| Course | BUS 225 Critical Business Skills for Success |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | undergraduate discussion post on the skills employers value in new business hires |
| Length | About 350 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | BS Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUS 225 Module 1
Module One Discussion
Fix the Callbacks
I want to describe a new operations analyst's first two weeks at a family-owned pest control company in Charleston, the business I will follow this term. The company has twenty-eight technicians and about 6,400 homes on quarterly plans. Over the past year, callbacks, visits where a customer reports pests again and a technician returns for free, rose from 6 to 11 percent of all visits. On her first morning, the owner told her, "Fix the callbacks." That was the whole assignment.
Four skills made the difference. The first was asking before answering. She did not propose a fix; she asked what counted as a callback, whether some areas or technicians had more, when the rise began and what had changed around that time. The second was turning data into meaning. The service records were a spreadsheet of 31,000 rows with inconsistent codes, and in three days she reduced them to three numbers the owner could remember: callbacks by month, by technician tenure and by service type. The third was writing short. Every Friday she sent the owner five sentences: what she found, what she was testing, what she needed and when the next update would come. The fourth was reliability. Every small task, such as a list for the office manager, arrived on the day she promised.
These match what employers say they want. In the yearly survey of hiring employers, problem-solving skills, teamwork and written communication rank near the top of what recruiters look for on graduates' resumes (National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2024). A national survey of employers and students by Hart Research Associates (2015) found something less comfortable: employers rated recent graduates as much less prepared in critical thinking and written communication than the students rated themselves. Facione (2015) describes critical thinking as purposeful judgment about what to believe or do, which is exactly what asking four questions before proposing a fix demonstrates.
For classmates: which of these four skills would you most need to develop to handle an assignment as vague as "fix the callbacks," and how would you practice it this term?
References
Facione, P. A. (2015). Critical thinking: What it is and why it counts. Insight Assessment.
Hart Research Associates. (2015). Falling short? College learning and career success. Association of American Colleges and Universities.
National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2024). Job outlook 2024. Author.
What the BUS 225 Module 1 instructions ask for
The first BUS 225 discussion usually asks which skills matter most for success in business and why, sometimes with a request to assess your own strengths. A strong post goes beyond naming popular skills such as communication or teamwork by showing them at work in a specific situation and explaining what difference they made. Employer surveys give evidence about which skills are valued, and research comparing employers' and graduates' views adds a useful twist. Replies can share a situation from a classmate's own job where one of the skills mattered or was missing. Most prompts also ask you to name one skill you will work on during the course, so be ready to be specific about yourself.
How this BUS 225 Module 1 discussion example is built
The post describes an analyst who started at a pest control company where callbacks for re-treatment had risen from 6 to 11 percent of visits. The owner said only to fix them. Instead of proposing a fix, the analyst asked four questions, cleaned a year of service records into three clear numbers, sent a five-sentence update every Friday and delivered every small task on the day promised. The post connects these to employer surveys that rank problem solving, teamwork and written communication highly, and to research showing that employers rate recent graduates' readiness lower than graduates rate themselves. It asks classmates which skill they would build first. The analyst's habits are presented as things any new hire could copy, not as rare talents.
Where the BUS 225 Module 1 rubric puts the points
Grading for this opening discussion usually weighs how well the post explains which skills matter, the use of a concrete example, support from research, self-awareness and engagement with classmates. The strongest posts show skills through actions and their effects, use evidence about what employers value and reflect honestly on the writer's own development. Posts that list skills without examples or simply repeat that communication is important earn less. A reply that brings a concrete case or a manager's angle usually earns the most. Instructors also notice whether the research is described accurately rather than quoted loosely from a secondary source. A post that admits a personal weakness and a plan for it often reads as more mature than one claiming every skill.
BUS 225 Module 1 help: the mistakes that cost points
Posts on business skills often read like job advertisements. Show a skill being used: what someone did, what happened and why it mattered. Use one or two employer sources and describe what they found accurately. Reflect on yourself as well; the prompt usually wants you to identify a skill to develop, and being specific about it is more convincing than claiming strength in everything. Close by asking classmates for a real moment from their own work, which draws richer replies than a request for opinions. Use the course's own vocabulary where it fits, since it shows you have connected the readings to the example. If you have little work experience, a school, volunteer or family business situation works just as well.
Get BUS 225 Module 1 written to your instructions
Send the BUS 225 Module 1 prompt. You will get a post that shows business skills at work in one concrete situation, ties them to employer research and leaves classmates a question about their own development. About two days; a first post is free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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BUS 225 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free BUS 225 Module 1 Discussion sample?
This page includes the full BUS 225 Module 1 post on the skills a new analyst used first at a pest control company.
What skills do employers value most in new graduates?
Employer surveys consistently rank problem solving, teamwork, written communication, initiative and a strong work ethic among the most valued attributes.
Do employers think graduates are ready for work?
Research has found that employers rate recent graduates' preparation in areas such as critical thinking and communication lower than graduates rate themselves.
What is critical thinking in business?
Purposeful judgment that clarifies the problem, examines evidence and assumptions, considers alternatives and reaches a reasoned conclusion.
How can students build business skills before graduating?
Through projects that use real data, writing for real readers, team assignments with clear roles, internships and asking for feedback on specific work.