Glossary of Technical Terms and FAQs

Technical Terms

Work ethic – this is a set of skills that an employee should have. Some may be arrive on time or work in a team.

Soft skills –these are skills people have that can help them do task at work or elsewhere for example take leadership, creativity, problem solving etc.

Goals – these are what you would like to achieve after so much work

Strategy – A plan of how you are going to do things

Objectives – These are something you aim to achieve, very similar to goals.

Prioritizing – this is putting something as your top object to complete on your to do list.

Diary – This is used to record events from your past or plan something to do in the future. These usually record the date of when you write to it.

Targets – This is what you what to achieve after so much work again very similar to a goal or an objective.

In-tray – This is either a tray were paper is left on or an email inbox.

Independence – This is someone who is able to work without needing to rely on anyone else for help.

Facts – These are points that can be proved to be correct.

Opinions – These are what people believe to be correct in their own mind but are not proven. People may have different opinions about different things like; “what’s better white or dark chocolate?” some people may believe white and some people may believe dark.

Summarise – This to sum up the points you have put forward in a discussion.

Paraphrase – This to reword what you are just after saying.

Open questions – This is a question which will most likely have many different answers to the one question.

Closed questions – This is a question that will have one short answer.

Probing questions – This is a question that tries to find additional information hat has not yet been figured out.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the main attributes that employers seem to be seeking in a prospective employee?

The main attributes that employers seem to be seeking nowadays in a prospective employee are organisational skills, time management, ability to work in a team work, good verbal communication skills, good written communication skills, ability to work with numbers and creativity. Other attributes that employers may look for are determination, independence, dependability, self-motivation and problem solving so it is important to have all these attributes. 

Q2. What are “soft” skills and why do employers value them so much from prospective employees?

These are skills such as analytical thinking, creativity, diplomacy, effective communication, flexibility, leadership, listening skills, problem solving, team building and a readiness for change. The reason why employers value these skills are because these skills show you are capable to work with others to solve problems or to get tasks completed.   

Q3. What are the main barriers to communication?

Hearing disability, sight disability, distractions, lack of interest, background noise and the list goes on.

Q4. What do the principles of communication depend upon?

The principles of communication depend upon the listener or receiver being able to understand what is being communicated to them. For instance someone who cannot read but can hear will understand verbal communication better than written communication making verbal communication the better option to use when communicating to them.

Q5. Why must you be sensitive to cultural differences or age differences in your audience?

What you say or write may not be intended upon being offensive but may result in being offensive to people with other cultures or people of different ages which is why you should be sensitive of others because someone may end up getting hurt.  

Q6. Why is negative body language a barrier to communication?

Negative body language will show you as being sad or angry, to other people this will a barrier to communication because they may think you are in a bad mood and don’t want to talk to anyone or they may think you might lash out at them for trying to talk to them.

Barriers to Effective Communication

Visual disabilities

This is not being able to see who you are communicating to.

This can be overcome by using verbal communication or by using brail.

Hearing disabilities 

This is not being able or having problems hearing.

This can be overcome by using sign language or writing what you want to say down on paper.

Language differences 

This is not being able to communicate with someone because you speak a different language.

This can be overcome by learning the language that the other person speaks or by getting someone who speaks the language to translate.

Principles of effective communication

Effective communication is being able to give out a point that the person you are communicating with can understand while they can communicate with you and you can understand their point.

Questions are often used when communicating. Questions can either be open ended or closed. Open ended questions have long answers to them, an example of an open ended question would be “what did you do last weekend?” the reason this is an open ended question because it would have a long answer. A closed questions usually has one short answer, an example would be “how old are you?” there will be only one answer to this question, that’s what makes it a closed question.

Many people communicate in different ways but what ever way you communicate it is usually split up as verbal, non-verbal and written communication. Verbal is the most well known way to communicate as it is usually through speaking. Non-verbal on the other hand is to do with body language. Written communication is communicating through emailing, writing or texting.

Personnel presentation is how others see us by how we look or what we are wear. For example if you wear a shirt and tie to a job interview the interviewer will have a high opinion of you before you say a word while if you wear a tracksuit to an interview the interviewer will think you weren’t interested in getting the job or were too lazy to look smart for the interview.

Attitudes

General Attitudes

Planning and organisational skills: in any job being able to plan and organise yourself can be import because it means being able to get up early for work, finishing tasks for deadlines and not being too late back after lunch.

Time management: this is the ability to get to work on time or even be early, having a good time management gives a good impression to an employer because it shows you are keen to work and are unlikely to waste time.

team working: this is highly valued by an employer because any employer will often need employees to work together to complete tasks for a company.

Verbal and Written communication: it is always important to have good verbal and written communication for any job may it be talking to customers about issues or writing down what is low on stock and needs to be ordered in. A good example of when you need both would be applying for a job, you need good written skills for writing out an application form or you may not be asked back for an interview and you need good verbal skills for an interview or the interviewer might think you won't be good with handling customers or working in a team.

Numeracy and other skills such as creativity: skills like these are important in any job, being able to count means you can be relied on working in a bank or at shopping till. The likes of creativity can also be valued by employers because any ideas that an employee can think up of may be used by a company to improve its business

Attitudes

Determination: this is setting your mind to do something no matter the situation, an example would be working many hours overtime to finish a task for deadline.

Independence: this is being able to get on with something without have to rely on someone else for help.

Dependability: this is being relied on to help someone when they need help or being trusted, for example being asked to look after a friend's dog while they are away for the weekend.

Self-motivation: being able to push yourself to do what you want, for example pushing yourself to get up early to catch a bus to get to work on time.

Problem solving: this is being able to sort out problems no matter how big they are, for example sorting out a argument between 2 members of staff.