BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL PRESENCE

My personal thoughts:

In the working society, making the first impression is the most important. If I am able to start with a good first impression, my chance of clinching a deal is only a few miles away. I believed that giving a professional impression is actually a form of respect to the people I will be meeting. It shows that I am serious and sincere about the meeting.

Building a professional presence is not pretending to be someone whom I am not. It is still best to be natural and yourself. Echoing that “You will never get a second chance to make a good first impression”. Psychologists, writers and seminar leaders quote that we have only seven to seventy seconds of interacting with someone we meet for the first time before they formed an opinion of us- the first impression.

The most crucial point of impression making would be the first greeting that I make. The facial impression of mine would be accounted for the mood of the meeting and the attire that I wear would show how formal the meeting is. Hence, it is also important that I receive my guest with a friendly smile. A saying goes “Receive every human being with a cheerful and pleasant countenance”.

Learning Issues:

From t

his topic, I understood the various factors that will affect our first impression to others. It includes our way of grooming, personal appearance, body language and our first words. I strongly agree that attire is a form of language. It describes and defines us. To a huge extent, it shows how we represent ourselves and how we see ourselves as.

During our first meeting, there are essential things that we have to do. Such as greeting and welcoming my guest, and also exchanging of name cards. Before any meetings, I believed that we will have contacted each other through emails or phone calls. Thus, ignoring an email and not getting back to the caller would affect the first impression of me by the other party even without having to meet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSqhFEtHK1k&feature=related

Learning points:
To start off with a meeting, always establish eye contact and wear a friendly sincere smile, not a fake smile. Be respectful and a gentleman as to rise if you are sitting down. Have a proper handshake with the rightful amount of strength and method while greeting the other person with a nice starting phrase. After which u may exchange your name cards. Ideal protocol for exchanging of name card would be right hand presenting and having both hands accept. During the meeting it is always good to keep eye contact as it shows that you are interested. The appropriate attire for most meetings would be formal wear however it depends on the occasion, time, place, climate and culture as well.

Impacts:

As mentioned, building a professional presence is not pretending someone who I am not. Thus, it gives me a message that honesty is the best policy when making a first impression as people wants to know me for who I am. Being well groomed is a point, but at the same time, I will have to feel comfortable about it. When I put on an act for someone else’s benefits, it is often easily seen through and I will wind up doing myself more harm than good. Thus as long as it is presentable and comfortable it would be good enough. From a web, it says that being a genuine listener is also important in making the first impression. This will have an impact on me as I can be a good listener but I might not be able to give response like how they want. Thus, I will have to improve myself in this context.

Relevancy:

Being a soon graduate, I will be facing a competitive working environment out in the society. Hence, this will allow me to be prepared for the unexpected circumstances that I will have to meet up with clients whom I have only speak through the phone and have not meet up before. Thus it is important that I am able to bring myself out as professional as I can. At times like this, it is a good opportunity to impress my client as fresh graduates, that I am prepared for it and that they will feel that I had prepare myself before hand and showcase myself professionally like any other. I am unsure of what my actions will be perceived as but I wished that I could leave them with some good impression of me at the end of the day.

According to a newspaper report, it was researched that female are more prone to creating a bad impression due to their personality. Most females are shy upon the first meeting, even during business meeting. They often look away from eye contacts; have short replies to her guest when having a conversation. Hence, this topic would really be in great help for me when I will have to deal with a female guest or client.

More informations:

Many would have heard of ‘small little things do matter’. Hence we should not assume that how we behave is our own matter. For instance, facial expression would be a factor that affects the mood of the entire atmosphere of the day. It is consider as a ‘public domain’ instead of a ‘private domain’, according to Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, the 19th century sage who founded the Mussar movement.

Do You Know:

Mussar movement refers to a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement (a "Jewish Moralist Movement") that developed in 19th century Orthodox Eastern Europe, particularly among the Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term mussar (מוּסַר, properly transliterated as musar), is from the book of Proverbs 1:2 meaning instruction, discipline, or conduct. The term was used by the Mussar movement to refer to disciplined efforts to further ethical and spiritual development. The study of Mussar is a part of the study ofJewish ethics.

There are 7 tips that will help you create a strong first impression of others:

• • The greatest way to make a positive first impression is to demonstrate immediately that the other person, not you, is the center of action and conversation.

  Illustrate that if the spotlight is on you only, and you'll miss opportunities for friendships, jobs, love relationships, networking, and sales. Show that you are other-centered, and first-time acquaintances will be eager to see you again.

  • Closely related: You'll make a superb initial impression when you demonstrate good listening skills.

  Give positive verbal cues: "Hmmm... interesting!" "Tell me more, please." "What did you do next?" Just as actors benefit from prompts, your conversational partner will welcome your assistance in keeping the exchange going.

  Nonverbally, you show you're a skilled listener by maintaining steady eye contact. Remember how you respond to the social gadabout who appears to be looking over your shoulder for the next person he wants to corner. Remember, and avoid that habit.

  • Use the name of a new acquaintance frequently.

  "Judy, I like that suggestion." "Your vacation must have been exciting, Fred." You show that you have paid attention from the start, catching the name during the introduction. Equally as important, you'll make conversations more personal by including the listener's name several times.

  • Be careful with humor.

  Although a quip or two might serve as an icebreaker, stay away from sarcastic remarks that could backfire. Because you don't know a stranger's sensitivities, prolonged joking might establish barriers you can't overcome, either now or later.

  • Giving up the need to be right.

  Confrontations with somebody you've just met will destroy rapport before you even start building it. Wait until you have established credibility before you challenge another's statements.

  • Appearance counts.

