Exclusive Teaching Resources for Business Communication Instructors

Identifying and landing a job can be a long and difficult process for students in today's market. Fortunately, the skills you're helping them develop in this course will give them a competitive advantage.

As with any message, understanding the target audience is vital in employment communication. This includes understanding the changing world of work and looking at the situation from the employer's perspective.

With these insights in mind, students can take steps—starting right now—to make themselves more valuable to potential employers.

Developing an employment portfolio and establishing a personal brand, even as a student, are important tasks, and the business communication course is an ideal venue for starting these efforts. . .

Résumés are as much art as science, and there is more than one way to be successful with them—particularly in today's multimedia, social-media environment, where students can find an overwhelming array of possibilities.

Bovée and Thill texts introduce students to the full range of options, from traditional résumés to innovations such as infographic and video résumés, and show them how to apply what they've learned in this course to their job search efforts. These new tools create exciting opportunities for job seekers, but they must be used with care. . .

Résumés are as much art as science, and there is more than one way to be successful with them—particularly in today's multimedia, social-media environment, where students can find an overwhelming array of possibilities.

Bovée and Thill texts introduce students to the full range of options, from traditional résumés to innovations such as infographic and video résumés, and show them how to apply what they've learned in this course to their job search efforts. These new tools create exciting opportunities for job seekers, but they must be used with care. . .

Social media are so pervasive today in large and small businesses, it's important for business communication instructors to teach students how to write when they use these new media tools.

After you've watched this video, visit the sites below for additional information that will make your teaching easier and more effective. . .

Chapter 8 offers tips on business applications of social media, which are key to personal branding, and our employment communication chapters guide students through the process of creating a résumé, building a network, and presenting themselves in interviews. Now, to give you an overview, here is what we teach students about a successful personal branding strategy. . .

Students have been communicating their entire lives, of course, but if they don't have a lot of work experience yet, meeting the expectations of a professional environment might require some adjustment.

Therefore, Bovee and Thill have included a section on "Communicating as a Professional," as well as a series of sidebars with the theme, "The Art of Professionalism" in Business Communication Today, 12th Edition. . .

This video discusses an important medium that has now, for the first time, been integrated into a business communication text's visual media chapter.

Video has become a core business medium. In fact, one could argue that video is almost as revolutionary as social media, given how many business messages that were once delivered in written format are now delivered via video.

And just as document design, presentation slides, web writing, and other tasks moved out of the specialist realm and became mainstream skill expectations, many employees are now expected to be able to do basic video work for training courses, product demos, video news releases, customer service, and other routine applications.

With companies such as Zappos encouraging video uploads from job applicants, video could become significant in employment communication as well.

Just as Courtand Bovee and John Thill were the first business communication authors to cover social media, they now once again lead the way in new topic coverage by adding a unique section on video production as part of Chapter 9, Visual Media, in their text, Business Communication Today, 12th Ed.  It guides students through preproduction, production, and post production, with simple hands-on advice at each stage.

Students can learn even more about video production by visiting a website described in one of the book's Learn More features that offers a wealth of advice on producing quality videos.

As more and more companies rely on video for internal and external communication, learning some basic video skills will make students more effective and more valuable communicators. You are strongly encouraged to include video production as part of your full-spectrum business communication course. Business Communication Today, 12th Edition, would be the ideal text for you to use, because it's the only business communication text that offers coverage of business video.

Video has become a core business medium. In fact, one could argue that video is almost as revolutionary as social media, given how many business messages that were once delivered in written format are now delivered via video.

And just as document design, presentation slides, web writing, and other tasks moved out of the specialist realm and became mainstream skill expectations, many employees are now expected to be able to do basic video work for training courses, product demos, video news releases, customer service, and other routine applications.

With companies such as Zappos encouraging video uploads from job applicants, video could become significant in employment communication as well.

In today's tough job market, it's more important than ever for candidates to adapt their communication efforts to each opportunity they pursue. The latest editions of Bovee and Thill textbooks show students exactly how to do this in three realistic scenarios, using real job openings.

After you've watched this video, visit the sites below for additional information that will make your teaching easier and more effective. . .

Identifying and landing a job can be a long and difficult process for students in today's market. Fortunately, the skills you're helping them develop in this course will give them a competitive advantage.

As with any message, understanding the target audience is vital in employment communication. This includes understanding the changing world of work and looking at the situation from the employer's perspective.

With these insights in mind, students can take steps—starting right now—to make themselves more valuable to potential employers.

Developing an employment portfolio and establishing a personal brand, even as a student, are important tasks, and the business communication course is an ideal venue for starting these efforts. . . .

In this 2014 video update, Courtland Bovee explains that social media isn't a fad. It's a fundamental shift in the way we're communicating. But not only is the communication model changing, what is being taught in a typical business communication course should be changing, too.

This video answers these important questions: (1) What's the difference between social media and electronic communication?, (2) How is social media and electronic communication changing how we communicate?, and (3) What resources are
available for teaching social media and electronic communication? . . .

In this 2014 video update, Courtland Bovee explains that social media isn't a fad. It's a fundamental shift in the way we're communicating. But not only is the communication model changing, what is being taught in a typical business communication course should be changing, too.

This video answers these important questions: (1) What's the difference between social media and electronic communication?, (2) How is social media and electronic communication changing how we communicate?, and (3) What resources are available for teaching social media and electronic communication? . . .

Storytelling can also be used for so many things—from training employees to enticing investors and customers. Storytelling is such a vital means of communicating that it's hard to imagine one's career going anywhere without the ability to tell a story.

Fortunately, students have been telling stories all their lives, so narrative techniques already come naturally to them; now it's just a matter of adapting those techniques to business situations.

Students have also been on the receiving end of numerous business stories. Storytelling is one of the most common structures used in television commercials and other advertisements. People love to share stories about themselves and about others, too, which makes social media ideal for storytelling.

Career-related stories, such as how someone sought and found the opportunity to work on projects he or she is passionate about, can entice skilled employees to consider joining a firm.

Excellent presentation on storytelling!  It ties directly into my recent dissertation on how using guided reflection (tell me a story about you) in online classes provides scaffolds to encourage reflective thinking.  My dissertation is entitled, "Is my Instructor There for me? A Study of Reflective Practice and Student Perceptions of Online Teaching Presence." It will be in the ProQuest database in a few weeks!