26003 Business Communication Skills 3

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

The aim of this subject is to enable students to understand the culture of the accounting workplace, to identify work opportunities, to effectively market themselves to appropriate employers and to develop professional skills and behaviours sought by employers that enables students to transition effectively into the accounting workplace.

The subject focuses on using information from the workplace to understand typical entry-level accounting graduate jobs available, the skills (both technical and generic) required to be competitive job seekers, an understanding of how to develop effective targeted applications and how to perform well in an interview. It prepares accounting students to work effectively in groups, to manage meetings and to write well-structured professional reports. The subject supports the development of a skills-based e-portfolio for ongoing career management.

Subject objectives/outcomes

The aim of this subject is to enable accounting students to understand the culture of the workplace, identify work opportunities, effectively market their qualifications and skills to appropriate employers and to develop professional behaviours and skills relevant to the workplace.

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Critically analyse the local workplace and accounting graduate labour market.
2. Understand the full range of skills and strategies required to pursue their career goals.
3. Identify employability skills in the accounting industry and develop appropriate self-marketing documents and interview skills.
4. Develop an effective e-portfolio for career planning and self-management purposes.
5. Develop professional behaviours and skills required to be successful in an accounting career.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject focuses on career development and work readiness skills for postgraduate students in accounting. The subject requires students to reflect upon learning from all areas of the course to identify how their discipline related skills and personal attributes can best be utilised in the accounting profession and how to market these skills and attributes to an employer. Students will undertake a critical approach to understanding workplace culture and employability skills for accounting professionals in the Australian context and use professional processes in the delivery of outcomes and tasks for the course.

The subject also uses information from the workplace to review typical entry-level accounting graduate jobs available, the skills (both technical and generic) required to be a competitive job seeker, an understanding of how to develop effective targeted applications and how to perform well in an interview. The subject will further prepare accounting students to work effectively in groups, to run meetings and to write well-structured professional reports. The subject will also support the development of the students' skills based e-portfolio for ongoing career management.

Teaching and learning strategies

The lectures and workshops will incorporate a range of teaching and experiential learning strategies including videos, simulations, readings and case studies.

Content

• Employment trends and opportunities in accounting
• Accounting job search strategies
• Information interviewing and networking
• Adapting to accounting workplace cultures
• Managing meetings
• Making effective presentations
• Writing professional reports
• Graduate attribute self-assessment
• Understanding recruitment processes including preparing resumes, online applications, interviews and for accounting assessment centres

Assessment

Recommended text(s)

Eunson, B. (2005), Communicating in the 21st century, Wiley, Melbourne.

Faculty of Business (2006), Guide to Writing Assignments, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney.