Lesson#1

Communication and
employability skills for IT
Lesson1

Introduction
As well as the technical skills and knowledge required for
specific jobs in ICT, you will need a range of non-
technical skills and attitudes that are considered essential
to employability. So that you achieve this, this module
focuses on what are called soft skills.
What does it mean?
Soft skills influence how people interact with each other.
Examples of soft skills are:
Analytical thinking, creativity, diplomacy, effective communication,
flexibility, leadership, listening skills, problem solving, team building
and a readiness for change.

Introduction
One very important set of soft skills relates to communication, which
is why communication is included in the title of this module and why
you are required to study the principles of effective communication.
This module improve the skills needed to make you an effective
employee.
By the end of this module, you should be able to achieve
these outcomes:
● Understand the attributes of employees that are
valued by employers
● Understand the principles of effective communication
● Be able to exploit ICT to communicate effectively
● Be able to identify personal development needs and
the ways of addressing them

1.1 Valued attributes of employees
If you understand the attributes of employees that are most valued by
employers, you will be better able to present yourself to a prospective
employer and have a better chance of success in your job search.
Some attributes are specific to a given job but many apply to all jobs.
Some attributes relate to you as a person, while others relate to the
type of organization that you hope to join. Each of these types of
attributes is now considered in turn.
1.1.1.1 Technical knowledge
For any given job, a variety of technical skills might be considered
necessary. For example, the level of qualifications required, as well
as other skills specific to that job.
Examples:
1. Sales 2. Airline employees 3. IT technician
1.1.1 Job-related attributes
This section focuses on the attributes that relate directly to the job.

1.1.1.2 Working procedures and systems
Some jobs involve working procedures and systems which might suit
some applicants but deter others.
Shift working that involves working at night or at the weekends can
appeal to some people but might not be practical for others.
Antisocial hours can mean a worker doesn’t have ‘normal’ free time
with family and friends but might also attract a higher rate of pay.
For people with dependent children, shift working may only be
possible if crèche facilities are offered or if the earnings are high
enough to cover the costs of employing child care.
Some jobs involve a level of risk and health and safety issues, which
might excite some prospective employees but could also deter
others. For example, people planning to join the fire service may
have courage and a sense of duty, but should be aware of the
personal danger of attending to fires.

1.1.2 Universal attributes
Regardless of the job and its particular requirements, there are some
skills that everyone is expected to have, to some extent. Having these
skills will mean you are better able to carry out the tasks for any job. The
more competent you are in these universal skills, the more attractive you
will seem to a prospective employer. This subsection looks in particular at
planning and organisational skills, time management, team working,
verbal and written communication skills, numeracy skills and others skills
such as creativity.
1.1.2.1 Planning and organisational skills
Planning involves thinking ahead to decide what you need to do to
achieve a goal within a given timescale. You might not need to write a
plan, but thinking about it and what could go wrong helps to ensure a
measure of success in whatever you set out to do.

HOW . . . TO PLAN
1 First, establish your goal. Your goal should reflect how you see the
present situation (its shortfalls) and your future needs. Decide on a goal
that can be effectively pursued. You might write down your goal. Some
organisations frame their goals in a mission statement.
2 The next step is to decide on your strategy. Consider what might
happen if you take a particular line of action, and make sure you take
everything into account: the people involved and any constraints such
as timescale and your resources.
3 Your strategy will guide you as to how you are going to achieve your
goals and this will lead you to a list of objectives.
Cont….Planning and organisational skills

A goal provides general purpose and direction. It is the end result
towards which your effort will be directed.
A strategy is a systematic plan of action.
Objectives are like goals except that goals are broad and objectives are
narrower. Goals express general intentions while objectives are precise.
Goals are intangible (like improving your general fitness) while
objectives are tangible (like practising until you can do 20 press-ups in
one go).
What does it mean?

The process of planning – establishing goals, deciding on strategy, setting
objectives and then matching your performance against your objectives – is
a way of measuring your success. If you fail in some respect, this can also
help you: to plan better in the future.
Planning may involve just you. For example, you might write yourself a ‘to do’
list with the tasks prioritised, and then check your progress on a regular
basis. You may choose to review progress every morning of the first day of
the week and write a fresh ‘to do’ list, showing all the tasks to complete by
the end of last working day on the week. As the week progresses, you could
tick off the things that you have done and think about the remaining things
on the list. It may prove impossible to complete all the tasks by the last
working day deadline, but prioritising tasks should mean that you complete
the most important tasks first.

It should also help you to make more realistic plans: not trying to fit too much
into your day or promising to complete work that will prove impossible given
your time and resources.
You might find it more helpful to rewrite the ‘to do’ list every day – some tasks
may have become irrelevant, while other tasks may become more urgent.
However, your day should be spent doing tasks, rather than thinking about
what to do. So, the administration of your ‘to do’ list must not become a
major task in itself!

Microsoft Outlook’s Tasks feature can help you to maintain your list and prioritise your
work.
The Outlook Tasks also offers a reminder feature so tasks that crop up on a regular
basis automatically reappear on the list.
Includes notes to
yourself as to what
needs to be done.
Set up the reminder
to pop up on a regular
basis.

Planning can also involve a team of people, each member of the team agreeing
to complete their own tasks within a given time frame so that the entire team
achieves its objectives. The organisational skills in managing a team are
more complex and require more sophisticated tools. If a project involves lots
of people and many interrelated tasks, the person managing the project
might use a planning tool such as a Gantt chart.
The Gantt chart shows
how stages of a
project fit together
within the schedule.
It reveals the ‘best
end date’.
You can link stages, so the
next one cannot start until
the previous one has been
completed.
It can reveal problems:
Kimis expected to work
on two stages at the
same time.

Organisational skills
Organisational skills involve having a system or routine so that you
complete everyday tasks as efficiently as possible.
For example, organising your workspace includes having the
things you need most (pens or pencils, your calculator, a stapler,
etc.) within arm’s reach and then keeping everything tidily in its
place. Around your workspace, you might have books or folders
arranged neatly on a shelf and files arranged alphabetically in a
hanging drawer. You might have an address book with all your
contact lists and a diary showing your appointments.

Organisational skills can also be learnt. First, focus on what it is that you want to
organise (your workspace, your books, your CDs, your wardrobe ……) and
then consider the purpose of organising and set yourself a target:
● A receptionist might write: ‘I need to organise my workspace so that whenever
someone asks me a question I can easily and quickly locate the information I
need to answer. This will make me a more reliable source of information.’
● A librarian might write: ‘I need to organise my books so that I can find a
particular book quickly. This will be appreciated by those who visit my
library.’
Then, ask yourself what options you have. In your own workspace, you could
arrange your books by type, putting fiction on one shelf and the technical
manuals on another shelf. By segregating the books, you reduce the number
of books you need to search through to find the one you want. Libraries
arrange books according to the Dewey system and, within that, titles are
arranged in alphabetical order of author.

1.1.2.2 Time management
To make the best use of your time, you need to manage it effectively.
Consider aids to time management, such as diaries or calendars.
There are also techniques that you can adopt to make sure that you
do not waste time.
Having somewhere to keep track of appointments (whether on a wall
chart, in a handwritten diary or using an electronic calendar) will:
 help you to see what will be happening in the next day, week or
year.
 It should help you to avoid double booking your time.
 It could also remind you to set aside time between appointments so
that you can prepare properly for each event. As long as you refer to
your diary or calendar each morning, you should never forget an
appointment or arrive late.

Cont…. Time management
Handwritten diaries have the advantage of (usually) being small
enough to carry with you everywhere. They provide a written record
of how you have spent your time, and what will be on your agenda
in the future.
Electronic diaries are
particularly useful in a working
environment. For example,
Microsoft Outlook has a
calendar feature.
Within an organisation, online
diaries make setting up a
meeting easier – you can see
who is free and when, and
choose a convenient time. You
can send the meeting agenda
via email and each attendee’s
Outlook calendar will be
updated automatically.
You can block your time
for meetings and other
fixed events such as
dental appointments.
If the appointment is recurring,
the calendar can set aside time
for the subsequent meetings
automatically.

Calendar features on a mobile phone and PDAs such as a Blackberry can be
synchronised with electronic diaries such as Outlook.
Many PDAs, are also portable
communications devices using
wireless mobile phone technology
to provide email, telephone, text
messaging and web browsing
services. So, someone who
travels a lot can use their
PDA/mobile phone when offline,
but synchronise as soon as they
have access to a computer, e.g.
via their laptop in a hotel room, or
at an Internet café.
What does it mean?
PDA stands for portable data assistant.

Time management also involves using available time in the most efficient way.
This means using strategies to prevent events that might result in a waste of
your time.
How you will manage your time against:
The interruptions:
- On-screen interruptions.
- Phone calls
- People.
Interruptions can
disrupt your
work, and these
can take many
forms: emails,
phone calls or
people. Handling
interruptions
efficiently is an
important aspect
of time
management.

Even the process of handling incoming correspondence (paperwork or
electronic mail) can be organised so that you do not waste time.
● An in-tray can be a physical tray for paperwork, or an electronic inbox
such as that provided by email software like Outlook. Your in-tray
might hold letters from customers or suppliers, reports from
colleagues, or sample designs for products that you need to look at.
Allocate time to look at this material – but only long enough to
identify each item’s content and to establish the urgency of any
action you might need to take.
● Material that requires no further action.
● Material that does require time and thought and maybe some other
action.
● Process incoming mail.

● Material that requires no further action.
Material that requires no further action should either be
binned (moved to the Deleted Items folder in Outlook or
shredded if it is a paper-based correspondence including
sensitive personal details) or filed (electronically in a
folder or physically in a filing cabinet).
Do not leave it in the in-tray! If you often don’t have time to
file material immediately, at least create a file called
‘filing’ and put the item in there, under the correct
alphabetical letter. This will speed up the eventual filing
process and will allow you to find things that you have
not yet filed in the meantime.

Material that does require time and thought
Material that does require time and thought and maybe
some other action:
 should be given some priority and/or allocated a time
slot.
 Add it to your ‘to do’ list and put the paperwork
somewhere you will easily find it – in your briefcase if
you plan to read it on the journey home or in a pending
tray, or the electronic folder called My Briefcase. Do not
leave it in your in-tray!

Process Incoming Mail
Allocating a short time each day to process
incoming mail should:
 Stop you overlooking anything important.
 It will prevent material piling up in your in-tray
and reduce the amount of time spent thinking
about what to do with a particular item.
 It should also save time – you will not find
yourself hunting through the in-tray looking for
something.

Some people work in isolation, but most people work as part of a team. Being
a member of a team brings responsibilities. You need to report what you
are doing to others in the team and to keep up to date with what they are
doing. This flow of communication helps to prevent the ‘left hand not
knowing what the right hand is doing’ syndrome.
Every team has a team leader and others in the team may have specific roles
to play. It is important that everyone understands exactly what roles are
undertaken by which team members, and that everyone co-operates. Team
spirit, once established, is a motivating force that can help everyone in the
team to perform better.
During your course, you will work sometimes on your own and sometimes
within a group. Your success will depend on your own input, but you may
need to rely on other team members too. The success of the team is a joint
responsibility and cause for joint celebration when it occurs.
1.1.2.3 Team working

HOW TO . . . WORK WELL WITHIN A TEAM
1 Make sure you understand your contribution to the team effort. You might be
given a written brief. If not, write down what you believe to be your role and
check this with the team leader.
2 Find out who else is in the team and what role they have to play. If you need
help, this will allow you to approach the right person straightaway, and
reduce unnecessary interruptions for others in the team.
3 Respect the working space of others in your team. If they need peace and
quiet to think, make sure you do not invade that space.
4 If you have special requirements, make sure these are known to others. If
these are sensitive issues, consult the team leader. He/she will know the rest
of the team well enough to know how to handle any tricky situation.
Cont…. Team working

5 If you have a problem concerning another member of the team, try to
overcome this by reconsidering your own behaviour as well as that
of the other person. You could mention your problem to your team
leader, but be aware that others may also have a problem with you.
It works both ways!
6 The team leader needs your support. If you have concerns about
his/her leadership style, discuss it with him/her. There may be facts
unknown to you which result in decisions that may seem strange to
you. The team leader may be able to explain why a course of action
has been taken – but you may just have to accept that your team
leader knows best. Do not discuss your concerns with other team
members or try to undermine the team leader.
Cont…. Team working

1.1.2.4 Verbal and written communication skills
Communication within a team and within an organisation is
essential for the flow of information.
This communication may be verbal (within a meeting or a one-
on-one discussion) or written (an emailed memo or the
minutes of a meeting).
Effective communication relies on verbal and written
communication skills. Throughout this unit, you will be set
tasks to stretch your verbal and written communication skills.

1.1.2.5 Numeric skills
Although most jobs do not require a high degree of mathematical
skills, all jobs require some numeric skills.
If you need to do calculations, you must be able to do them
accurately. You should be able to use a calculator and know
how to check your working by estimating the answer.

1.1.2.6 Creativity
Creativity is needed in all lines of work, not just those involving some
artistic output. Employees who can dream up ideas and are able to
think laterally and ‘out of the box’ can make major contributions to
the success of an organisation. Some companies have a
suggestions box – if you make a suggestion that helps the company
to improve productivity, reduce waste or make the customers
happier, you may be rewarded for your creativity.
Creativity involves original thought and, for this, your mind needs space
to let these ideas flow. Artists – writers, painters, musicians – have
rituals that they use to prepare themselves for creative activity.
Often, because they are freelancers, they can choose the time and
place, e.g. going to a desert island or locking themselves away in a
studio. Some writers work best first thing in the morning but spend
time sharpening pencils before they write the first word of the day.
Some need to fuel their creativity with fine wine or have loud music
playing in the background. Each has his/her own way.

In a working environment, creativity has to be channelled within an
office full of people, with background noise of machinery and
conversation. To allow ideas to come through, you might need
to create your own space within this busy environment, and find
a place where you can think clearly. You may be able to spark
off ideas in a team environment, as in a brainstorming session.
The creative process require discipline and practice.
Cont…. Creativity

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