Writing Good Business Letters

When you write personal correspondence either in letter or email form, you know you don’t have to worry quite as much about how you say things. You always want to have good spelling and decent grammar, of course, but your personal friends and family are not going to nitpick and disown you because of a few mistakes. However, when it comes to writing business letters, you want to make sure they are perfectly worded and completely without error. On top of that, they must be clear, to the point, and as brief as possible.

Business letters are all about business. You don’t want to send anything that sounds too personal, but you also don’t want to sound too stiff with someone with which you have been doing business with for a long time. Always start and end with the proper terms like “dear” and “sincerely,” though there are other terms that are acceptable. Look up the proper formatting for business letters, and never stray from that formula for the best outcome each item. There are a few different formats that work, but the most formal works the best, even when you feel the business is more on the casual side.

When it comes to the contents of business letters, you want to make sure your point is clear and that you have said what needs to be said in as few words as possible. Skip over flowery descriptions, as they may alienate some people. When you are writing a letter for business about a particularly touchy subject, you want to write a few drafts, and then put it away to look over again in a few hours or even the next day if that is possible. You will always want a fresh perspective so you are sure you have said what you need to say in the best possible way.

Lastly, check, recheck, and then triple check for spelling and grammar. If you aren’t sure, look it up. The few moments that it takes to do that can mean a huge difference in what happens after your business letters arrive at their destinations. Spell check on the computer is great, but it will not catch everything. If you have to, read the letter backwards, sentence by sentence, so that you can catch any problems. Even better, have someone else read it over. They will have fresh eyes and will catch problems that you did not.

American Business Culture

The American business culture is different than almost any other industrialized country. Americans are known to be hard working people, always on the go, working long hours and rushing from one activity to another. While a good work ethic is an admirable characteristic, the down side of our type A personalities is that we end up so stressed out, we end each day in an exhausted state, not knowing if we’re coming or going. Some of us have forgotten how to relax! BTW, plopping on the couch in front of the tube doesn’t count as relaxation. Our doctors warn us of the health problems that may ensue unless we stop driving ourselves so hard. Not many heed this advice and actually take steps to slow down. The principles of American business culture are far too well ingrained. Even our kids pick up on how busy one’s schedule should be.

One element of American business culture may be observed at your very first job interview. Business people don’t like to waste time and they don’t have time to waste anyway. You may wait a few minutes before being called by the interviewer (busily completing the task prior to your interview). Once you shake hands, you sit down and get right down to business. Should your prospective boss be the incorrigible type A personality and you’re not, you might feel downright uncomfortable. You might not even get the job if the interviewer sees you as too laid back!

Now let’s compare American business culture with European business culture. An American looking for a job in Europe absolutely must get up to speed on European business protocol in order to avoid an embarrassing situation which could prove to be irrecoverable. Don’t expect your first meeting with a prospective employer to be an interview, in the sense of a typical American interview. The French, in particular, are sticklers on this point. Your first meeting is full of polite conversation and should be conducted in French, if possible. This shows that you are interested enough in their culture to have a basic, if imperfect grasp of the language. You can bet the interviewer speaks English as well as you do, but this is not American business culture turf.

The purpose of this first meeting is to assess your personality and style. There may not be a single word exchanged about the position. Should you ask or remark on something that relates to the job or work, it is considered pushy and rude! A French businessman feels it’s essential that you be a likable person, one who will fit in to the organization like a family member. You may be invited to lunch, which is simply more of the same. No discussion of business takes place. Once you’ve been accepted, on a personal level, then you may be invited to dinner. That’s when business is discussed. That’s when you may receive an offer.

If you’re going to Japan on business, be prepared for culture shock. Japanese business culture is so very different from American business culture, you’ll need to thoroughly educate yourself on the expected protocol of the business meeting. For example, there a number of rituals which must be performed before you ever sit down. There is the business card presentation ritual. You’ll be embarrassed and lose points and favors if you don’t know what’s happening and what your role in the ritual is. You may be offered foods that you cannot identify, but must eat. If you refuse, no matter how graciously, you’ve delivered a terrible insult, disgraced yourself and probably won’t get the job!

We Americans are so into our American business culture, we just hate to waste time. It’s just the way we are. However, the French get 5 weeks paid vacation each year. Hmm. That’s something to think about.

California Culinary Schools for Career Opportunities in Catering & Hospitality

There are many good career opportunities in catering and hospitality. Candidates have an excellent choice of California Culinary Schools to choose from. They offer knowledge and practical training, financial assistance for those eligible, and a gateway to the world of work. Courses give the opportunity to take up careers in kitchens and front of house or in management.

The California Culinary Academy in San Francisco offers Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Art programs, taught by professional chefs and managers. The facilities are of the highest quality with equipment up to industry standard. This culinary school in California has been welcoming students since 1977, delivering Degree and Certificate Programs in small classes. Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking courses are also available. Subjects covered include Business Management, Wine Appreciation, and Hotel Operations. Students enjoy trips to the wine growing area of Napa Valley. The Careers Service provides advice on preparing for job interviews and writing a resume. The college expanded in 2004 with a new campus, located in Portrero Hill in San Francisco.

