What do I do or say to let people know what a great person I am?
(Well I think I am great!) I suppose I communicate by:
• talking to people
• how I behave
• how I dress
• how I react and what my face tells other people
• how I write about myself.
110 Communicating technical information in the workplace
Hi, Mr McNab, how are you this morning?
The importance of dress and behaviour towards others has already been considered. Writing about yourself in a formal manner is an important skill. The Latin words curriculum vitae (CV) are used to outline the story of your life. What you need to do is to make sure that you communicate all the really important information about yourself in a manner that is easy to read and not too long. Look at the following exercise and decide which points are important:
EXERCISE 4.10
Look carefully at the information in the list that follows and organise the information into 4 columns. In the first column, put the information that is essential for a CV; in the second column, place information that may be useful but not essential; in the third, put information that could be useful; and in the last column, put any irrelevant information.
Name, football team supported, place of birth, educational qualifications, age, gender, religion, marital status, car driver with a clean licence, breakfast cereal preferred, medical details, courses attended that are work related, address, political affiliations, details of departments worked in and skills acquired, positions of responsibility achieved, out-of-work interests, names of people from whom a reference can be obtained.
Essential Information
Useful information
Additional information
Useless information
Now that you have sorted out the information, you need to organise it into a readable document. A CV can be handwritten but you should try to word-process your CV. Look at the example that follows and use it as a model. The layout and format can be personalised, but remember that although you want to stand out, you do not want to stand out for the wrong reasons. Your CV communicates about you in more ways than what is written on the paper.
CURRICULUM VITAE for
Mustapha Skill
Address:5 Link Road, Greenfold, Leicestershire.
Date of Birth: 2nd May 1984.
Status:Single, male.
Qualifications: 8 GCSEs: Maths (B), English Language (C), Science Double Award (BB), English Literature (D), French (D), CDT (C), History (D), Drama (E).
Clait level 2 Word Processing and Spreadsheets, level 1 databases.NVQ2 Performing Engineering Operations including key skills at Level 2.
Work:I have worked for ‘Designed for You’ since leaving school and have enjoyed this work and particularly enjoyed my time in the CAD section.
School achievements: I played cricket for the school Under 15 Eleven and am finishing my Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award.
Work experience: In Year 10, I spent one week working for Joe’s Auto Spares and enjoyed this work. In Year 11, I spent two weeks with the maintenance department of B. J. Smith and Sons who manufacture cam shafts for the motor industry. I have a Saturday job in a DIY shop in Greenfold and I help my brother run his disco.
Other interests:I like skate boarding and go with friends to local skate parks. I am helping my uncle renovate an old Morris car. I also like music and socialising.
EXERCISE 4.11
Develop and produce an up-to-date CV for yourself. The CV should be word-processed.
(This is an opportunity to achieve key skills in IT. Either get your IT supervisor to check your on-screen document and then witness your carrying out a spell-check and on-screen editing, or, print an early version and then your final version showing the corrections you have made.)
Either write your CV in the space provided or stick in a word-processed version:
112 Communicating technical information in the workplace
CV for. . . .
Witness testimony
I confirm that. . . .completed the following CV satisfactorily.
Signed. . . .Job title. . . .Date. . . .
Give you a reference?
Of course. Good luck.
The main use for a CV is when you are applying for jobs, and the best advice is that you should rewrite your CV for each job you apply for. By doing this, you think carefully about what you are writing and take the time to emphasise skills and experiences that you think are important in this particular case. A photocopied CV for another job may indicate to a would-be employer that you cannot always be bothered to make much effort.
Finally, do remember that if you send off a CV for a job and it includes the names of people who have offered to give you a reference, it is only polite to inform these people that someone may be in touch with them asking for a reference for you.
Exercise 4.12 is designed to help you achieve key skills in commu- nication and also to increase your knowledge about an engineering topic of your choice by carrying out some research and then presenting this information to an audience by means of a short illustrated talk.
This assignment allows you to achieve a number of key skills both in communications and IT. One of the skills needed is that you are able to read and extract information from a variety of sources. The main task here is that you have to give a short talk, but to prepare for the talk you will need to do some research.