NVQ Level 2 Business and Administration Suzanne Leach
Underpinning Knowledge
1. Effective communication is important for many reasons; avoiding mistakes,
passing information on and ensuring that whatever is happening it runs smoothly
because everyone knows what they should be doing at any particular moment.
Within my job it is important to communicate with members of my team so we all
have the same information and to make sure that when it’s on to external sources
it’s only sent once. One way I do this is by email so it’s written down somewhere
for me to access whenever I need to. Most of the time my emails are either to
employers to confirm dates and times or to my colleague to see if she has
confirmed dates and times for interviews.
2. When others are communicating with me I usually write down what they are
saying so I have something to refer back to. I find it difficult to focus on what
people are saying because members of the public enter and there are two adult
leaning administrators within the office and I often get distracted by what others
are saying or doing. Because of this I need to note things down so I can check I
have the correct details – especially important when I am taking referrals – as this
allows me to have two chances to get the correct information.
3. The reason it’s so important to question things I’m not certain about is to avoid
mistakes and make sure I continue to learn and develop within my role. It also
means that corrections can be made before mistakes turn into habits.
4. It is very important for all my information to be structured clearly and accurately
as people outside my working environment read my information and it needs to
make sense. The way I do this is by listing all the things I need to tell them and
drafting at least one version of this and imagining I am one of the candidates or
employers I email. I will then usually get my line manager and colleagues to see if
there’s anything that I’ve missed or that could be rephrased and their personal
opinion. Normally they will change something or ask me to find a different way of
explaining the information. I appreciate this input as it allows me to continue to
learn from others who have been doing this job a bit longer than me.
5. It is important to adapt the way I communicate to meet the needs of others in
specific situations. While talking to candidates and phone callers I will usually be
polite but friendly and aim to make them feel more relaxed talking to me. This is
because a number of the people who call me are managers and it’s very
important for them to feel they can talk to me about any issues or queries and
know that I will listen and answer as best I can. However with some phone callers
it usually happens to be job centre advisors that I know quite well so asides from
getting the referral’s information they often ask me what my plans are for the
weekend or tell me their plans. For members of the public who are elderly, hard
of hearing or have visible disabilities I will often simplify my language without
patronising them and repeat or rephrase anything they ask me to. The same
applies to foreign although I’ll usually articulate and use some hand gestures. I
generally avoid slang anyway except with close colleagues so I don’t need to
worry about confusing people with anything not Standard English. When it comes
to written communication, I try to avoid condensing words down to ‘don’t’ and ‘I’ll’
and instead use the correct terms as this sounds more formal and professional.
By doing this I continue to uphold the reputation of the Council and Future Jobs
Fund. I carry on adapting the way I communicate meaning I can continue to
ensure that I constantly provide the best service I know how.
, NVQ Level 2 Business and Administration Suzanne Leach
6. It’s important to seem confident when communicating with others as it gives the
impression that I know how to do every single part of my job even when I am
unsure and makes those I am communicating with feel that they can rely on me.
This is especially important with anyone who uses the centre, both members of
the public, staff and Future Jobs Fund candidates as I am down as one of the fire
wardens. Also by being confident I can ensure that my ideas and suggestions will
be listened to and people won’t think they can dismiss me out of hand. However it
is important to make sure confidence doesn’t turn into arrogance or aggression.
Most of the time though I use the confidence I’ve gained from this job to be
positive, friendly, and approachable and still maintain a professional image.
7. Studies show that 55% of all communication is through body language and that
overall non verbal communication adds up to about 93%. Because of this my
body language plays a big part in the impact I have on people. I like to always
look like I’m doing something even if it’s just reading some notes or writing a list
of things to do instead of just staring into space as it is more positive to be giving
the image of working. Another thing I do is regularly check the phone isn’t ringing
as I keep it quiet due to others being in the office and check emails and calendars
so I know what my line manager has during the day so I can help her prepare. If I
catch myself looking bored or unwilling to be at work I will often take a break from
what I’m doing and get myself a drink so that when I return I can continue to give
out positive signals about my work.
8. I contribute positively to discussions by offering ideas, advice and never
interrupting except by accident. I also try to incorporate someone else’s idea into
my own suggestion so they don’t feel I’m dismissing them. I did a lot of this at
school and being able to transfer this over to a working environment allows me to
create better working relationships with others. As aforementioned I often do this
by merging ideas together, complimenting aspects of one person’s idea and
using it with another person’s. By doing this it feels more like a team effort and
things run smoother.
9. Most of the information I would need for work is filed electronically, something I
helped to achieve. However I have created a total of three hardcopy filing
systems for myself, my line manager and a colleague of mine. Unfortunately as
we have recently had our office refurbished both mine and my line managers
filing systems are currently in storage. Originally though I had everything filed into
specific areas. There was one folder for Future Jobs Fund information,
workshops, confidential information, NVQ information and personal. For my line
manager it was a little more extensive as she had to have originals and copies of
everything. There was a folder for: Health and Safety originals and copies,
Literacy and Numeracy originals and copies, first day information originals and
copies, food safety originals and copies, workshop information originals and
copies, health and safety results copies only and her miscellaneous. All previous
cohorts’ paperwork is archived for ease of access. My colleague has a ring binder
folder which contains application forms in chronological order separately for
successful and non successful candidates, consent forms for successful and non
successful candidates, employer contracts, financial information and a section for
any Future Jobs Fund information she might have. This means that all the
information we could need is easy to find and organised. If however the
information is only held electronically I have organised our folder so everything
can be found and printed off if necessary.
