Archive for the 'Hints and Tips' Category
Your career will likely include lunches and dinners with coworkers, clients, or as a part of interviews. Thus, it is crucial that you understand basic etiquette. How can you impress people with your career skills and personality, if you make a fool of yourself over dinner?
There are entire books and courses on etiquette, so this post barely scratches the surface. However, this should provide good basic guidance.
Place settings
If you are at a more formal meal, there will be fair number of plates, glasses, and utensils on the table. It’s always a little nerve-racking to decide which things to use and when. Here are a couple quick rules of thumb:
- Utensils are used starting from the outside of your place setting. For example, your salad fork is usually on the far left.
- Your dessert utensil will be at the top of your place setting.
- Your bread plate is on the left, and your glasses are on the right. Remember that your left hand makes a “b” for “bread” (index finger and thumb together), while your right hand makes a “d” for “drink.”
Wine selection
Once you are oriented at the table, wine might be an option. A good general rule of thumb is not to consume alcohol at lunch and only to drink a moderate amount with dinner if others are also partaking in alcohol.
If you are having wine and aren’t sure what to order, ask your waiter if he has a suggestion. Most will be able to recommend a couple moderately priced selections from the menu. You can also ask others in your party what they might suggest.
A final thing to remember about wine is that some choices can be very expensive. Pay attention to prices and do not order an extravagant wine, unless the occasion truly warrants it.
Meal timing
Even at a casual dining restaurant, timing is important for etiquette. You should consider others when you pick up your fork and begin to eat. A few tips:
- Do not begin eating until everyone has their food.
- The eldest female (or host) should be first to pick up her fork and begin eating.
- The waiter should not remove plates for a course until everyone has finished that course. This ensures that people are not rushed. If the waiter asks to remove your plate early, kindly ask that he wait until everyone is finished.
Further guidance
Remember that these are only a few general etiquette guidelines. Like every rule of thumb, these all have exceptions.
For great etiquette tips by podcast, check out Mr. Manners. For more career-oriented tips, be sure to check back here.
These are by far the easiest of interviews I feel simply because you can relax in your office or home. Others don’t find it as comfortable as a face to face interview as you can’t see the body language of those who are doing the interview.
To make the process less confusing try the following tips:
Research
Use your research to your advantage by making notes and pinning them around the room you will be using for the interview. They can be simple dot points highlighting your skills, key words that you want to use or that will trigger more information for your responses.
Speech
Make sure you speak slowly and concisely. Of course don’t go overboard and say one word a second but speak at a normal rate and try not to rush. Don’t use long or complicated words that may not be easy to understand. Also, definitely do not eat or drink while you are on the phone. You would be surprised by the number of people who do this as they think that the person on the other end won’t know.
Clarification
As per a normal interview, if there is something you are unsure of do not hesitate to ask for them to repeat it or rephrase it. You need to know what they are asking and they need to know that you are hearing the question accurately. Another idea is to paraphrase their question just to ensure that you know what they are asking of you.
Smile
This may sound strange but you can hear a smile over the phone. If you are grumpy or in a bad mood this will be picked up by the interviewers, however, if you are smiling you sound cheerful and positive which makes you look good. Furthermore, a smile makes you feel happier and more confident even if you are feeling nervous.
So in short a phone interview is like a normal interview, but over the phone. It can be made easier by having research notes located everywhere. Most companies will fax through a list of questions prior to the interview so you know what they are asking. This will assist in tailoring your responses to their questions. If they don’t offer, don’t be too shy to ask if they will fax through the questions as there is nothing gained if you don’t ask, they might not have thought to offer that service to interviewees. This will show initiative at the very least.
You’ve landed the job. You’re working 40 hours a week at a company, and your plate is filling up fast. Pretty soon, you have more work than you can handle. What do you do? Clarify your job responsibilities!
If you clarify exactly what you are responsible for, you will do a better job. You can focus on the things your employer sees as vital. Your performance will increase, along with your salary and your advancement possibilities. But how do you accomplish this?
Find your supervisor
This may sound like an easy task. However, the chain of command might not be clear in some companies. Perhaps you are a general support staff member, and you get projects from several different people. Who is your central supervisor?
To find this out, simply talk with your higher ups in the company. Flat out ask them (in a nice way) who should be overseeing all of your work. If they don’t know, get them to find out. Someone should be your clear boss. They don’t have to give your daily commands, but someone should have ultimate responsibility for your work.
Ask for priorities
Once your company identifies your supervisor, it is your time for action. You must gather your current tasks and go talk to him.
