Seeking Advice: How Can I Boost My English Skills and Stay Updated in HR?

Dear Friends, I have completed my MBA (Part-Time) in HR in June 2012. I want to keep myself updated in the HR field and gain more knowledge in HR. While doing my MBA, we only learned for exams, which is not enough. Could you suggest some books on HR that could help me gain knowledge in various aspects of HR? Also, how should I keep myself updated?

Improving English Communication Skills

I aim to excel in my English communication skills. I can speak English but not very fluently. In my current organization, everyone speaks Marathi and Hindi. There are no educated people around, and my schooling was also in Marathi. My friend, who is a Senior Manager in HR, has excellent communication skills that I aspire to have. I have started reading English newspapers and books. Could you suggest if any courses would help me with fluent communication, which is crucial besides my knowledge, experience, and qualifications? Please provide me with tips on how to improve my skills.

Could you let me know if my English is so bad based on the above conversation? I want to overcome this fear as I am looking for a change as a Manager - HR.

Your suggestions and remarks would be greatly appreciated and would support me throughout my life and HR career.

Thanks for your consideration.

Regards, Jayashree

Improving English Communication Skills

Just try to watch movies, news, and documentaries in English. Make friends on Facebook and have video chats in English. Try to roam around in your locality and meet English-speaking people. Find an English-speaking course that can design a curriculum according to your needs. It may help you.

Regards.

Your eagerness to learn more and your frankness in acknowledging that education is more than studying for exams is laudable. In addition to the suggestions provided in the above two emails, there are many more things you can do.

Patience and Systematic Approach

The first thing is to have patience and a systematic approach. As an example of learning, please read the text you have posted slowly. You will find many simple mistakes, such as the absence of punctuation. There is plenty of training material available, and you can access it by typing the topic you want to learn in the search box of Cite HR. You can also follow some contributors and senior members of Cite HR. Observe how they make their points and interact.

Regards,
V. Raghunathan
Navi Mumbai

I am sending a private email to you, marking the corrections in the text posted by you. To improve communications, Cite HR provides ample reading material. Please type 'communications' in the query box, and you will get plenty to choose from.

Regards,
V. Raghunathan
Navi Mumbai