Business and Professional Communication: A Practical Guide to Workplace Effectiveness

Students preparing for a career in business and the professions have a valuable tool in this engaging overview of the skills needed to communicate successfully in every stage of professional life: securing a job, making a good first impression, and advancing into management and leadership positions. Writing in an informal, conversational style, the authors discuss the fundamentals of business communication in today's global workplace, providing practical advice, meaningful applications, and sample documents to illuminate the discussion. Young and Travis liken the career-building process to creating an image or brand that employers recognize as a good fit for their companies. They cover the outward "packaging" components like verbal ability and appearance, progressing to the critical follow-through skills that contribute to a consistent, professional image: interpersonal competency, excellent writing skills, technical proficiency, problem-solving ability, enthusiasm and flexibility, and a strong ethical foundation. Ethical Encounters boxes throughout challenge readers to make ethical choices, while objectives and key terms in each chapter frame and reinforce key concepts. Abundant exercises prompt readers to analyze their communication strengths and weaknesses and provide ample opportunities to apply the chapter content.