Popowski Sets Students on Formal Business Path

How do young adults who exist in a swirl of emojis, abbreviations and social media morph into a real world, functioning member of business culture — as old fashioned as that may seem?

Charleston, S.C., native Sarah Popowski is a Georgia State University professor who does just that in her mandatory course, Business Communication and Professional Development (BCOM 3950).

She said, “I stress to my students that you cannot communicate in the business world like you communicate with friends via text…compared to say, 10 years ago, today’s students are less prepared to enter the business world because they are exposed to less face-to-face communication. Business communication has changed in the past decade by becoming more casual. I think it’s due to the use of text in business where people use many acronyms. I rarely, if ever, use them…LOL (laugh out loud)…GM (good morning). It’s not that I don’t like them…it’s just not appropriate for business communication.”

In her coursework, Popowski equips students with the communication skills and career advancement strategies needed to enter the professional workplace, as well as applying to graduate or professional school. Summarily, she prepares students to launch their careers and enhance their professionalism.

For more than a decade, Sarah Popowski has instructed and molded students at the J. Mack College of Business at Georgia State University on how to present themselves to best secure careers or enter advanced degree programs.

Most of Popowski’s students, approximately 20, are college juniors. She requires them to attend in-person classes, and her grading is “what’s earned.”

She said, “The final grade is what a student earns. I do not curve grades. Yes, I do fail students…usually have at least one per semester.”

This course is mandatory to graduate through the School of Business and includes both written and oral communication skills. Cell phones are not allowed while she is lecturing, except where appropriate on group activities or team projects. Students must do presentations and writing skills to show competency.

Two “Sarah-isms” to project students on the path to business success, include:
• It’s not only what you know and who you know, but who knows you.
• Never, ever, under any circumstances lie on your resume.

She said the “Sarah-isms” sound obvious and that she “gives examples of high-level people who did lie on their resumes and lost jobs. I tell my students this on the first day of class; and it is the last thing I tell them at the end of the semester.”

In terms of the effectiveness of the coursework, Popowski has had several students reach back to share success stories…like how learning to do an elevator pitch in class helped with networking and landing a great job.

Popowski has an undergraduate degree in education from the University of South Carolina and a master’s in human resource development from Georgia State. She has credentials as SPHR (Senior Professional Human Resources); and SHRM – SCP (Society for Human Resource Management – Senior Certified.) She was the first human resources professional for the Jewish HomeLife organization, from 2012-2021, serving as chief human resources officer. Previously, she was director of human resources at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

In her HR career, she always utilized a communication tool as the need to hear both sides of a situation and often uses a quote that sums it up, “No matter how flat the pancake, there are always two sides.”

Popowski’s Five Best Communication Tips:

1) Plan your communication. A method I teach in the class is AIM (Audience, Information and Message).
2) With regard to No. 1, know your audience and devise a message that will resonate with them.
3) You should spend most of your time planning the message and not delivering it.
4) Do not send an email when you are upset. Draft and save. When you go back to it, the final is hardly ever as intense as the draft.
5) Always err on the side of being more formal when you don’t know your audience well. That includes how you dress if in person.
BONUS TIP — Parents can help move students along by having more face-to-face conversations at home with their children, specifically at times where they cannot be on social media.