Professional Communication, why is it so important? Many students, including myself, have asked this question at least one time in their academic career. The truth is, many people don’t know how to use proper grammar. Grammar and communication skills are increasingly necessary for many career fields. Jeffery Selingo is a writer for the Washington Post and said, in his article, that many national surveys say that employers are now placing a lot more value on good grammar skills (Selingo). Because of this, I need to improve my grammar skills. To be successful in my career, I will need to learn to develop these skills and master them.
In the workplace, proper grammar is needed more than ever. Kyle Weins is the owner of two companies, iFixit and Dozuki. Weins wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review stating why he thinks grammar is essential. One reason he gives is that having proper grammar gives people credibility in what they are talking about; not to mention good grammar represents a person when he is not talking to someone face-to face, such as being online. Weins also said that having good grammar increases people’s perception of little details, which can help in other tasks that have nothing to do with grammar, like shelf stocking. The final reason Kyle Weins gave, is that people judge others based on grammar and in deciding if someone is worth taking seriously (Weins). Susan Adams also wrote an article about the importance of grammar; Adams has been a writer for Forbes since 1995, writing about a myriad of topics. One reason she gave for why grammar does count, is that it shows how intelligent one is. Adams also wrote about how using good grammar can tell the audience that a person cares about the topic. Using good grammar helps improve everyone’s speech by getting rid of pauses like “uh” and “um.” Finally, Adams said that using good grammar can gain a person respect from their peers (Adams). That is why, in the workplace, grammar is important.
With all of this in mind for my profession, I want to become an animator. To become a successful animator, I must not only have good grammar skills but good communication skills in all regards. One communication skill I need is good listening, because I must be able to listen to my colleagues or client’s ideas, as well as be able to take their criticism. Also, I must be able to comprehend what they are saying. Other than listening, an animator must have excellent speaking skills. When working in a group setting, I must be able to explain my ideas clearly without miscommunication. In addition to listening and speaking skills, I must also have good reading skills; as I must be able to read and interpret the deadlines for my client’s projects, clients or colleagues emails or letters, and development timelines (Occupational Outlook Handbook). Finally, an animator must have excellent writing skills for writing reports, doing a research project, or writing storyboards, so one can convey what is happening in each scene.
Tying in all that I have talked about, going into my career as an Animator, good grammar and communication skills are essential skills to have. There are three communication skills I need to develop to be successful. The first skill is grammar; to do this on my own, I will practice utilizing grammar books, starting with easy problems, and then moving to more difficult problems over time to challenge me. I will also utilize online sources like internet videos, and tutorials on grammar skills and tips I might not know about to learn better ways to improve my grammar skills, and then apply those skills to practice writing prompts. In class, I can utilize tools like InQuizitive to practice my grammar by doing the lessons I struggle with, and redoing those lessons if necessary. I will use the multitude of class resources on the web page to improve too, by also looking up subjects I struggle with, such as Comma usage to get better with them. The second skill I need to improve on is group participation as I’m a naturally quiet person, and when in group settings I usually take a back seat to everyone else. In class, I need to be more forward and participate more in group settings to get over my shyness. The final skill I need to improve on is speaking; as I stutter a lot and am slow to formulate my thoughts. On my own, learning new words can let me have a more significant pool of knowledge, so I do not stutter to find the right words. In college, taking a speech class or debate class will also help me, as it will give me experience when talking to large groups and help me be more confident with my speaking skills. That is how I will improve these skills in college.
In conclusion, referring to the Washington Post article; the author, Selingo said,
“But the Conference Board has found in its surveys of corporate hiring leaders that writing skill is one of the biggest gaps in workplace readiness. That’s why so many employers now explicitly ask for writing and communications skills in their job advertisements.” (Selingo)
What this means is that good grammar and communication skills are a must-have today and in the future. I have planned to improve and hone my skills, and I encourage every student to do the same, as these skills will prove decisive for ensuring success in any career choice.
Works Cited
Adams, Susan. “Why Grammar Counts At Work” Forbes, July 20. 2012, https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/07/20/why-grammar-counts-at-work/#3787d5e5421f Accessed 23 Sept 2017.
Selingo, Jeffrey. “Why cant college graduates write coherent prose?” Washington post, Aug 11, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jeffrey-j-selingo/?utm_term=.0e0e0b8f084e, Accessed 24 Sept.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Multimedia Artists and Animators” Occupational Outlook Handbook, US Department of Labor, Dec 17, 2015, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/multimedia-artists-and-animators.htm#tab-1. Accessed 27 Sept 2017.
Weins, Kyle. “I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why.” Harvard Business Review, July 20. 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/07/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo Accessed 23 Sept 2017.