Career Spotlight

By Kathy Craney

Last week I talked about Personal Branding.  This week I’d like to share the information presented by Angela Kundert from Enterprise Rent-A-Car.  It was an excellent presentation on Business Etiquette.  Most of the time we feel nervous about approaching new people because we’re not sure how to behave or what to do.  We’re afraid of looking foolish or making a mistake and that’s very stressful!  We’ve all been there!  With these hints and some practice, you may be surprised just how much stress you can eliminate.

Business Etiquette – Angela Kundert/Enterprise Rent-A-Car

First impressions counts

• What does your body language say?
• Wear professional attire
• Be professional with your cell phones (turn them off or better yet, leave them at home or in the car) and email
• During an interview:
  • Arrive early (10 – 15 minutes)
  • Do a 30 second appearance check
  • Be polite to the receptionist
  • Make good eye contact
  • Stand up to greet people
  • Carry and distribute business cards
  • Introduce yourself
  • Offer your hand for a handshake (firm, not too weak or too strong)
  • If you wear a name tag, it goes on the upper, right-hand side
  • Signs of confidence:
    • Uncross you legs
    • Move to the end of your chair
    • Lean toward the interviewer
    • Nod your head
    • Gesture moderately
    • Initiate and maintain good eye contact
    • Use an appropriately loud and clear voice
    • Vary your positions (don’t fidget in the chair, however)
• Signs of nervousness
  • Covering you mouth
  • Tugging at your clothes, jewelry, pen, etc
  • Slumping in the chair
  • Looking away or avoiding eye contact
  • Making unpleasant or inappropriate facial expressions
  • Verbal pauses (Um, ah, etc)

Professional attire

• What does your clothing say about you?
• How does senior management dress?
• Know what style jewelry and accessories compliment a professional appearance
• Know the difference between professional dress and business casual
  • Professional dress – think conservative
  • Business casual – think relaxed, yet conservative

Cell phones

• Ask permission to use your phone in the presence of others
• Turn off or silence your phone during meetings (not vibrate)
• Silence two-way texting
• Don’t text people at work
• Don’t make personal calls at work
• Don’t use a cell phone when driving the company car

Email

• Make sure information in the email is accurate
• Use spell check before sending a message (don’t rely on spell check – it doesn’t catch everything)
• Do not send an email if you are angry or emotional
• Do not forward jokes
• Limit personal use of company email

Voice mail

• Smile when recording the message
• Think – who, what, when, where, why when leaving a message
• Speak slowly and clearly
• Do not listen to messages on speaker phone
• Always leave your phone number when leaving a message
• Be aware of background noise

Networking while eating

• Don’t overload your plate
• Don’t eat and drink at the same time
• Put your beverage in your left hand (keep the right hand free for shaking hands)
• Spend only 5-10 minutes per person

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Job Search Strategies, Personal Presentation, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.