This document provides information about a seminar on professional communication skills for the workplace held at Swinburne University. The seminar covers both written and verbal communication skills important for job searching. It discusses the importance of communication skills for employers and provides resources and workshops available at Swinburne to help improve students' communication abilities.

1. Professional communication
skills for the workplace
Thursday 1 September 2016
CRICOS 00111D TOID 3059
International Student Life
Skill development seminar series

2. Welcome
Olivia Doyle
International Student Advisor – Employability
Tel 9214 8248
Email odoyle@swin.edu.au

3. Swinburne
International Student Life – Employability Support
3
Specialist support for international students aiming to work in partnership with you
to develop your employability
 Monthly Employability Newsletter
 Regular program of employability seminars
 Skill development
 Student appointments
 Industry connections
 Networking events
 Australian workplace cultural events
 Job Club

4. Swinburne
International student employability events
Semester 2 2016
Professional communication skills for job search
WRITTEN & VERBAL
Thursday 1 September
Australian workplace culture & etiquette
Monday 5 September
Alumni guest speaker speed networking
Wednesday 28 September
Completion of studies
Friday 7 October
Professional job search intensive
Tuesday 22 November
PLUS
MORE
EVENTS

5. What skills and
attributes do
employers look for
in a graduate….

6. Swinburne
SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN
Employer expectations activity
RANK Ordered Key Selection Criteria
1 Communication skills 49%
2 Academic results 24%
3 Teamwork skills 22%
4 Aptitude 22%
5 Interpersonal skills 21%
6 Leadership skills 20%
7 Work experience 20%
8 Cultural fit 19%
9 Motivational fit 18%
10 Adaptable 14%
Source: Graduate Outlook 2014, Graduate Careers Australia

7. Learning and Academic Skills (LAS) Centre
WORKSHOPS
• 3 a week
• weeks 1-6 & week
11
In one subject last
semester, students that
attended 8 or more
workshop averaged an
HD while those who
attended at least 4 or
more averaged a
distinction.
APPOINTMENTS
• individual or group
• 1 hour a week
• academic, language
& literacy
development
Discuss and improve your
assignments and writing
CONVERSATION GROUP
for international students
• develop your language
• make friends
• learn about
Melbourne’s culture
Everyday 12.30-1.30,
improve your speaking,
listening and vocabulary.
Drop-in consultations
• 12-8pm M-Th; and
12-4pm Fr - in the
library during
semester
• 12-4pm at all other
times
• Ask LAS staff or student learning
assistants quick questions about
your assignments, writing or
studies
Find out more
about LAS
lashawthorn@swin.edu.au
9214 5583
swin.edu.au/las

8. Swinburne
SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN
Other communication support
 Toastmasters
Meetings
Free resources
http://www.melbournetoastmasters.com/
 CAE Business English - Speaking for Professionals
8 sessions
$466 concession
http://www.cae.edu.au/courses/business-english-speaking-for-professionals-sc/
 English Conversation Club
Local libraries
Eg City of Boroondara – free weekly sessions with a qualified tutor

9. Swinburne
SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN
• Talking Circles’ - International Student Hub run by City of Melbourne
Practice conversation for the workplace in a small group with corporate
Talking circles focus on workplace themes and conversing effectively
New series starting in October
• Salvation Army Camberwell – English Pronunciation Class
Communication skills expert
Fridays – gold coin donation
• Professional associations
Eg Australian Computer Society – Toastmasters, Communication skills seminars

10. Swinburne
SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY | INNOVATION | BUSINESS | DESIGN
Plan for today
Jill Noble
• HR and careers practitioner
• Published author
• Key note speaker and trainer
1.30 – 2.30 pm
Written communication skills
2.30 – 3.30 pm
Verbal communication skills

11. Professional Communication
Skills

12. Agenda for today
• Oral communication and job seeking
• Written communication and business writing
principles

13. WHO

14. Networking
• Networking is simply talking to people
• People like to help people
• If you are either a good listener or a good talker
you can network
• Use positive body language during networking -
maintain eye contact

15. Networking
What is it? Where can you do it?

16. Networking- how it all works

17. 1. Closed questions:
◦ Get a one-word response and inhibit thought.
◦ Control situation and confirm details
◦ Questions begin with who, when and which
PIVOTAL HR
2. Open-ended questions:
Invite unique thought, reflection or an explanation.
Show interest and build rapport
Questions begin with how, what and how come
(not why!).

18. Job Search

19. Persuasive & diplomatic techniques
• Modal verbs
• Modifiers
• Passive voice
• Suggestions
• Continuous tense

20. Telephone
• Quality tone – BL & position
• Pause-smile-answer
• Energy level
• Greeting & introduce self
• Offer of help
• Rule of 3 – names
• Use listening process to summarise, clarify and
confirm
• Take notes
• What not to say…..

21. Telephone listening skills
4 Step Listening Process
• Attending – Focus, BL
• Reflecting - Summarize
• Clarifying - Questioning
• Active – Notes, noises & neck!