Degree courses in Le Cordon Bleu in Culinary Arts is also available at the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena with a 12-month study program and three month’s externship. There are other short-term programs and Associate of Occupational Studies. Patisserie and Baking, Hospitality, and Restaurant Management are on offer. Students can receive advice on finding a job in various fields, including restaurants, hotels, spas, country clubs, casinos, cruise ships and vacation resorts. There is also a campus in Hollywood.

The Kitchen Academy in Sacramento operates accelerated training programs, put together by the finest chefs. Lessons are entirely conducted in a kitchen environment with customized work stations and there are no classrooms. Some programs can be completed in thirty weeks and courses can be taken on mornings, afternoons, or evenings. This California culinary school also has a campus in Hollywood.

The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California at Santa Monica offers Associate Degree courses in Culinary Arts and Bachelors Degrees in Culinary Management. Diplomas are also awarded for The Art of Cooking and Baking and Pastry. This culinary school in California has further campuses in Santa Ana and San Diego.

The City College of San Francisco is a two-year college and offers a wide variety of subjects. These include Baking, Confectionary Show Pieces, French Culinary Arts, Food Purchasing, Kitchen Management, Nutrition and Food Service, and Sanitation.

The National Culinary School in Le Mesa, San Diego is a vocational school in operation since 1976. Practical training is offered in small class sizes and with state of the art equipment. Training is tailored to the individual in Culinary Arts and Baking and Pastry. Students at this friendly California culinary school go on field trips to the meat market and the fish market.

Why stress at a job you don’t like? If you’d to find culinary art schools in your area and would like info on financial ad options, visit:

http://siliconvalleyresources.com/culinaryartscareer

Programmer Jobs, Outsourcing, and Our Current Economy

How programmer jobs and outsourcing affected the current economy

In 2000, the American economy was booming. The IT field, including research and development, analyst, marketing and programmer jobs accounted for fully 51% of America’s GDP! We’re talking big money. In January of 2001, job boards like DICE boasted well over 100,000 engineering, analyst and programmer jobs, waiting to be filled. In past years, the period between October and March was traditionally the slow period. In 2000 and into 2001, this mold was broken, with more positions to be filled than there were qualified candidates. IT was booming.

Let me share a true story with you, to demonstrate how outsourcing IT jobs to foreign cheap labor sources, was the beginning of what we now are experiencing in the labor market and the current state of the economy. Be warned, it’s not a pretty picture, but should give you some insight into how we got to be where we are now.

In 2000, a good friend was contracted to IBM as an enterprise architect. IBM’s end user was another big name IT company. The project involved developing a licensing system. IBM’s end user had a staff of 40 foreign programmers, who had been working on the project for a year without progress or results. My friend’s job was to coordinate the activities of all these programmer jobs and get the job done. In the end, the end user company dismissed the staff of 40, for sheer incompetence, and replaced them with this top notch engineer, truly a one man show. The licensing system moved like greased lightning and was estimated to have saved the company a million dollars in previously lost revenue. To make it all happen, he was putting in some very long days. When the project was completed, he was ready for a vacation! He took a couple of months off. In March of 2001, he checked out the job boards, only to find that the 100,000 programmer jobs had dwindled to 23,000! Hey! What happened?

The IT companies had discovered that the government had decided to give them big tax breaks for using foreign cheap labor. Suddenly, the American engineer or programmer was shut out of the market. Corporations had gone for outsourcing with gusto! Why should they pay Americans the market rate, when they could have the job done in India for a tiny fraction of the American programmers rate? As it turned out, approximately three million American programmer jobs disappeared overseas.

This continued for several years. In the end, the outsourcing strategy did not work. The corporations discovered that, due to language and other communication problems, combined with a lack of availability during normal business hours, projects were not only failing, but cost 20% more, even with the tax breaks. Meanwhile, American technology was being handed out like candy overseas. What was formerly proprietary American technology was, and still is, in the hands of foreign countries, most notably India and China. American programmer jobs were like hen’s teeth – not to be found.

At the time, three million programmer jobs, spread all over America in a period of several months, didn’t even make a blip on the public consciousness or unemployment statistics.

Taking a page from the IT industry, other manufacturing companies soon followed suit. The American textile and auto industries were virtually wiped out. Entire regions suffered massive layoffs, plunging these workers into instant unemployment. This practice has continued to today. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics can see that if too large a percentage of the population is unemployed, they will not be able to afford to purchase the products produced overseas by American companies.

We’ve now effectively lost the technology that helped sustain that booming economy. In addition, the foreign workers are now in a position to demand higher rates. No free lunch anymore. From where I sit, it looks like greed overcame the corporations.

As a result, the corporations virtually shot themselves in the foot. It’s not known if American programmer jobs will begin to rise again. Our new President-elect has vowed to come down hard with a heavy tax burden on companies that use foreign labor. We’ll see. One thing is certain. It’s going to be a long hard road back to American prosperity. Ha. There really ought to be a law! Let’s see it.