How To Appear More Professional.
Congratulations on graduating and securing yourself that graduate job you worked hard for! It all paid off in the end. Now you're going into the world of work and professionalism is your top priority. Nevertheless, if your a student who hasn't graduated yet then this applies to you too! Whether your gaining work experience, an internship or voluntary work, you need to be professional. The following tips will help you in that area, promise!
1. Dress appropriately.
This is an easy one but it really is important to employers. If you are required to wear a suit then wear one. Ladies, if you have the option of wearing a formal dress or skirt then wear one. You don't need to wear high heels because you will spend the day working, not partying. Leave your jeans and short dresses for another occasion. You'll look and feel more professional.
2. Check your emails.
You were able to get away when sending emails to your lecturers without checking them for grammar and spelling, but in the work place this looks bad. Spend a minute proof-reading your email and make sure that things make sense! Check the name of the recipient to make sure its correct. The last thing you want is to be embarrassed in front of your colleagues for bad punctuation.
3. Organise your desk.
You don't want coffee mugs and packets of crisps scattered over your desk because your giving people the wrong impression - they don't want to know how unorganised you are. Spend a few minutes tidying up your desk and put things in the right places. You can always spice up your desk by putting a nice decoration piece or a photograph so that it looks appealing and better to work on.
4. Take notes in meetings.
Do you really want to forget the important information discussed in the meeting? Nope. Make sure you take a notebook along with you to a meeting because it shows that you are engaged within the organisation and your serious about the work. Read over the notes and help improve the company for the better.
5. Accept critical feedback.
Its normal for your manager to provide you with feedback on your work performance and if it is critical then so what? Your manager is helping you improve and wants to make your weaknesses, your strengths. Take the critical feedback with a pinch of salt and learn to better your work. A negative attitude will not get you anywhere and it will look bad. Who wants that?
6. Skip the gossip.
Your not in high school anymore so forget the gossiping and talk about the good qualities and attributes your colleagues have. The last thing you want is for your colleague to find out about something and you end up getting in trouble. Stay out of the drama because in that way you'll end up appearing more professional.
I hope you have found these tips useful. Follow them and you'll be climbing that professionalism ladder in no time :)