more efficiently. Some people are naturally good to get on with others and encourage colleagues, but it is possible to learn good interpersonal skills. If you think your skills in this area could be lacking it worth it will be active to them; these opportunities will make you more employable and will also allow you to do a better job. Some interpersonal skills are very simple, such as smiling. A cheerful smile can split up barriers and encourage someone to listen and speak to you, remind yourself to smile because it is a good is beginning for improving tour interpersonal skills!

TNT asks for good communications skills, you need foot interpersonal skills for this.

Able to work as part of a team.

Interpersonal skills will be crucial to your ability to work effectively in a team of people, but a series of skills and other considerations are also important.

By TNT you’re going to work in a central team of 4 lawyers assisted, teamwork is really important.

Negotiation.

Another useful skill for a worker is the ability to negotiate effectively. Negotiating deals with a subject with a view to some agreement or a common ground. At the beginning of the negotiations concerned parties usually have very different opinions about what should be done so that the art of negotiation is to find common ground that both parties can agree on – making it a ‘win-win’ situation. Negotiation is the process of consent and may therefore be useful for resolving conflicts between members of staff, agreeing personal or departmental objectives, agreeing the financial resources and interviewing, especially for new employees. It may also be useful to personally negotiate salary increases and better working conditions.

TNT don’t need someone who can negotiate very well.

Interview skills.

Interviewing skills can be useful in some contexts. Being able to interview clients or customers actually encourages the sale or improving relationships with customers will be useful for many organizations. Moreover it will be a plus for the effective identification of the best candidates in the interviewing of potential new employees or dealing with situations for the assessment of the current members of the staff.

TNT like to have them but for this advertisement it’s not necessary.

Communication skills

Formal and informal communication

Formal communication includes board meetings, letters, formal reports and presentations. With formal communication you need to use specific formats and follow acceptable rules and conventions.

Informal communication doesn’t follow any prescribed conventions or formats and often happen spontaneously.

Because TNT ask for a responsible attitude, you need to use clear communication to everybody so that everyone can understand what you are doing.

Non-verbal/verbal communication methods

Non-verbal communication involves written communication. Mostly common methods are letters, memos, reports, invoices, flow charts, publicity material, email, text messaging and web pages.

Verbal communication involves those using the human voice such as presentations, interviews, meetings, telephone calls and video conferencing.

Listening

There is a difference between listening actively or passively. Many people only listen passively. They hear the words that are spoken but don’t think about what is being said.

TNT: Listening to customers and to employees.. it’s all important, always!

Seeking clarification

A good communicator will always respond and seek clarification if there is any element of doubt. It avoids confusion.

Responsiveness

Not everyone that presents will be able to respond to the needs of their audience. Sometimes those needs aren’t obvious. It’s important that you keep respond positively and appropriately to them will improve your communication.

Inviting commitment to shared goals

Much business communication, especially from managers, is about trying to get staff to help, lead or support planned projects. The ability to win people over is valuable.

TNT: While your job isn’t that one of the manager, you are partly manager of the workforce. You also need to try to get staff to help, lead and support your plans.

Body language

How one person touches another communicates a great deal of information: Is a grip gentle or firm, and does one hold the other person on the back of the upper arm, on the shoulder, or in the middle of the back. Is the gesture a push or a tug? Is the touch closer to a pat, a rub, or a grabbing? People have different areas of personal intimacy, and this refers not only to the sexual dimension, but also the dimension of self control. Many adolescents are particularly sensitive to any touching that could be interpreted as patronizing or undue familiarity. Even the angle of one’s holding another’s hand might suggest a hurrying or coercive implicit attitude, or on the other hand, a respectful, gentle, permission-giving approach.

TNT: Adapting communication techniques to audience requirements.

A skilled presenter will adapt the presentation to suit the people that are listening.

C.

At the moment I’m not remarkable for the job by TNT post. I don’t have experience and I definitely don’t have any international work experience at all. And further I’m a student right now, I don’t have certifications. This are to much things I don’t have, so they will probably look for somebody else.

TNT post ask for the next following profile:

* National and/or international law degree

* Around 2 years of post graduate experience as in-house legal counsel of an international company or as a lawyer in a prominent international law firm, most preferably with transport experience

* Strong communication skills

* Fluent in English, both written and spoken

* Flexible and responsible attitude’

The first three points are not of application, I have to few experience for strong communication skills, you have to feel and train that point, so I can work on that.

My English isn’t fluent yet, but it’s good, I can rescue me when people talk English to me. For the rest I’m a flexible and responsible person, so this would be my strongest point.

Task 3.1

Outline electronic and non-electronic methods for communicating business information using examples for different types of audience.

