In 2004 the residents of Wichita, KS (my home town) voted to approve the building of a new multi-purpose arena. There was quite a bit of back and forth discussion on the economic and cultural impact of the project. Now, 14 years late, the project seems to be a success. This year the mayor announced that we would be constructing a new baseball stadium and signing a contract with a minor league baseball. This has led me to wonder: How much have minor league sports—baseball, hockey, arena football—grown in small-and medium-market cities? What is the local economic impact when these municipalities build stadiums and arenas? In an effort to answer this question a found a paper that offers an economic model for calculating the economic impacts of sports stadiums.

The basic method of the model is to use multipliers taken from the US department of Commerce and apply these to the distinct phases of the project. These multipliers are available for different businesses, industries and regions. Once the appropriate multipliers are obtained, the next step is to determine which aspects of the project to measure.

The authors of the paper split the impact into two categories: one time impacts from the construction and recurring impacts from annual operations. The Annual operating impact was then further divided so that impact from outside of the city could be counted, as impact from inside of the city was considered a shift of expenditure rather than new expenditure.

All in all, this paper provides an effective method for considering the plausible economic impact of building a new sports stadium. Even though the paper was published twenty-four years ago, the methodology remains sound.

 

Works Cited

Colclough, William G., et al. “Estimating the Economic Impact of a Minor League Baseball Stadium.” Managerial and Decision Economics, vol. 15, no. 5, 1994, pp. 497–502. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2487998.

 

When looking for a job, whether one is applying for a posted position or prospecting for possible openings, one of the most important skills is the ability to understand the needs of the prospective employer. Most commonly this is done through careful research.  Each company has its own distinct culture, as well as products, services, markets and clients. Understand the way these pieces all fit together for a business in need of help will allow one to position themselves in the most favorable light when applying or interviewing. There are many sources that can be used to find this information. Some of the most common are the company’s website, LinkedIn profiles of company managers and industry publications.

To see how we can find useful information that can be used to help our resume and cover letter appeal to the receiver, let’s look at an example. High Touch Technologies (www.hightouchtechnologies.com) is a local company that specializes in IT services and custom business application development. They often hire developers, and I have considered applying for positions there several times. To begin with, I looked through the company’s web page closely and gleaned several important pieces of information. The most important of these were details about what services the company provides and what technologies they use. I also searched the local Business Journal (www.bizjournals.com/wichita) for articles about the company. I found several that reported on the recent growth of the company through acquisitions. Another important piece of information about the company is something that I had already learned through personal experience. In 2016 I was lucky enough to be chosen as a finalist for the High Touch Scholarship. As part of the competition I was able to meet the executive board and found that they had a high amount of admiration for Wichita State, possibly because the company was founded by a WSU graduate. I believe that all three of these sources are trustworthy. The Wichita Business Journal in particular is an objective source and considering the type of information I gathered from the company’s own sources, I feel comfortable that it is correct.

Taking the information I learned from these sources, I looked at my own experience and skills and started to ask whether I would be able to provide value to this company. I believe that I can. The company needs employees who are familiar with technologies that I am familiar with. They need employees who are able to work in a team environment as well as working directly with clients. They also seem to be inclined to hire students from WSU. Just to make sure that my resume would appeal to the hiring manager, I decided to include the following keywords:

• Communication Skills
• Team Player
• Customer Focused
• Desire to Lead
• Desire to Learn
• Java
• SQL
• C#/.Net

In the end, I’ve found that a little bit of basic research can lead to a cover letter and resume that are more likely to appeal to the recipient. The reward is well worth the effort.

 

It’s never too early to start planning. In my opinion, we should be checking our current position against our plans and goals for the future. Making corrections where necessary. I’m currently a Senior in the MIS program at WSU. I won’t be graduating until the summer semester; even so, I think that now is the perfect time to start looking at employment opportunities.

As such I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking at job postings lately. There are many, many websites out there for job seekers to find open positions. One of my favorite places to look for job openings is at my University’s career center. I was recently looking through available positions and found a posting that I felt was a good match for me. So, I set about preparing my resume to send to the company.