Ask your supervisor to prioritize your work. Simply tell him that you have more work than your schedule can permit. Be clear that you are not being lazy, but that you want to make sure the important tasks get done first and are not delayed.
Work, based on priorities
Now that you know what tasks are most important, do those first. You might still have the exact same number of tasks on your plate, but you can feel free to let some things rest until you have time.
This doesn’t mean that you forget about tasks or let them die away. To the contrary, you should work on the lower priority tasks whenever you can. Maybe you have some downtime during an urgent project. Perhaps you can catch up a little on a weekend.
Supervisors, read this too!
Importantly, if you are someone’s supervisor, pay close attention to this article. You must understand that not all work can be done immediately. Your employees must prioritize. You can help this process by making your priorities clear.
Advance your career
Now that you know these basic priority communication skills, your career should benefit. There is no magic formula to this. You simply should communicate your time demands to your supervisor. Hopefully your supervisor will cooperate. This will result in better work product for her and a better career for you.
When I was in my last years of High School there was a lot of pressure on us to try and decide what our future career plans will be. I was of the belief, and still am, that a 16 year old with no life experience has no idea where their future lays and what they enjoy doing then is not what they will want to do 10+ years later.
Come my final year, I still had no idea what I wanted to do but was adamant that no more intensive study was for me. Luckily, I had supported parents and they encouraged me to look at my alternate options to University.
Fifteen years later, still with no clear concept of what I want to do as a career, besides earn an adequate income. However, I have had a variety of jobs, lived in various locations throughout the world and have lived a rich and fulfilling job.
A friend of mine from my school days was the total opposite. From the day we met at the age of 13 she had her life mapped out. She was going to study to become an Accountant, work to establish her own business and become self employed. All was going according to plan, she got into University, moved to Adelaide and last two weeks and had to move back to her home town. She just couldn’t handle living so far away from her family and city life. She then took on a job as a Sales Assistant, fell in love and now has a family, part time job and all thoughts of her own business have disappeared. The key thing is though; she’s happy and now believes that a career in Accounting wouldn’t be the right thing for her.
I’ve learnt that people don’t just judge you of what you do for a living, but also by what you have achieved. I’m going to be remembered as the congenial woman who was well travelled, well informed and well liked.
Moral of the story, don’t stress about the future – it takes care of itself. However, be prepared and make yourself employable. Enrol in courses, update your skills and be willing to travel to work.
Do you always carry business cards with you? Are you prepared to give out your personal contact information, if you meet someone who might want to contact you?
To build the strongest connections and broadest network base, you should answer “yes” to both of those questions. Here’s why:
Reach out for contact
We meet lots of people in our everyday lives. However, how many of these people do you ever contact again? How many of them contact you again? If you don’t give out your contact information, nobody can contact you.
If you’re currently employed, you can easily hand out your professional business cards. This will give new people a hook into your life, so they can contact you when the need arises.
However, some people may not get business cards from their employer. Or you may be planning to change jobs in the near future. What then?
Develop personal business cards
With so many printing options these days, both in stores and online, there is no excuse for a professional to be without business cards. If your employer does not provide them, you can easily print your own. In fact, even if you have work business cards, you might still print up a “personal” version.
So what’s the difference between personal and professional cards? They should both still look professional. However, your personal card should be broader than just your current job. These cards should be tailored to you as a professional, not just your employer.
Be yourself
The best thing about printing your own cards is that you can actually express yourself a little in their design. You should give yourself a little free reign in designing these cards. After all, they might be the only link a new contact has with which to remember you.
With that said, you should still maintain a consistent, professional image. But if you’re a trendy person, marketing yourself toward like-minded people, feel free to choose a trendy design and color scheme.
Include the details
Once you have a design in mind, it will be time to decide what to include on the cards. Obviously, you’ll want to put your name. But beyond that, the sky really is the limit. These are your cards, and you should decide what information is best to include.
Since these are your personal cards, I would refrain from printing your current employer’s name, info, etc. Unless you really see that as important (and plan to be in this job a while), it might be best to put a general career description such as “marketing communications” or “family lawyer.”
Also, you probably shouldn’t go to the extreme of including your home address on the cards. You want to be free to hand these cards out to anyone, and you may not want to give out sensitive info like this.
At a minimum, you should include your name, non-work email address, and some type of phone number. Hopefully you should use an email address that you will keep for a long time, as well as a phone number that will be around. This minimizes the risk of changing email providers (or jobs) and having to re-print your cards.
Distribute them!
Now that you see the benefits of having personal business cards, you can go print up your own. Don’t forget to carry them around with you. Distribute them freely to friends, coworkers, associates, etc. You’ll be glad you printed them.
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