Professional Etiquette
Professional etiquette is an unwritten code of conduct regarding the interactions among the members in a business setting. When proper professional etiquette is used, all involved are able to feel more comfortable, and things tend to flow more smoothly.
However, good professional etiquette indicates to potential employers that you are a mature, responsible adult who can aptly represent their company. Not knowing proper etiquette could damage your image, prevent you from getting a job and jeopardize personal and business relationships.
Meeting and Greeting
Etiquette begins with meeting and greeting. Terry Cobb, human resource director at Wachovia Corporation in South Carolina’s Palmetto region, emphasizes the importance of making a good first impression—beginning with the handshake. A firm shake, he says, indicates to employers that you’re confident and assertive. A limp handshake, on the other hand, sends the message that you’re not interested or qualified for the job. Dave Owen by, human resources manager for North and South Carolina at Sherwin Williams, believes, “Good social skills include having a firm handshake, smiling, making eye contact and closing the meeting with a handshake.”
The following basic rules will help you get ahead in the workplace:
• Always rise when introducing or being introduced to someone.
• Provide information in making introductions—you are responsible for keeping the conversation going. “Joe, please meet Ms. Crawford, CEO at American Enterprise, Inc., in Cleveland.” “Mr. Jones, this is Kate Smith, a senior majoring in computer information systems at North-western University.”
• Unless given permission, always address someone by his or her title and last name.
• Practice a firm handshake. Make eye contact while shaking hands.
Dining
Shirley Willey, owner of Etiquette & Company in Carmichael, Calif., reports that roughly 80% of second interviews involve a business meal. Cobb remembers one candidate who had passed his initial interview with flying colours. Because the second interview was scheduled close to noon, Cobb decided to conduct the interview over lunch. Initially, the candidate was still in the “interview” mode and maintained his professionalism. After a while, however, he became more relaxed—and that’s when the candidate’s real personality began to show. He had terrible table manners, made several off-colour remarks and spoke negatively about previous employers. Needless to say, Cobb was unimpressed, and the candidate did not get the job.
Remember that an interview is always an interview, regardless of how relaxed or informal the setting. Anything that is said or done will be considered by the interviewer, cautions Cobb.
In order to make a good impression during a lunch or dinner interview, make sure you:
• Arrive on time.
• Wait to sit until the host/hostess indicates the seating arrangement.
• Place napkin in lap before eating or drinking anything.
• When ordering, keep in mind that this is a talking business lunch. Order something easy to eat, such as boneless chicken or fish.
• Do not hold the order up because you cannot make a decision. Feel free to ask for suggestions from others at the table.
• Wait to eat until everyone has been served.
• Keep hands in lap unless you are using them to eat.
• Practice proper posture; sit up straight with your arms close to your body.
• Bring food to your mouth—not your head to the plate.
• Try to eat at the same pace as everyone else.
• Take responsibility for keeping up the conversation.
• Place napkin on chair seat if excusing yourself for any reason.
• Place napkin beside plate at the end of the meal.
• Push chair under table when excusing yourself.
Eating
Follow these simple rules for eating and drinking:
• Start eating with the implement that is farthest away from your plate. You may have two spoons and two forks. The spoon farthest away from your plate is a soup spoon. The fork farthest away is a salad fork unless you have three forks, one being much smaller, which would be a seafood fork for an appetizer. The dessert fork/spoon is usually above the plate. Remember to work from the outside in.
• Dip soup away from you; sip from the side of the spoon.
• Season food only after you have tasted it.
• Pass salt and pepper together—even if asked for only one.
• Pass all items to the right. If the item has a handle, such as a pitcher, pass with the handle toward the next person. For bowls with spoons, pass with the spoon ready for the next person. If you are the one to reach to the centre of the table for an item, pass it before serving yourself.
• While you are speaking during a meal, utensils should be resting on plate (fork and knife crossed on the plate with tines down).
• Don’t chew with your mouth open or blow on your food.
The interviewer will usually take care of the bill and the tip. Be prepared, however, if this doesn’t happen and have small bills ready to take care of your part, including the tip. Never make an issue of the check.
Hence, social skills can make or break your career. Kenitra Matheson, human resource director with Dellinger and Deese in Charlotte, N.C., emphasizes, “Etiquette and social skills are a must! Our employees have to exhibit a certain level of professionalism and etiquette, given that we constantly interact with our clients.” Be one step ahead— practice the social skills necessary to help you make a great first impression and stand out in a competitive job market.
Journals
Writing a journal during internship can be an extremely useful way to keep a record of your professional growth and development. It will be useful for updating your resume, completing performance reviews and interviewing for future positions. It is easy to forget exactly what projects you worked on and what experiences you had after the job or internship is over. This journal will allow you to process your thoughts and articulate your new skills and abilities.
Some Journal Writing Tips:
• Set aside a regular time each day or week for journal writing, even if it is only for five minutes.
• Keep your journal at home! You will be recording personal observations about your workplace, and you would not want the document to fall into the wrong hands.
• Your journal can be as traditional or high‐tech as you make it. You can use a spiral‐bound notebook, a journal with a lock, or a word‐processing program on your computer. Whatever is easiest for you and will help you remember to complete your entries!
• Your journal is also a great place to keep track of the names and pertinent information of the contacts you make during your job or internship. You can also make a note of the contacts you believe will be helpful to you later and how they could help.
Questions to Consider in Your Journal:
Before the Internship:
• What do I expect from this experience?
• What are my concerns about this internship?
• What do I hope to gain from this internship?
• What goals have I set for myself?
During the Internship:
• What do I like most about my work? What do I like least? What am I best at? What have I accomplished when I feel I’ve had a good day? What contributes to a bad day?