One of the best pieces of advice for job seekers is to pay attention to what employers need. When looking through a job posting, pay attention to what skills the employer asks for. If the skills asked match what your strengths are, make sure that you put those strengths forward in your resume. Here’s an example.

I found this job posting on the WSU Handshake website. The requirements for the position list several technologies and skills that applicants should possess. After looking through the post I created a list of ten keywords that I should make sure I have prominently placed in my resume:

1. SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle)
2. Agile Development
3. Information Systems
4. Problem-Solving
5. Analytical
6. C#
7. C++
8. MSSQL (Microsoft SQL)
9. Team Player
10. Business Communication

While making this list I wanted to make sure that I was able to highlight my ability, or experience, with those topics. In this case, I felt that I would be able to do so.

My next step was to group these keywords into categories. This way I would have a plan for what parts of my resume I needed to update to show the person reviewing resumes that I was a good fit for the position. In this example, several of the keywords listed relate to technologies that I have used, or technologies that I have studied in class. The rest of the keywords relate to personal skills and work experience.

The next step was to update my resume. I made sure to mention the classes I’ve taken covering SDLC, agile development and Information Systems. I also listed some projects that I have worked on using the programming languages listed (C#, C++, MSSQL). Then, under my work experience, I made sure to list projects that I have participated in that required Analytical, Problem-Solving skills. I also highlighted the parts of my work experience that demonstrates being a Team-Player and using Business Communication techniques effectively.

In the end, I feel confident that when my resume is received it will present the image of a candidate who is worth the time investment of an interview.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully, you’ll return for the next installment of this blog. Until then, keep communicating professionally!

All business communications have a purpose. Typically this purpose is the first step of the “Basic Communication Model” presented in Chapter 1 of Bovee and Thill. The idea that the sender wants to communicate needs to be encoded (this is the second step), and then produced in a transmittable medium (the third step). Before the second or third steps can be completed, the sender needs to do several things. One of the most important is deciding what the general and specific purpose of the communication really is. To help explain the importance and difference of these two purposes I’ve written about three examples of business communication that I am working on completing over the next few weeks.

My first example is presenting a case brief for BLAW 431. One of our assignments in this class is to review a case that will be assigned to us and create a case brief, then present that brief to the professor and class.

The general purpose of this presentation is to inform the other students in class about the case. The specific purpose is to point out the parts of the case that make it an important part of case law. In order to accomplish this I will need to follow a few steps:

1. Read the case file.
2. Determine all important take-aways.
3. Create an outline.
4. Write the first draft.
5. Edit and revise to create the final draft.
6. Create notes for presenting the brief in class.

The second example is creating a repair report for a customer. The shop I work at repairs electric motors. We recently repaired a large (4000 horsepower) motor, and the customer requires a repair report for the work completed on the motor.

The general purpose of this report is to inform our customer about the repairs performed on their equipment. The specific purpose is to help the customer understand what actions they need to take to keep the equipment from failing in the future. The following steps need to be taken to complete the report:

1. Gather documentation of repairs.
2. Speak with technicians about the cause of failure.
3. Determine what questions the customer might have.
4. Write a summary of the cause of failure.
5. Fill out repair report form.
6. Send to my manager for review.
7. Edit and send the report to the customer.

The third example I’d like to talk about is producing a work instruction for our quality management program. My company has decided that we need to ensure that a certain standard of work is being performed on all jobs. In order to accomplish this goal we need to produce a work instruction that can be followed by all employees.

The general purpose is to inform our employees about what is required by our quality program. The specific purpose is to create a way to monitor our work process so that we can ensure all steps required are being performed. To complete the work instruction I will need to:

1. Read through our quality management documents.
2. Create an outline of the process.
3. Create a first draft.
4. Review with my supervisor and manager.
5. Revise the instruction as required.
6. Format and publish the instruction on our intranet.

As you can see from the above examples, A large part of creating a business communication is planning. To ensure that your message transmits the idea that you want it to, you must have a clear goal in mind. This is why carefully choosing a general and specific purpose are so integral to effective business communications.

Thanks for reading; If you’d like to comment on this topic, I’d be happy to hear from you. See you next time!

-James Harder

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton