Benefits of a good employer

For a long time I have felt that my letter writing skills are weak. Granted I haven’t had to use them very much so I haven’t had the opportunity to strengthen them. When I AM required to draft a letter, I agonize and sweat over it and ultimately procrastinate (if possible).

During the second interview for this job, I was required to draft a letter to demonstrate my skills. Formatting a letter is not the problem for me, content is. Obviously they were happy with what I came up with or I wouldn’t be here.

Immediately after that interview I had a conversation with a previous co-worker of mine. She is a hero of mine when it comes to writing. She has a Masters in English and she is incredibly gifted. She thinks nothing of sitting down and hammering out a proposal or feasibility study for a variety of topics. I know that I am weak in this area so I asked her if there was a continuing education course out there that I could take to give me confidence. She sent me some links to SFU and I took note of them.

Late last week I was asked to draft another letter. Realizing that this is going to be a regular task in this position I took my draft letter to my boss along with the course information. She will review the letter. It needs work, I expected that. She also approved me to take the course! Because it relates directly to my position and I feel that I need the skills that it will teach me, work is paying for it! Yeah!

Here are the details from the website:

Preparing concise, high-impact documents that achieve results is essential for success in business. This course, designed for the business writer, examines a variety of documents including memos, letters, reports and proposals, and analyses the writing process (inventing, drafting and revising) for each. Study the techniques and strategies that effective business writers use to overcome procrastination, generate ideas, organize content, develop persuasive arguments and revise efficiently and accurately. Required texts are provided. Enrollment is limited to 12.

(Note the “overcome procrastination” line :D)

I registered online today. Cross your fingers that I get in!

I also found out that because I am required to travel with this position, work will pay for my passport application! Maybe THAT is why I’ve been stalling on it :D

~Heidi