Written Communication Toolkit

Employers' comments

"Our biggest issue is writing skills. Graduates need to be able to write a report. All of our outputs are written. [They] also need good oral communication skills and fundamental confidence in their ability to be able to support what is being written. However, an academic writing style is completely different from [what] we need in practice. It is the largest failing, without question, from our point of view. What the university can do to improve that is to give the opportunity for the practical application of 'real world' writing skills during course work. Not necessarily in a work placement environment, but actually as part of the course work. There is a big difference between the way you write a report compared with a discussion paper on criminological theory."

(Employer of Griffith Criminology and Criminal Justice Graduates, 2001)

"At the risk of making a generalisation, many science graduates are not as strong in the written area as they could be. With competition for jobs so strong in the science industry, graduates cannot afford to lose ground in any area and poor spelling and grammar [are areas] where it is easy to lose ground. If you send in a poorly written/spelt resumé (to us or any potential employer), you are going to be behind the eight-ball from the start."

(Employer of Griffith Science Graduates, 2001)

"Students need to realise that there are different forms of communication suited to different settings. I had a student who had done a Law degree and who came to work with me and was giving me the sorts of notes you would put down in a brief, but not a piece that would communicate with the audience. Different contexts require different types of written communication."

(Employer of Griffith Law Graduates, 2003)

"As an employer, I expect to see graduates who can write, spell and put a report together that is literate, meaningful and properly researched. That is a fundamental skill but one that, we are disappointed to say, we don't always see."

(Employer of Griffith Engineering Graduates, 2003)

"Written communication skills are extremely important. People are becoming too familiar these days with email and text message communication. Graduates need to appreciate that we're still looking for well-developed, formal, written communication skill."

(Employer of Griffith Accounting Graduates, 2004)

Graduates' and students' comments

"When you are writing at uni you tend to write in a format that lecturers expect. But when you get out in the workforce you are actually writing for a different kind of population and you can't approach it [as if] you are writing a prac or an assignment."

(Griffith Graduate, 2002)

"My written communication skills are constantly improving at uni because I receive feedback on my written assignments, which helps me to make improvements on my writing style. I find that my writing skills are very useful in my part-time work because I have to write lots of memos to my manager to express all sorts of details about the shift. I am able to write these in a concise and informative manner, which is appreciated by my manager."

(Griffith student)

"In the courses I've done, we've been taught to always ask ourselves: 'From what point of view am I writing this? Who is going to read this?' "

(Griffith student)

Research findings

"Literacy skills and written business communication skills were rated as being very important by the employers participating in an AC Nielsen research project conducted in Australia in 1999. It was found that job applicants who had poor skills in this area did not fare well when seeking positions."

AC Nielsen Research Services. (1999). Employer Satisfaction with Graduate Skills.
Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Canberra: AGPS. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 23 October, 2006:
http://www.dest.gov.au/archive/highered/eippubs/eip99-7/eip99_7pdf.pdf

"Effectively, we are looking for people who can write in almost a bullet-point form. We are no longer really looking for people who can write wonderfully flowing twenty-five page documents, which take two hours to read."

Employer interviewed in: Harvey, L., Moon, S., and Geall, V. (1997).
Graduates' Work: Organisational Change and Student Attributes. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 23 October, 2006:
http://www.uce.ac.uk/crq/publications/gw/gwcon.html

"Employers want graduates who can write for a variety of audiences. Graduates may be experienced in producing academic texts such as essays, laboratory reports and dissertations, but they are not always proficient in other forms of written communication, especially business communication."

Employer interviewed in: Harvey, L., Moon, S., and Geall, V. (1997).
Graduates' Work: Organisational Change and Student Attributes. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 23 October, 2006:
http://www.uce.ac.uk/crq/publications/gw/gwcon.html

"The development within the workforce of not only strong technical and applied capabilities but also the skills and capabilities associated with communication, teamwork, problem solving, ongoing learning, creativity, cultural understanding, entrepreneurship and leadership are vital building blocks for business innovation success."

Business Council of Australia. (2006). New Concepts in Innovation: The Keys to a Growing Australia. Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 23 October, 2006:
http://www.bca.com.au/content.asp?newsid=99520

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