10. Picking out the main points in written information is essential to ensure work gets
done quickly as a lot of the time I get asked for information while I’m on the
Underpinning Knowledge
1. Effective communication is important for many reasons; avoiding mistakes,
passing information on and ensuring that whatever is happening it runs smoothly
because everyone knows what they should be doing at any particular moment.
Within my job it is important to communicate with members of my team so we all
have the same information and to make sure that when it’s on to external sources
it’s only sent once. One way I do this is by email so it’s written down somewhere
for me to access whenever I need to. Most of the time my emails are either to
employers to confirm dates and times or to my colleague to see if she has
confirmed dates and times for interviews.
2. When others are communicating with me I usually write down what they are
saying so I have something to refer back to. I find it difficult to focus on what
people are saying because members of the public enter and there are two adult
leaning administrators within the office and I often get distracted by what others
are saying or doing. Because of this I need to note things down so I can check I
have the correct details – especially important when I am taking referrals – as this
allows me to have two chances to get the correct information.
3. The reason it’s so important to question things I’m not certain about is to avoid
mistakes and make sure I continue to learn and develop within my role. It also
means that corrections can be made before mistakes turn into habits.
4. It is very important for all my information to be structured clearly and accurately
as people outside my working environment read my information and it needs to
make sense. The way I do this is by listing all the things I need to tell them and
drafting at least one version of this and imagining I am one of the candidates or
employers I email. I will then usually get my line manager and colleagues to see if
there’s anything that I’ve missed or that could be rephrased and their personal
opinion. Normally they will change something or ask me to find a different way of
explaining the information. I appreciate this input as it allows me to continue to
learn from others who have been doing this job a bit longer than me.
5. It is important to adapt the way I communicate to meet the needs of others in
specific situations. While talking to candidates and phone callers I will usually be
polite but friendly and aim to make them feel more relaxed talking to me. This is
because a number of the people who call me are managers and it’s very
important for them to feel they can talk to me about any issues or queries and
know that I will listen and answer as best I can. However with some phone callers
it usually happens to be job centre advisors that I know quite well so asides from
getting the referral’s information they often ask me what my plans are for the
weekend or tell me their plans. For members of the public who are elderly, hard
of hearing or have visible disabilities I will often simplify my language without
patronising them and repeat or rephrase anything they ask me to. The same
applies to foreign although I’ll usually articulate and use some hand gestures. I
generally avoid slang anyway except with close colleagues so I don’t need to
worry about confusing people with anything not Standard English. When it comes
to written communication, I try to avoid condensing words down to ‘don’t’ and ‘I’ll’
and instead use the correct terms as this sounds more formal and professional.
By doing this I continue to uphold the reputation of the Council and Future Jobs
Fund. I carry on adapting the way I communicate meaning I can continue to
ensure that I constantly provide the best service I know how.
, NVQ Level 2 Business and Administration Suzanne Leach
6. It’s important to seem confident when communicating with others as it gives the
impression that I know how to do every single part of my job even when I am
unsure and makes those I am communicating with feel that they can rely on me.
This is especially important with anyone who uses the centre, both members of
the public, staff and Future Jobs Fund candidates as I am down as one of the fire
wardens. Also by being confident I can ensure that my ideas and suggestions will
be listened to and people won’t think they can dismiss me out of hand. However it
is important to make sure confidence doesn’t turn into arrogance or aggression.
Most of the time though I use the confidence I’ve gained from this job to be
positive, friendly, and approachable and still maintain a professional image.
7. Studies show that 55% of all communication is through body language and that
overall non verbal communication adds up to about 93%. Because of this my
body language plays a big part in the impact I have on people. I like to always
look like I’m doing something even if it’s just reading some notes or writing a list
of things to do instead of just staring into space as it is more positive to be giving
the image of working. Another thing I do is regularly check the phone isn’t ringing
as I keep it quiet due to others being in the office and check emails and calendars
so I know what my line manager has during the day so I can help her prepare. If I
catch myself looking bored or unwilling to be at work I will often take a break from
what I’m doing and get myself a drink so that when I return I can continue to give
out positive signals about my work.
8. I contribute positively to discussions by offering ideas, advice and never
interrupting except by accident. I also try to incorporate someone else’s idea into
my own suggestion so they don’t feel I’m dismissing them. I did a lot of this at
school and being able to transfer this over to a working environment allows me to
create better working relationships with others. As aforementioned I often do this
by merging ideas together, complimenting aspects of one person’s idea and
using it with another person’s. By doing this it feels more like a team effort and
things run smoother.
9. Most of the information I would need for work is filed electronically, something I
helped to achieve. However I have created a total of three hardcopy filing
systems for myself, my line manager and a colleague of mine. Unfortunately as
we have recently had our office refurbished both mine and my line managers
filing systems are currently in storage. Originally though I had everything filed into
specific areas. There was one folder for Future Jobs Fund information,
workshops, confidential information, NVQ information and personal. For my line
manager it was a little more extensive as she had to have originals and copies of
everything. There was a folder for: Health and Safety originals and copies,
Literacy and Numeracy originals and copies, first day information originals and
copies, food safety originals and copies, workshop information originals and
copies, health and safety results copies only and her miscellaneous. All previous
cohorts’ paperwork is archived for ease of access. My colleague has a ring binder
folder which contains application forms in chronological order separately for
successful and non successful candidates, consent forms for successful and non
successful candidates, employer contracts, financial information and a section for
any Future Jobs Fund information she might have. This means that all the
information we could need is easy to find and organised. If however the
information is only held electronically I have organised our folder so everything
can be found and printed off if necessary.
10. Picking out the main points in written information is essential to ensure work gets
done quickly as a lot of the time I get asked for information while I’m on the