  Several years ago, a professional colleague offered to meet me for lunch. I decided against wearing a suit, opting for a sport coat and tie. When he showed up in shorts and sandals, the message he conveyed was: "Bill, meeting you is a rather ordinary experience, and doesn't call for me to present a business-like appearance." Not surprisingly, that was the last time I met with him.

  True, standards for appropriate attire have changed drastically. Maybe the best advice I can share came from a participant in a seminar I conducted. She said, "I don't dress for the job I have now, I dress for the job I want to have."

  • As a communication specialist, I have to point out that an individual's speaking style impacts the first impression, maybe more than we wish.

  Listeners judge our intelligence, our cultural level, our education, even our leadership ability by the words we select--and by how we say them.

Personal values:

Personal values also play a part in both creating and perceiving the first impression. Both parties would have different sets of personal values, thus, having different objectives in searching and presenting their first impression.

For instance, when a waiter is doing her job by constantly asking for feedback about the appetizers, main course and the dessert; I would feel that it is her job to do that. Thus, my perceived value would be treating people with gratitude and respect for the job they are doing. However, some would feel irritated as they felt that their conversations are constantly being interrupted too. They might just give a bad feedback later on or just reprimand the waiter straight into the face. Hence, this little show of anger will not set well with me and will not make a good impression. He might be most likely honest in being who he was but he show no respect to the waiter.

Job Interview:

Making a good first impression during a job interview is as important. It reflects on our future stand in this society, whether we can make it big in our serviced industry.

There is no simple formula or a rule that will help us land a job one hundred percent of the time, there are guidelines to follow and an interview etiquette of which we need to be aware of. An interview is our chances to shine and show why we stand out and rise above the rest of the candidates. If we can't show that we are a valuable commodity to the company, they will move on to the next candidate without as much as giving us a second look.

Thus, making a good first impression is as good as showing how much we want this job and how we had work hard just for the interview. We have to show the interviewer that we will be a good asset for the company.

Tips on making a lasting impression during interview:

First impressions, without a doubt, last the longest and make the most impact on an interviewer. We only have thirty minutes to an hour at most interviews to prove that our skills are indispensable to a company, so make the most out of the time given to us.

• Review your resume before your scheduled interview to make sure that your mind is fresh and you are able to speak with some intelligence about all the skills and jobs you have listed. A big turn off for an interviewer is when his or her questions are met with in cohesive mumbling or lack of enthusiasm. You need to be able to talk, if not with passion than at least with some conviction, about previous projects you have worked on and job positions you have held. By showing excitement about your work, you will demonstrate that you are not just looking for a job, you are looking for a rewarding career.

• · Dress to impress. Even if your interview setting is a casual one, like a coffee shop, you need to dress in professional attire. Your outfit says a lot about you and this can't be any more true at a job interview. Your clothes can be your ally or your enemy. Even if you are the absolute best at what you do, an interviewer will hesitate to hire you if you show up to an interview wearing baggy jeans, or a stained shirt.

• Arrive at your interview ten to fifteen minutes early. Remember that your interviewers had to make time out of their busy day to accommodate you. Being late for an interview shows a lack of interest, lack of respect for a company, and an inability to manage your time.

• Show a sincere interest in the people interviewing you. A smile goes a long way and shows that you are genuinely excited about the company and about being there for an interview. Be inquisitive and motivated about the work that you might end up doing, if you are hired. The interviewers can tell when you are really fired up and will hire someone who will put the most effort and dedication into their work.

• Do not oversell your skills and abilities. If you lie at an interview about being a whiz at making PowerPoint presentations, when in reality you have no idea what PowerPoint even is, the interviewer might ask you a program or task-related question which can get you busted, if you don't know the answer. Lying about skills is sooner or later discovered, and may even get you fired!

• Almost every interviewer asks at some point, "Do you have any questions?" Be sure that you have one or two inquiries on your mind that you can lay out on a table. By simply saying "no", you may be misconstrued as having a lack of interest in a company or a job. After all, how would you feel if, upon arriving at an interview, no one asked YOU any questions about yourself. Awkward and uncomfortable, to say the least.

• After the interview, be sure to follow up with a courteous thank-you note. This is also your chance to briefly remind the people who met you of your skills and abilities. Close the note by expressing your continuing interest in the job position and express hope in possibly working for that company in the near future.

Reasons why you did not get the job

* Lack of confidence

Interviewing can be awkward. However, you have to go through the process to get a job. And you need to remember that one of your primary goals during an interview is to convince someone else that you are the person who can do the job and who a company would enjoy having on their team.

And to be able to sell yourself in these areas, you need to come across as confident. If your verbal or nonverbal behaviors show self-doubt, those who are interviewing will likely doubt you.

* Unprepared

Some people make the mistake of going into an interview unprepared. Do yourself a favor, and don't be one of them!

Do your research on the position you are interviewing for as well as the company where you are interviewing. You need to be able to ask intelligent questions and show an understanding of the job. If you are not prepared, it will show during the interview, and it will reflect poorly on you.

* Too long winded

Interviews are tricky. People ask you all kinds of questions. And you want to answer them thoroughly and prove you are a good fit for the job.

However there is such a thing as too much information. When in an interview, keep your answers to about five to ten sentences. You do not want to go on tangents or sound like you are trying too hard.

Be careful about not going overboard. Make sure to give the interviewers the chance to talk and to sell their company to you. Remember that most people like to talk about themselves to some degree. Give your interviewers that option, and try not to monopolize the interview.

* Too casual

When you are in an interview, you cannot relax too much. No matter what. Even if those who are interviewing you seem laid back, it may be a test.

You do not have the job yet. You want to make a favorable impression. And you will not do that if you get too casual in your conversation.