Reflections in Professional Writing
During this last month I took a Professional writing class at Full Sail University. The class covered many different types of professional communication from; bossiness/project pitches, negative and positive messages (such as a job rejection letter), and how to respond professionally to those with a response letter. Even though this may seem like such an obvious thing it was a great opportunity to practice these skills and to be intentional about the mindset needed to write them. I would like to reflect on some of my experiences in the class through the next few paragraphs.
Now that the course is completed, I have learned new ways to represent myself professionally and socially. One thing I have picked up is to give more detail and be intentional about being courteous even in a rejection letter response. Before I would of never thought to respond to a rejection, now I can see how that would be rude, if I did response it would have been something simple like “thank you for your time” and nothing else. I can see now how those responses could hurt my chances of being given another chance in the future. I have also learned that I can and should write differently on different social media. In the future I will better separate my communication style on my personal social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) and my professional social media (LinkedIn, Twitter).
If I were to pick my biggest strength as a writer is research. When I want to find out more information I can dig in and find numerous sources to give me an idea of what I want to write about. This gives me the ability to know what I am writing about and does not leave much guesswork in what I am saying. If I had to pick one area where I have improved on that this month would be using the academic paper searches. My topic that I was researching did not have a lot of academic papers that directly related to what I was trying to information on, so I had to get creative. 0
Thinking about everything I have learned this month and contemplating what has really stuck with me. I would have to say the professional formatting of the different platforms such as pitch, letter, and a blog. It is one of those skills you never really think about and it can have a huge implication on how you are viewed by your peers. If your pitch is not laid out well and within an accepted standard there is a good chance the person will not even read it. If you format a rejection response poorly it may leave a lasting mark that you are unprofessional and make it harder for whoever the letter was addressed to be willing to give you another chance. So, yes how important formatting is will stick with me going forward.
The skills learned this month are used in a variety of ways in the game industry. When you are just starting out these skills can help with things like documentation for the system you are designing, presenting your ideas to the team and/or management, and just general business communication on a daily basis. Further along in your career you will use these skills for more things. If you are a lead or hiring manager, you will work more with the rejection and acceptance letters. If you want to receive funding for a game or business, you are starting you will work more on business pitches and response letters. As a game designer you will use these skills on a daily basis throughout your career in whatever role you have.
Citations
Cappell, T. (2013, February 11). Collage of Digital (Social) Networks. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/frauhoelle/8464661409.
*All other images provided free by the wix editior or created with content I own.