22. Tongue twisters

23. • A phrase, sentence or rhyme that presents
difficulties when spoken because it contains
similar sounds
PIVOTAL HR
Examples:
 She sells seashells on the seashore.
 Three gray geese in the green grass grazing
 Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely

24. V sounds
To pronounce the /v/ sound, place
the bottom edges of your upper
teeth gently on the inside of your
lower lip. Push the voiced air out of
the mouth between the lower lip
and the upper teeth. Make sure
your voice is on (vocal cords are
vibrating).

25. Th sound
To pronounce the voiced /th/
sound, keep your mouth slightly
open so there is just enough space
to place the tip of your tongue
between your upper and lower
teeth. Flatten the tip of your tongue
and touch the tip of your upper
teeth. Push out a voiced air over
the tongue through your teeth.
Make sure your voice is on (vocal
cords are vibrating).

26. Stress
• Stressed words are the key to excellent pronunciation
and understanding of English.
• Stress is where a word or syllable is louder, long and
higher in pitch than another word or syllable
• Basically, stress words are considered
CONTENT WORDS such as
• Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter
• (most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct

27. Stress
Non-stressed words are considered
FUNCTION WORDS such as
• Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few
• Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were
• Prepositions e.g. before, next to,
opposite
• Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as
• Pronouns e.g. they, she, us

28. Compare the two
• The beautiful Mountain appeared
transfixed in the distance . (14 syllables)
He can come on Sundays as long as he
doesn't have to do any homework in the
evening . (22 syllables)

29. Practice
• He drove to work after he had finished
working in the garden.
• You'll find the apples next to the oranges on
the shelf over there.
• Maggie must have been visiting her aunt in
Springtown last weekend.
• Could you pass me the mustard, please?
• They have been considering buying a new car
as soon as they have saved enough money.

30. Written Communication Skills

31. Letters and Emails
• Subject lines are headlines
• - never leave the subject line blank
• Make one point per email
• - Clear and Concise
• Specify the response you want
• Be a good correspondent

32. Key features of a report
Reports:
• are designed for quick and easy communication
of information
• are designed for selective reading
• use sections with numbered headings and
subheadings
• use figures and diagrams to convey data.

33. Active and Passive
What is Active Voice?
 The Active Voice shows the reader who is doing what. The
‘agent’ is placed before the verb.
For example:‘The engineer rewrote the report’
What is Passive Voice?
 The Passive Voice gives the activity centre stage and often
leaves out the ‘agent’.
For example: ‘The report was rewritten’(by the engineer)

34. Active or passive
• The board were provided the papers.
• We provide the papers to the board.
• The board received the paper.

36. Avoid overusing noun forms
Use verbs when possible rather than noun forms known as
nominalizations.
Unclear (use of nominalization):
 The implementation of the plan was successful.
Clearer:
 The plan was implemented successfully.

37. Noun forms
His courageousness filled us with admiration.
We admired his courage.

38. Avoid using nouns instead of verbs
NOT PLAIN ENGLISH PLAIN ENGLISH
He used to help in the specification of new
software
He used to help specify new software
Measurement of static software properties
was performed by the tool
The tool measured static software
properties
Clicking the icon causes the execution of
the program
The program executes when the icon is
clicked
The analysis of the software was
performed by Fred
Fred analysed the software
The testing of the software was carried
out by Jane
Jane tested the software
It was reported by Jones that method x
facilitated the utilisation of inspection
techniques by the testing team
Jones reported that method x helped the
testing team use inspection techniques

39. Which one attracts your eye?
39
References
Your ref/Our ref are a codified system of
referencing used by most businesses in
their business correspondence. Most codes
are alphanumeric and correspond with
codes in the business’s paper and/or
electronic filing system. Learn your
business’s coding system. If you are
initiating the correspondence, place the
appropriate reference code on your first
letter. If you are responding to somebody
else’s letter, include their reference code
and then include your own. Doing so assists
your record keeping. Some businesses place
the reference codes after the subject line.
This assists with filing and record handling
as all necessary details are captured in the
one place at the beginning of the letter.
References
Your ref/Our ref goes top left of the
letter or under the reference line. It
assists filing for both parties.

40. 40
ACCIS Computing
124 Bay Road
Port Melbourne VIC 3207
Tel 03 9856 7435
12 July 2011
Mr T B Bowers
Florentino’s Restaurant
34 Parker Street
BRIGHTON VIC 3186
Dear Trevor
Systems upgrade
Thank you for your enquiry concerning the upgrade of your existing computing system.
I have attached a proposal to meet your needs and it includes the following:
capacity details
time frames
equipment
warranty details
costing.
I will telephone you early next week to discuss this proposal and answer any queries you may
have.
Yours sincerely
Philip Howard
Managing Director
Enc 1
CC: Martin Chapman, CEO Accis Computing
W
Why
I
Information
N
Now take this action

41. Conversational style
OLD FASHIONED
I refer to your letter…
Please find enclosed…
Contact this office…
We are in receipt of…
CONTEMPORARY
Thank you for your letter…
I have attached…
Please contact me…
We have received…

42. Applying your learnings