Much of organizational communication takes place in writing – your image as a professional is often formed by what someone is reading on a screen. This interactive and feedback-driven writing course addresses common challenges such as presenting clear messages quickly, formatting documents for readability, using positive tones, and overcoming writer’s block.
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Business Communication Certificate
| Cohort and Registration Deadline | Early Bird Registration | Program Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Fall: Sept. 30, 2024 - April 6, 2025 | Registration deadline: Sept. 27, 2024 | Save 15%: Register by Sept. 13, 2024, and enroll for $4,054.50 | $795 per course, or save 10% by enrolling in the full program for $4,293 |
| Winter: Jan. 13 - June 29, 2025 | Registration deadline: Jan. 10, 2025 | Save 15%: Register by Dec. 22, 2024, and enroll for $4,054.50 | $795 per course, or save 10% by enrolling in the full program for $4,293 |
| Spring: April 7 - Sept 28, 2025 | Registration deadline: April 4, 2025 | Save 15%: Register by March 21, 2025, and enroll for $4,054.50 | $795 per course, or save 10% by enrolling in the full program for $4,293 |
Effective interpersonal and organization-wide communication is critical to driving teams, gaining consensus, and shaping success. This Business Communication Certificate program is designed for rising leaders, communication managers, team leaders, and supervisors who want to strengthen their communication with confidence and clarity, growing their effectiveness across audiences, generations, and backgrounds.
Ideal for new or aspiring leaders and communicators with at least one to three years of professional or role-based experience, the program is designed to help you form skillsets to become more effective at driving adoption, building teamwork, encouraging partnerships, and leading others who have varied communication styles, levels of expertise, and stakes in organizational success.
Explore best practices to improve your team leadership as you continue your professional journey. The Business Communication program helps you develop strong interpersonal communication, create effective teams, and enhance persuasion skills, effective speaking, and managerial interaction. Once you complete the program, you will be better able to lead teams, influence others, and positively impact your organization.
The foundational Business Communication certificate is for those moving into an organizational communication role; you need no previous college experience to enroll. Courses within this certificate are non-credit. Each asynchronous course follows a structured program outline regarding weekly assignment due dates, allowing you to learn on your schedule across each course’s four-week timeframe. Refer to your Business Communication Certificate Roadmap for each course's start and end dates.
Who Will Benefit from the Business Communication Certificate?
- Public relations and public affairs professionals seeking to grow their executives’ confidence, sphere of influence, and team success
- Emerging leaders who are developing their personal toolkits to enable them to better direct and motivate teammates, affect public perception, and grow their influence throughout their organization
- Public information officers with emerging needs that require abilities to form effective teams, work with a wide range of peers, and effectively communicate in multiple formats
- Corporate communication, executive communication, and legislative affairs team members who focus in growing relationships, building influence, and sharing thought leadership
- Public relations agency staff and consultants pursuing added skillsets that will build client satisfaction and grow their business
- Investor relations practitioners with highly scrutinized needs to successfully provide targeted information in an effective and timely manner
- Marketing, human resources, or other specialists who are tasked with communicating across multiple and diverse audiences
- School district and higher education leaders who need to build consensus, provide effective content quickly, and work in occasionally contentious environments
- Social media specialists who are challenged with driving public dialogue, responding to highly visible inquiries, and leading their organization’s online persona
- Candidates for certifications such as APR and ABC or advanced degrees
What You Will Gain from Completing the Business Communication Certificate
Business and Organizational Writing
Effective Managerial Communication Skills
From onboarding new staff members to providing performance feedback, communication impacts your strategy. Teammates want to feel a real connection to their leaders and contemporaries and want to feel enthusiastic and engaged in their work. Partners who don’t know what’s expected of them can’t possibility perform to their potential. In this course, you will learn the major communication touch points a leader needs to be successful throughout various stages of a teammate’s lifecycle. This begins right from the start with hiring and onboarding staff, through setting and managing performance goals, to engaging and retaining teammates.
Effective Speaking and Non-Verbal Communication
The ability to communicate in a clear, concrete, and concise manner is crucial to your success. Every time you participate in a meeting, give a project status update, lead a conference call, or engage in conversation with an organizational leader in the hallway, these are all opportunities to showcase your communication skills and positively impact perceptions. This course will increase your confidence as well as verbal and non-verbal communication skills in situations ranging from meeting updates to large group presentations. The techniques covered in this class will help overcome barriers and communicate like a leader that engages audiences and gets results.
Interpersonal Communication
This unique course prepares students for more effective communication interactions. Using an assessment tool during the first week, students determine their preferred style and the characteristics of other styles. Most importantly, students learn the key to communication success – flexing one’s style. Through listening techniques, strategies for conveying assertiveness, and tips for matching nonverbal communication to the message, learners evolve their communication styles for greater success.
Dynamics of Effective Teams
In Dynamics of Effective Teams, you’ll learn why organizations so often rely on teambased initiatives, and how you can make the most of team-based assignments. Students will also explore what leadership, relationship, task, and team-building skills are critical to 21st century success.
Persuasion and Negotiation
These skills are paramount to the successful communicator. This course will help you apply persuasive techniques to your verbal and written messages in the organization. In addition, you will learn how to prepare for and conduct effective negotiation techniques to achieve positive outcomes in your interpersonal communication.
Course Schedules
Fall 2024 Cohort
Course
*CEU Earned
Dates
Winter 2025 Cohort
Course
*CEU Earned
Dates
Spring 2025 Cohort
Course
*CEU Earned
Dates
*Continuing and Professional Studies (CPS) at Rutgers University's the School of Communication and Information offers 18 Continuing Education Units (CEU) for the Business Communication Certificate Program. CPS maintains all CEU records and can provide documentation in support of CEU attainment.
Meet The Instructional Team
Getting Started
How do I register and pay?
- Create an account in Ancor if do not already have one.
- Once you've created an account, use the links provided by your CPS program coordinator to add each course to your cart.
Pay in full:
- Your discount will automatically apply once all the courses are in your cart.
- Enter your payment information and submit.
Pay as you go:
- Enter your payment information and submit.
- Each month, we will reach out to you to remind you to register for your next course.
What payment options are available?
It’s quick and easy! Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Seek Employer Support
Many employers support the upskilling costs of this certificate program. Connect with your human resources department to understand your organization’s policy, and reach out to cps@comminfo.rutgers.edu regarding your next step.
Pay by Credit or Debit Card
Once you enroll in the program, a member of the CPS team will provide you with a link to the program and course registration. You may purchase this certificate’s bundled tuition savings or the monthly course rate. Online registration is completed with a credit or debit card. Registration is complete when your credit or debit card information is processed.
SallieMae loans may be suitable for you
Step 1: Apply here https://www.salliemae.com/
Step 2: Your application will come to our department for certification.
Step 3: Once you are certified and SallieMae approves your loan, reach out to cps@comminfo.rutgers.edu to complete your registration.
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development Grant
You may be eligible if you are unemployed and a New Jersey resident. Please get in touch with your local NJ One Stop Center to apply for funding. This certificate is approved by NJTOPPS.
Students within Continuing and Professional Studies are not considered matriculated Rutgers University students and therefore are not eligible for Rutgers University’s financial aid.
What will I receive upon completion?
- Business Communication Certificate
- Transcript
- Letter of Certification of Continuing Education Units
Questions
For program questions or to register:
CPS@Comminfo.Rutgers.edu
848-932-7169