Shanzeh Jooma

Last winter I took the Business Communications course through the Foster School of Business. What originally was intended to fulfill a major requirement turned out to be one of the best learning experiences in my college career so far. I was challenged develop my public speaking skills, learn how to become an effective team leader, and more. I have been able to apply what I have learned in many other aspects of my life which makes the experience much more valuable.

 

Going into the business world, communication is one of the most vital skills that can determine your success. I will need to learn how to work with and for people that come from many different backgrounds. Practicing this early will help me in the long run. Whether it is working on projects for classes or networking at events, I feel that the skills I developed in this class has helped me articulate myself better. For example, I have learned how to become a better team member. I am able to have more emotional intelligence to understand the strengths and weaknesses of those I am working with. I am then able to take these observances to find where each team member’s skills can be maximized.

 

Tasks Accomplished:

• Gave a persuasive speech

• Learned about the concept of emotional intelligence

• Completed team-building exercises

• Presented a consultative project that focused on building effective teams

• Reflected on key learnings from the quarter

• Read articles and excerpts related to the topics we learned in class

 

Leadership Competencies:

Self-development: The whole premise of the class was focused on developing

skills to become a better team member and leader. I was able to practice these

skills so I can easily apply them to life outside the classroom. I took the lessons

seriously and made it my responsibility to make sure I was doing what I could

to instill these skills in my actions and decisions.

 

Group development: A big part of the class was learning how to work effectively

as a group. For example, in order to solidify group norms, we created a team

contract with our group members at the beginning of the quarter. This was

something we held ourselves accountable to throughout the quarter. We ended

up fulfilling our responsibilities and were a successful team.

 

Nonverbal communication: As business students, we will constantly be

interacting with many people whether it is for networking or it is working with

our colleagues. We learned how important nonverbal communication is and

how much body language can affect the way we communicate. We learned

tips on how to make sure our body language is conveying something appropriate

and also how to read other peoples body language so you can better

communicate with them.

 

Writing: Another important part of strategic communication is through writing. This class taught me about ways to make my writing more concise and effective. In order to practice this skill we wrote business emails to the professor and would receive feedback on our writing.

 

Conflict negotiation: Because working in teams is so common in the business world, one of our modules focused on conflict negotiation. One lesson I learned that is important to use “I” statements when confronting an individual. These statements begin with I and provide an explanation of an individual’s impact on the whole. This way the individual being confronted will not be defensive and will understand how their actions are impacting others. 

​

Research: The culmination of our learning during this course was put together in the end with a research and consulting project. My team and I presented on working in teams effectively in a professional setting. Research played a big role in making sure we came up with quality work. For instance, I researched what other companies do to have their teams work effectively.

 

Teamwork and communication are just a couple of the skills that can be applied in my future. I have already been able to apply what I learned in this class to different classes and my other leadership positions. As I work with others, I remember the helpful lessons I learned to make sure I am being an effective team member and am communicating well. There is no doubt that I will need to continue developing these skills as I begin my professional journey.

​

​

​

​

I have had the pleasure of serving on the Associated Students of the University of Washington Personnel Committee this year. Being a business major, this was a great way of learning more about human resources. During this tenure I was able to work with active leaders in the UW community to hire the future leaders of ASUW. The entities I worked with included the La Raza Student Commission, Asian Student Commission, Student Health Consortium, and the Middle Eastern Student Commission. Our committee also evaluated job descriptions and helped recognize deserving entities. 

​

Handling four different hirings for various ASUW entities was definitely a challenge. However, I was able to grow a lot more confident in my ability to multitask and see projects through from beginning to end. Throughout the process, I was able to meet a diverse array of people who showed passion and commitment to making our UW community embrace diversity and feel connected to our school. 

​

Tasks Accomplished:

• Completed hiring trainings 

• Learned about the importance of avoiding implicit bias

• Evaluated personnel change request forms and offered recommendations

• Chaired hiring committees for four ASUW entities

• Communicated with a number of constituents and candidates

• Conducted pre-hires to review candidate applications and interview questions

• Led interviews and deliberations and filled positions for ASUW 

​

Leadership Competencies:

Personal contributions: The process of hiring was definitely an opportunity for me to step up and offer my knowledge and ideas to a larger group. While the members of my committee were extremely knowledgable about their respective commissions, they were less knowledgable about the actual hiring process. As the hiring committee chair, I was able to offer my insight on the process and led my committee through the various steps. I acted as the liaison between the Personnel Director and the hiring committee and used my skills and knowledge to complete the process effectively and efficiently. In addition, I was able to offer my opinions and experience with leadership when we reviewed applications to help determine the best fit for the future leaders of ASUW.

​​

Follow-through: Working and communicating with a number of people at one time was a big part of my role on the personnel committee.. Making sure we were on track for the hirings while putting together everyone's schedules required a lot of follow-through. I kept on top of my tasks in order to ensure everything was running smoothly. This meant multiple emails sent, following protocol, and asking questions to the Personnel Director when needed. 

​

Responding to change: One of the issues that came up multiple times through the hiring process was scheduling conflicts. One example of this was when two candidates from one of my entities were not able to make the final interviews. With a short turnaround time I was expected to compile schedules of my hiring committee and the candidates in order to figure out a new date and time to conduct interviews. Communication was key to responding to this change in the most effective way possible. Despite the sudden setback, I was able to resolve the situation and went back on track to complete the hiring. 

​

Initiative: As a committee member, the work we do is very independent. While we are trained to complete hirings, the entire process is done on our own. Because of this, I needed to take charge of my entities and complete various tasks throughout the period. I was responsible for contacting committee members, preparing hiring packets, reserving rooms, and scheduling dates all in my own time. I took the initiative to complete what was expected of me.

​

Ethics: One of the most important aspects of human resources and this particular hiring process is confidentiality. As a hiring committee chair I was entrusted with information about candidates and ASUW hiring and was expected to respect its confidentiality. I took it upon myself to make sure I was upholding myself to these standards and took my role seriously. Keeping confidentiality allowed the hirings to be done with high ethical standards. 

​

Overall, this experience was a very rewarding one. I was able to practice a number of skills that will be helpful to me in the business world. In addition, I obtained a newfound appreciation for the human-resource field. Being able to sit on interviews and be a part of the hiring process helped me find new ways I could improve myself as a candidate for future jobs that I apply for. 

​

​