There's no getting around it: To get anywhere in the job market today, you have to be an effective writer.

I’m Cat Miller and this is DiceTV. 

 

Your resume, cover letter, thank yous, follow ups, presentations, even your daily e-mail, are all judged on how skillful you arrange and rearrange those 26 letters of the alphabet into persuasive lively extensions of your personality.  Like any other skill, writing well takes practice. So here are some things to think about. 

 

There is a nifty tricks (at) some Buddas tavern, teaching awareness.   They simply ask you to notice that you’re seeing.  And what do you know?  It works!  Do the same thing when reading. Seek out good literature.  Pick up a well written business book.  Be aware of how authors use words to make strong points.  

 

Watch for effective techniques from good authors, and then adapt them for yourself.  Now obviously you can’t write three finely edited drafts for each email you send, otherwise you never get anything else done.  

But when you can, start early on written work, and make changes to your memos and presentations based on what you’ve learn by reading the work of others.  Besides improving your writing, this will help you catch to kinda find simple mistakes that can drive some managers crazy.  

 

For example, you don’t wanna write lose when you meant loose.  Spell check will miss that kind of thing, and it will take you think as a looser, as oppose to a loser. 

 

Smashing Magazine has a nice list of 50 writing helpers.  Check it out and find what works for you.  Then keep practicing till you refine your communications even more. 

 

I’m cat Miller, this has been DiceTV. And now we return to your regular desktop.