Why First Impressions Can Make or Break You? (Part 2)
Continuation with our article published on 29th October, we gave pointers on the ways to build a lasting first impression. The areas that we covered last Sunday are:
- The way you carry yourself
2. The way your dress
3. The way you express yourself
We will cover remaining areas in this second and last part of this article:
-
Your mannerism or etiquette
Communication studies have found that there are three elements to any face-to-face communication: words, tone of voice, and nonverbal behaviors. In addition, studies show that tone and nonverbal elements are particularly important for communicating feelings and attitude, especially when they are incongruent with the words being said. In short, if your words disagree with your nonverbal behavior, people tend to believe the tonality and nonverbal behavior. Controlling nonverbal messages can be difficult, particularly when you are nervous. Thus, you will want to be aware of your mannerisms in advance and practice matching your nonverbal cues to your words.
Imagine this you receive an interview invitation to your dream company. You have ironed your interview suit, printed extra copies of your resume and researched your interviewer and potential employer. You have gone over your answers to potential interview questions in your head a million times. However, hold your horses. Before you interview, have you paid any attention to your body language and how it might be enhancing or negating your statements? Are you alert to others’ nonverbal cues so that you might be able to make adjustments during your interview if necessary?
Let us be honest job hunting can be brutal on the ego as you wait to hear back from resume submissions, hope for second interviews, and receive the occasional rejection letter. No matter how exhausted you are, you cannot go into an interview wearing the weary face and mood. You must maintain a positive and be upbeat to show an enthusiasm for the employer and their work.
Walk into the room with assurance, confidently shake your interviewer’s hand and make eye contact while saying hello. No point saying hello to a person without making eye contact. When the interviewer offers you a seat, sit upright with your shoulders back. Sit comfortably with your lower back against the back of the chair. Sitting on the edge of your seat will make you look nervous or you may just fall of the chair! It will also be exhausting if your interview lasts more than 15 minutes. Keep your hands folded in your lap or in front of you on the table. Crossing your arms can be interpreted as defensiveness, so resist the urge to do so. Feel free to “talk” with your hands but make sure your gestures are appropriate and proportional to your words but do not overdo it. The mannerisms of your interviewers provide your insight as to how you are being perceived and how you might adjust your responses and/or mannerisms. If your interviewer is leaning in while you talk, you may want to increase your volume. Likewise, if your interviewer is leaning back or moving her chair away from you, you might be speaking too loud or even sitting too close. If your interviewer appears to lose focus during your answers, pay attention to the length of your answers and make sure you are not rambling. Do not ever twirl your pen or your hair.
-
Your behaviour
You walk into a meeting late, you are sending a message. You borrow stationery from the office for an emergency art project with your child at home, you are sending a message, you write rude emails, you are sending out a message, you do not reprimand delinquent employees, you are sending a message, you go out drinking with your team, you are sending a message. Your brand is being defined and tested every minute. Someone will know what you are doing on your holiday. They will know if you are calling into work sick, but checking into a spa or at your daughters PTA or just a shopping trip out. It is all visible. You are being judged, and evaluated constantly. Your networks are receiving inputs and signals with everything that you say or do or do not say or do not do. On a lighter note, it is seldom that we are remembered for our professions – more likely for what we stood for, what we meant and how we lived our lives, which tells us how important it is to build our character which defines our brand!
After all, if people like you, they will listen to you. If they trust you, do will do business with you. Reputation matters tremendously. Admit mistakes if you make them. Work with all stakeholders to create a solutions that has win-win to forge stronger relations. The base of all interactions should be Trust, Brands and Humanity Every behaviour should reflect your values. Brands do not just live on papers anymore! They are living breathing things. It is important to build your brand that aligned with your values so that your actions are aligned with the message that you are delivering to the world.
-
Your communication
Communication skills are not only needed in daily personal life, but also required in the profession, workplace and in business. Depending on the nature of your profession. If you work in a team or interact with customers or other people. You often find the certain situations which are challenging to handling, this is where having best communication skills become handy. These are kind of skills some are just born with it, one great example is Steve Jobs’ communication and negotiation style, and he is regarding as someone who had the best presentation and business negotiation skills.
Nerves can wreak havoc on your tone of voice by hastening your speech, making your voice higher pitched, or creating a “waiver” as you speak. The best way to keep things under control is to deliberately pause before speaking. This will result in a number of benefits: you will avoid interrupting a person as he finishes the question, you can formulate a reasoned response to the question, and you can concentrate on enunciating and controlling your voice.
Be aware of “filler words” that have crept into your vocabulary. Common filler words are “um,” “uhh,” and, everyone’s favorite, “like.” One interviewer reported an interviewee who used the word “like” so much that the interviewer stopped focusing on the interview and began counting the number of times the interviewee used that particular word. The interview quickly became a waste of everyone’s time. It can be very difficult for a person to catch her own use of filler words, so practice your interview responses with a friend and ask him to be aware of any words you overuse.
After a number of interviews or meeting with clients, you might have answered the same question over and over. However, keep in mind that this is the first time this particular interviewer has heard your answer and you must sound engaged and enthusiastic. If you have a good answer to the question, of course you can use it in all your interviews. However, if you challenge yourself to adapt your response slightly for each interviewer or employer, your response will remain fresh.
You cannot be successful without great communication skills in professional life or in business. It is important for a good communicator to be a good listener. No one wants to be a good listener while everybody is extremely interested in a good communicator. Every person with great communication skills are in favor of listening.
-
The way you treat others
Be that friendly person who never gets offended when people ask questions. This not only makes the people interested but you get to learn and people value you more. Nothing can prove your authenticity like open question answer session. Eye contact also has a great value. When you maintain eye contact with audience while communicating with them, it reassures that you are honest and sincere. People tend to believe you more when you maintain eye contact with them. Humor is important if you want to sell your stories. Humor helps in impressing listeners. Humor validates your stories and polishes your existing skill. You should never worry to be a little clever and use humor. You’ll shine more with humor. This comes with this great smile and exceptional attitude. People should feel comfortable and motivated when talking to you because you have this great attitude named positivity. This saying goes far beyond simply being kind to people. Instead of just treating others the way you would want to be treated, think about others the way you would want to be thought of. Feel about others the way you would want others to feel about you. Speak to others the way you would want to be spoken to or spoken of. One have made a conscious effort to see everyone in my life as equal. One should try not to look down on anybody, or try to convert anybody to any ideology. One should simple sit and talk with people, ask questions, listen to different schools of thought, and share their wisdom as one see fit. One have to learn to enjoy conversations as a way to connect, instead of using them to push one own agenda.
With the current economy, it seems as if branding might be more important than ever. Branding is as important as ever, as long as people understand what that means. It is not a self-promotion campaign or some dress-for-success kind of idea. It is really who you are deep inside, what passions you have and how you can lead your most successful life.
The thing about a successful brand is it is a discipline of both science and art. What I have seen in people that have been in one organization for many years is that if they have been branded as a reliable contributor but stuck in the same job, it is possible to rebrand and reinvent. However, if you have been branded by a performance or reputation issue, that is a difficult place to reposition within the company. It is probably better to start somewhere else and try to rebrand.
