[Gllug] Schoolboy Grammar

[Robert]

On 27/03/12 20:08, Keith Edmunds wrote:
>> So evaluating technicians on the basis of how perfect their grammar
>> and spelling skills are, well, somehow is missing the bigger picture
> Maybe you're right; however, a business is about a lot more than having
> the required technical skills available. This is the wrong forum, but I
> could happily rabbit on a about "market positioning" for long enough to
> bore most people. Let's try this: imagine you are in Lidl and you ask an
> assistant where the coffee is, and they reply, "Up there, mate, next to
> the veg". You'd probably be quite happy with that answer. Now put yourself
> in Waitrose and ask the same question. Would you be surprised if you had
> exactly the same response?
>
> I'm not arguing the rights and wrongs of any response; I'm discussing
> perceptions and expectations. One would not, for example, expect The Times
> to have the headline, "Cor, what a June scorcher!" on a hot day in summer,
> but no one minds The Sun doing it
> (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2508936/Cor-what-a-June-scorcher.html,
> and no, I'm not a Sun reader!)
Appreciating your example that is looking at the companies point of view
for upholding their image, then its important this is reflected in the
salary of the job holder.
I see every week an incredible amount of differences between company
requirements for similar jobs, while the salary on offer doesn't match
that variation. I would describe comms skills as an "extra" for
technical personnel, not something that should be thought of as standard
skillsets.

I used to work in the finance industry for my sins, and although not
strictly consistent I did find that for the senior managers I worked
for, they were more concerned about your comms being succinct rather
than using professional terminology. The lower level management seemed
to be more concerned about using big words and flavour of the month
choices from the dictionary.

Communication skills are not easy, largely conducted by your body
expression and tone of voice, two aspects that many people are not
conscientiously aware of. Electronic communication is just as
troublesome, I'm sure everyone here has misinterpreted the emotion or
opinion in an email at sometime before.

If someone is able to translate technical jargon to plain English for
the audience to understand the points being expressed, and they can
avoid the disastrous butchering of the English language that requires
you to seek confirmation at the end of every sentence, "yer", "you get
me", "you know what I mean", then there is hope you can learn the
required language skills on the job.

ps. Clearly I never learnt to be succinct :)
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