The term ‘user’ in this criterion means the intended recipient of the information.

Methods of written communications

Today there are many ways of communicating in business situations – written and verbal, electronic and non-electronic. The diagram below shows methods you could choose from.

Letter

Although they might be seen as relatively ‘old fashioned’, vast number of letters are still sent by organisations every dat. This is not only because they are simple and quick to produce but they also provide a written record of correspondence that can be useful in the event of a dispute.

Memorandum

This is an internal form of communication. It’s meant for short messages. The difference between a letter and a memorandum is that a memo doesn’t have a complimentary close and memos are not normally signed. They always have a title and a lot of them use bullet points.

Audience: Memos are used inside the organisation.

(E-)Fax and multifunctional equipment.

With a fax machine that includes more features you can print, SMS, fax through a telephone line or through Internet.

Audience: Many organisations use faxes. A fax is easy to send someone a unique copy of something that is signed. Within a few second the other one receives it.

Nowadays, you can also fax with your telephone or with Internet.

Report

A report can also be published online (electronic). All the important data and information can be summarized in a report.

Audience: Managers need to write reports for their organisations. Students need to write reports for teachers.

Invoice

An invoice or bill is a commercial document issued by a seller to the buyer.

Audience: It’s a confirmation for the ‘recipient’. Used in business.

Flow charts

Diagram illustrating a process that involves a number of steps and a series of decisions.

Audience: People who buy a product may find difficulties when they need to wire it. When something isn’t working you can use a flow chart. Almost for everything you can make a flow chart.

Screen based communication

Communication in business increasingly uses technology and much of this is based around screens. Computer screens are used for email and Internet communications; mobile phone screens are used for text messaging; and TV screens have been used for advertising for many years but communication through TV sets is becoming increasingly interactive with new digital technology.

Email

Email is a powerful communication method for modern organisations. It’s quick, easy to use and very cheap. It gives the sender and the ‘user’ a written copy of the message, which is useful for reference.

Audience: Email can be a relatively informal means of communication, so it’s not suited for people who want to send someone a very formal business message. Email is often used for people that need to communicate within the organisation itself and regular customers. Email is often used by younger customers and business managers. Younger people like the informal ways of email.

SMS

The abbreviation stands for ‘short message service’. It’s been used in many creative ways by organisations.

Audience: Short messages can be sent between employees, as a replacement for memos and email. It can be used for different kind of audience, travelling members of staff, such as sales people, can be kept up to date with important developments.

WWW

The world wide web has helped to bring business and their potential customers much closer and improves

Communication. It provides detailed information via websites.

Audience: Recipients that find this method helpful may be the customers that have access to the World Wide Web. It’s easy to view a website 24/7 and it’s easy for business to update it. For every one that has access to the Internet, the world wide web is a very useful way to communicate.

Telephone calls

These are very useful for fast communication. Modern telephone facilities can allow conference facilities so that a number of people can be involved in the same conversation. Mobile phones will increase further as the services that are available on mobile phones expands.

Audience: People who need to make appointments prefer a phone call instead of other methods. Email can be a second way to let someone know what time you have an appointment. Customers find it convenient when they have had contact through a telephone conversation.

Digital broadcasting

Email can be accessed, products purchased, opinions expressed and choices made at the touch of a button.

Audience: Digital TV viewers and radio audiences can now communicate with the broadcast provider via interactive services.

Video conferencing

Video and audio communication through computer or TV screens between two or more parties usually over a broadband Internet connection using webcams. Think of ‘Skype’

Audience: For people that have meetings over the Internet. It is also used by many people that are many miles apart from each other and want to speak to each other face to face.

PowerPoint presentations.

With PowerPoint you can make presentations using different kind of methods in one. You can put videos, pictures, text and sounds all together to make a presentation that fits with the audience that is watching it.

It can also be a visual aid to support your verbal presentation with non-verbal communication methods.

Audience: PowerPoint is used by different groups of audience. It’s used a lot by companies that are gathering. It’s used for sales, marketing etc..

Task 5.1

Select information from three sources and manipulate it, adhering to legislation, for business purposes. The three sources are:

1. Take from the EUROSETS – Dutch trading service (DTS) the share prices of the first 10 companies for 14 days.

Make a table of the outcomes of the Dutch shares and present a clear graph for a group of interested buyers.

2. Take from the internet or company advertorials of the mobile phone call price plans from different service providers.

Make a table of the outcomes of these plans and present a clear graph for a group of housewives, showing them which could be the best choice for them.

3. Use the present figures of your self to make a table of you absenteeism and present it in a clear graph. You must present this to the team leader of IBS to make a plan how to make up for these hours, so that you are sure to get 850 hours of school this year.