Essentials of Business
Communication, 12th Edition by
Mary Ellen Guffey
Complete Chapter Solutions Manual
are included (Ch 1 to 14)
** Immediate Download
** Swift Response
** All Chapters included
,Table of Contents are given below
1. Thriving in a Digital, Social, and Mobile Workplace.
2. Planning Business Messages.
3. Organizing and Drafting Business Messages.
4. Revising Business Messages.
5. Short Workplace Messages and Digital Media.
6. Positive and Neutral Messages.
7. Bad-News Messages.
8. Persuasive Messages.
9. Informal Reports.
10. Proposals and Formal Reports.
11. Professionalism at Work: Business Etiquette, Ethics,
Teamwork, and Meetings.
12. Business Presentations.
13. The Job Search, Résumés, and Cover Messages.
14. Interviewing and Following Up.
,Solutions Manual organized in reverse order, with the last chapter displayed first, to ensure
that all chapters are included in this document. (Complete Chapters included Ch14-1)
End of Chapter Solutions
GUFFEY/LOEWY, ESSENTIALS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION , 12E
CHAPTER 14: THE JOB SEARCH, RÉSUMÉS, AND COVER MESSAGES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Review ........................................................................................................................................... 1
Critical Thinking......................................................................................................................................... 4
Radical Rewrites ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Activities and Cases .................................................................................................................................... 8
Grammar/Mechanics Checkup - 14 ........................................................................................................ 21
Total Review ........................................................................................................................................... 21
Editing Challenge - 14 .............................................................................................................................. 23
Communication Workshop: Career Skills ............................................................................................. 25
CHAPTER REVIEW
1. During a job interview, do the interviewer and the interviewee want the same thing? How do their
purposes differ? (L.O. 1)
Answer:
Although both the interviewer and the interviewee want a mutually beneficial outcome, their purposes
during an interview are fundamentally different. Job candidates strive to (a) convince the employer of
their potential, (b) find out more about the job and the company, and (c) expand on the information in
their résumés. Interviewers want to (a) assess the candidate’s abilities in relation to the requirements for
the position; (b) discuss the candidate’s training, experience, knowledge, and abilities in more detail; (c)
try to understand what drives and motivates the candidate; and finally, (d) decide whether the candidate
would fit into the organization. No, they don’t want the same thing.
2. How can you reduce the amount of stress you might potentially experience while anticipating a job
interview? (L.O. 1)
Answer:
Most people consider job interviews extremely stressful, eliciting as much or more anxiety than making a
speech or going on a first date. However, the more you learn about the process and the more prepared you
are, the less stress you will feel. Moreover, a job interview is a two-way street. It is not just about being
judged by the employer. You, the applicant, will be using the job interview to evaluate the employer. It
will help you decide whether you really want to work for the organization.
3. Career coaches warn candidates to never enter a job interview “cold.” What does this mean, and how can a
candidate heed the warning? (L.O. 2)
Answer:
1
, Entering an interview “cold” means knowing little or nothing about the organization or position. It
suggests that a candidate is uninterested in the position or too lazy or unskilled to collect information. Job
candidates should learn as much as possible about an organization before an interview so that they can
impress interviewers with their motivation, research skills, and enthusiasm for the position. Candidates
should look for information about the organization’s history, products, mission, goals, customers,
competitors, geographic locations, culture, management structure, reputation in the community, financial
condition, strengths and weaknesses, and future plans, and also try to learn the number of employees and
the names of leaders. Candidates can find this information using the library, the Internet (Glassdoor, for
example), the company’s website, the company’s marketing materials and annual report, the company’s
Facebook page or Twitter feeds, and employee or company blogs. Candidates can also talk with company
employees.
4. What are success stories, and how can you use them? (L.O. 2)
Answer:
Success stories are 30-second sound bites with specific examples of your educational and work-related
experience that demonstrate your accomplishments and achievements. You should practice them so you
can use them when answering interview questions.
5. How should candidates handle questions about their weaknesses? (L.O. 3)
Answer:
Most experts agree that this interview question should be retired because it has become a cliché unlikely to
yield usable information about a candidate. Of course, no one was ever hired for a job because of a
weakness. If pressed to name a weakness, a candidate should not name a strength disguised as a weakness;
rather, it’s best to identify a corrected weakness, cite an unrelated weakness, or name a learning objective.
Candidates could also simply state that they have no weaknesses that would affect their ability to perform
this job. Whatever weakness a job applicant may reveal, it should not be so serious as to become a
dealbreaker.
6. What are situational and behavioral interview questions, and how can you respond so that you impress the
interviewer favorably? (L.O. 3)
Answer:
Situational questions:
Interviewers describe a hypothetical situation and ask how the candidate would handle it. For example, if
you discovered that a fellow employee had lied when reporting sales, what would you do?
Behavioral questions:
The interviewer may ask the candidate to tell stories. The interviewer may say, Describe a time when . . .,
or, Tell me about a time when . . . . To respond effectively, candidates should learn to use the
storytelling, or STAR, technique. They should tell (a) what the Situation or Task was, (b) what Action
was taken, and (c) what the Results were. To be fully prepared, candidates should develop a coherent and
articulate STAR narrative for every bullet point on their résumés. One career coach advises to add a T to
the STAR formula (START)—T for Tie, as in tying the narrative to the requirements of the job the
candidate wants.
7. List the steps you should take immediately following your job interview. (L.O. 4)
Answer:
a. Make notes of what was said in case you are called back for another interview.
b. Jot down key points, the names of your interviewers, and other details.
c. Ask yourself what went well and what needs improvement.
d. Note your strengths and weaknesses during the interview so you can work to improve in future
interviews.
e. Send appropriate thank-you messages.
8. Why should you always send a thank-you message after a job interview, and what are your options for
making your note impressive? (L.O. 4)
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