• What is the company culture like? What are the formal and informal power and social structures? How do people communicate and interact in friendship patterns, politics, demographics and value systems? What kinds of behaviours are rewarded/criticized? What are the unwritten codes of dress and conduct? What do I like most/least about this culture?
• What is a typical day like? What do people in this organization do?
• What projects have I completed that I am most proud of? How did I handle challenges on the job?
• Does this work match my values, interests, and skills?
• How have my experiences compared to my expectations?
After Your Internship:
• How did my academic background help my work? Which classes, subjects and projects have been the most helpful?
• How has this internship impacted my personal and professional goals?
• Would I want to do this internship again? Why or why not?
• If I could do this internship over, what would I change?
Example of Internship Journal Template:
Date:
Tasks for the day:
Difficulties I faced/ways to overcome them: Good things that happened:
Ongoing observations:
New contact/new skills or words learned:
Reports
Report is a self-explanatory statement of facts relating to a specific subject and serves the purpose of providing information for decision making and follow up actions. It is a systematic presentation of ascertained facts about a specific event / subject. Report is a summary of findings and recommendations about a particular matter / problem. Report is for the guidance of higher authorities including company executives and directors. Report facilitates timely decisions and follow up measures.
Characteristics of Report?
1. Complete and Compact Document: Report is a complete and compact written document giving updated information about a specific problem.
2. Systematic Presentation of Facts: Report is a systematic presentation of facts, figures, conclusions and recommendations. Report writers closely study the problem under investigation and prepare a report after analysing all relevant information regarding the problem. Report is supported by facts and evidence. There is no scope for imagination in a report which is basically a factual document.
3. Prepared in Writing: Reports are usually in writing. Writing reports are useful for reference purpose. It serves as complete, compact and self-explanatory document over a long period. Oral reporting is possible in the case of secret and confidential matters.
4. Provides Information and Guidance: Report is a valuable document which gives information and guidance to the management while framing future policies. It facilitates planning and decision making. Reports are also useful for solving problems faced by a business enterprise.
5. Self-explanatory Document: Report is a comprehensive document and covers all aspects of the subject matter of study. It is a self-explanatory and complete document by itself.
6. Acts as a Tool of Internal Communication: Report is an effective tool of communication between top executives and subordinate staff working in an organization. It provides feedback to employees and to executives for decision making. Reports are generally submitted to higher authorities. It is an example of upward communication. Similarly, reports are also sent by company executives to the lower levels of management. This is treated as downward communication. In addition, reports are also sent to shareholders and others connected with the company. It may be pointed out that report writing / preparation acts as a backbone of any system of communication.
7. Acts as Permanent Record: A report serves as a permanent record relating to certain business matter. It is useful for future reference and guidance.
8. Time Consuming and Costly Activity: Report writing is a time consuming, lengthy and costly activity as it involves collection of facts, drawing conclusion and making recommendations.
Hence, journal and report are two different things, journal is more to personal/about yourself and report is more to writing about and event or particular experiment. Both have different ways of using it but somehow help me to be more prepared when internship.
Securing for internship
Internships can play a critical role in building skills and experience in career field before even graduated. Internships also provide practical experience applying and interviewing for a job. But knowing where to look and how to stand out among the applicant pool to secure an internship can seem daunting for any student.
Finding an Internship
Where do you start? And when? And how long does the internship process take? Take points out that the first step “is to manage the time from your busy and continuous doctorate project and get permission from your supervisor to go for an internship.” Once you know you have the necessary permissions to accept an internship, it’s time to start looking for opportunities, applying, and interviewing.
Tips for Securing an Internship
1. Read the position description carefully and consider whether you meet the requirements.
Target positions for which you are qualified, rather than applying for every position in sight. If an organization sees you were not thoughtful on your choice of position, they may think you are desperate to get anything.
2. Customize your resume for the job.
It is acceptable to have several versions of your résumé. Make sure to use key words or skills that are mentioned in the job description. Managers will look through literally hundreds of resumes sent in for their summer positions. Make sure they can easily see your experience that connects with the need they’ve expressed in the posting.
3. Format your resume to make it clear and easy to read.
Highlight your skills. Most applications will be viewed initially by a recruiter who is looking for a specific list of required skills. They need to be able to determine easily if you are a match for the position.
4. Be clear on your resume about the skills, projects, and duties you have performed in previous positions/school projects.
Don’t be overly concerned with keeping the résumé to one page. At the same time, don’t be so verbose that it takes the recruiter a long time to review your information.
5. Ensure your contact information is accurate. Recruiters may try one method of contact, and if that doesn’t work, you could be eliminated.
Set up a voicemail message that clearly states your name. Recruiters like to confirm they are leaving a message for the correct person.
6. Provide all required information and attachments by the stated deadline.
Read application requirements carefully. A timely and complete application is a realistic preview for how thorough and detail oriented you are about your work.
7. Write a cover letter that is specific to the position.
Not all positions will require a cover letter, but if one does, explain why you are qualified and interested in the work. Be clear and concise; verbosity creates a negative impression.
8. Proof your resume and cover letter.
Ask a friend or professor to review all documents. Sending in a letter or resume with misspellings or grammatical errors creates a negative impression.
9. Save or print positions for which you apply.
Create a notebook or spreadsheet with each job and a few notes. When a recruiter calls you, they expect you to be knowledgeable about the position. Doing this also will show enthusiasm for that position and company.
10. Be prepared with specific questions to ask during initial phone screens and interviews.
Ask a professor or someone from your career advisory department to conduct a mock interview. When asked questions, be prepared to give an answer that includes a specific situation, the task you were challenged with, the action you took, and the end result. Take your time and be strategic when applying for internships. This will create a positive impression of you and your skills and help secure the internship you want.