Unit 4 Effective people communication and information - job ad for a sales assistant at Co-op

by msn2012hotmailcom (student)

Ben davies

Unit 4 Effective people communication and information M1

Introduction

Many skills that people obtain throughout their educational career are very important and take a long time to acquire but are these skills actually essential for a job such as a sales assistant at the Cooperative? Also, the job and person specification criteria are always used in the world of business, why are these two criteria so important?

Main Body

Why the job and person specification criteria were defined?

The job criteria was defined so that the public know what they will be expected to do if they were to get the job. This is important because people of old age will not want to be lifting heavy items at work so if the job description says “lifting heavy items” then the old applicant will know not to apply. The job description is also important because it safeguards the businesses. It helps back them up when they confront a member of staff to do a job and they know that the staff member can’t complain as it was in the job description when they applied. This works vice versa.

The personal specification criteria was defined so that the public know what skills they need in order to effectively execute the job. A typical personal specification will state what is essential and what is desired. The applicant must have all of the essential fields otherwise there is little chance of them getting the job. This is important so that the applicants know what is expected of them and what they need to gain or improve on in order to get the job.

Personal Skills

This is a preview of the whole essay

Personal Skills

Being hard working and also patient are essential for the job as a sales assistant with the Cooperative. A lot of people use their stores every day and if work is not put into the shop floor then the service will be of a poor quality. The patience is essential as well, this is because when the sales assistant is talking to members of the public you have to wait for them to express their feeling and then take action. The company wouldn’t be “seriously” if a new employee didn’t acquire these skills but that would set a bad trend and a bad name for the Cooperative. Patience is probably the hardest skill to gain as when your are hard at work presenting the shelves and you keep getting interrupted and asked questions then you might start to rush your answers.

Having good interpersonal skills includes being trust worthy, avoiding conflict, taking responsibility, cooperating with others and not moaning about a specific job or task. Interpersonal skills are essential as a sales assistant working for the Cooperative because they are on the shop floor representing the company. If they betrayed their trust and stole from the tills, went out of their way to find conflict, didn’t own up to their errors and moaned about their job then they seriously affect the company’s brand name and reputation. The new employee would probably be fired in a matter of days. Some of the interpersonal skills are hard to acquire such as being responsible for your own mistakes. This means having to own up and accept that you have done something wrong and need to improve next time.

Negotiation skills aren’t essential for a job as a sales assistant with the Cooperative but are still an added bonus if you can persuade the customer to buy more items. The Cooperative wouldn’t be seriously affected if a new employee didn’t have the skill. Negotiation is a hard skill to pick up as you don’t want to be too aggressive when persuading the customer to look/buy a different range of products. You have to find a nice balance between friendly and aggressive.

Employability Skills

Suitable qualifications are essential for the job as a sales assistant for the Cooperative. If you don’t have the qualifications then the human resource team will not take a second look at your CV. Competition is high as everyone is looking for a job in these credit crunch times. The Cooperative will be seriously affected if the employee didn’t have a basic qualification as they wouldn’t be able to function certain roles such as tills which involve mathematics. Qualifications are hard to obtain but are worth it in the end as they open up more career prospects.

Having a large knowledge of products at the Cooperative isn’t essential if you were to be applying for a job as a sales assistant. If a new employee didn’t have this skill then the Cooperative wouldn’t be affected at all, their employees will get to know the products whilst at work and improve in time. Knowing products isn’t a hard to skill to acquire if you are working with them all day.

Personal and team targets isn’t an essential skill but would be appreciated by the Cooperative. If you have good personal targets and can keep to them then you will work more efficiently. A new employee coming into the Cooperative without this skill would not affect the company; employees will develop this skill in their team talks under management goals and targets. Personal and team targets are easy to set up but hard to keep to.

Communication Skills

Formal and informal communications are essential for the job as a sales assistant for the Cooperative. Knowing how to speak to whom is very important. If a new employee was to join the Cooperative without this skill then the company’s brand image could be seriously affected. This is because the new employee could speak informally to customers and say something that may, not necessarily be an insult, insult the customer. It is best to keep customer conversations to a formal manner. Knowing when to speak informally and formally is a complex task and is a hard skill to acquire.

Non verbal and verbal communication is essential as a sales assistant in the Cooperative. If a new employee was to join and not have this skill then it would affect the company in a mild manner, especially the verbal communication. Verbal communication is a larger skill that is needed for a sales assistant because they are on the shop floor and speaking to all of the customers and colleagues. Verbal and non communication is quite a basic skill to acquire.

Listening is also an essential skill needed as a sales assistant within the Cooperative. If a new employee was to join the company without this skill then the Cooperative would be affected very seriously. Their brand image would be at stake as the sales assistants are the people on the shop floor and are interacting with the public all the time. If they don’t listen to the public or even just ignore them then they will upset the public enormously. Listening is thought to be an easy skill to acquire however most people only listen passively which is totally different.

Presentation skills aren’t essential within the Cooperative as a sales assistant. The company wouldn’t be seriously affected if a new employee didn’t have good presentational skills, the brand image may go down a few notches but nothing major. Presentational skills take time to acquire and there are special courses people can go on in order to improve them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the job and specification criteria are essential because they give clear details on what is need for the job and what is expected of the applicant for the job. Both are similar to contracts that hold each other bound so that they can refer to them should any problems at work crop up. A lot of skills that people acquire throughout their educational careers are essential as a sales assistant for the Cooperative and without the main essential skills serious implications can occur.

Unit 4 Effective people communication and information M1