Archive for the “Career” Category

First Impression Counts
Source: THE SUN – Thursday , February 19,2004.
Date published : 9.3.2004

Making an impact with another person, especially in the business world is
vital, writes Ranjit Singh Malhi

In today’s increasingly competitive business world, merely being
knowledgeable about your area of expertise is often inadequate to guarantee
success.

How others perceive you, that is, quality in perception can often determine
whether a business deal is won or lost; a career is made or destroyed; and
a promotion gained or denied.

In this regard, making a positive first impression is of great importance.
As aptly stated by Janet G. Elsea, “You never get a second chance to make a
good first impression.” Indeed, the first impression is often a lasting
one.

People will form an impression of you based on the way you think, dress,
speak and interact with them in the crucial first four minutes. Personal
appearance, grooming, body language, tone of voice, choice of words and
movement play a critical role in making a positive first impression.

Research shows that when meeting someone for the first time, how you say
something and what you look like when you say it are much more important
that the actual words spoken.

10 TIPS FOR MAKING A POSITIVE FIRST IMPRESSION

1. DEVELOP A POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE
To present yourself well to others, you must first develop a positive
self-image. Self-image is essentially your mental picture of who you are.
It should reflect self-confidence. Accept compliments with a “thank you”
and a smile. Love yourself and accept gracefully what you cannot change.
Also, visualise success in your career.

2.BE WELL-DRESSED
Ensure your clothes are well-fitting, clean and freshly pressed. Shoes
should be clean, polished and free of scuff. Ensure the colour of your
shoes and your socks matches the colour of your trousers.

For ladies, wear a well-cut dress in a good fabric, worn with a blazer or
well-fitting classic coordinates. Avoid slit skirts and plunging necklines.
Jewellery worn should be simple and elegant. Limit rings to one per hand.
Avoid extremely high-heeled shoes.

3. BE WELL-GROOMED
Ensure your hair is clean and free of dandruff; ears and finger nails are
clean; and breath is fresh. Perfume worn must be of good quality with light
fragrance. Women should avoid excessive makeup.

4. BE PUNCTUAL
Always be a few minutes early for appointments. If you are unavoidably
delayed, call and inform the other party before your appointment.

5. EXECUTE FIRM HANDSHAKE THAT GRABS RESPECT
When introducing yourself or being introduced to someone, give the other
person a firm handshake. Shake with the full arm, keeping the wrist and
elbow firm. Two pumps are enough.

6.MAKE YOUR FIRST FEW WORDS COUNT
An effective way of starting any interaction is to send a “thanks” message
that includes the person’s name. Remember, the sweetest thing to a person
is his or her name. Examples of “thanks” message are: “Thank you for taking
the time to meet with me this afternoon, Mr Bhaskaran” or “It is a pleasure
to finally meet you in person, Datuk Yahya.”

7. USE APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE
Also express appropriate facial expressions. Avoid using slang and words
such as “yeah” and “you guys”. Never curse! Be polite and tactful. Never
forget to say “please” and “thank you”. Use simple, familiar and precise
words. Smile in a friendly fashion. Maintain eye contact when speaking and
listening. Nod occasionally to show interest or acceptance.

8. BE A GOOD LISTENER
Don’t interrupt. It is rude to stop someone in the middle of a discourse.
Ask relevant questions to seek clarification. Focus on what is being said,
not on how it is being delivered.

9. SPEAK AUDIBLY AND CLEARLY
Ensure your voice is audible. Spend more time talking quickly than slowly,
especially if you are making a speech or presentation. Research shows that
faster speakers are regarded as more intelligent and more impressive than
slower speakers. Pronounce words correctly. Avoid verbal clutter such as
“um” and “ah”.

10. MAINTAIN A POWERFUL POSTURE
Stand up straight and keep your shoulders relaxed. Keep your head and chin
up with arms at your side. Never stand up with hands on your hips. When
sitting, keep your back straight and don’t slouch. Cross legs at ankles and
lean forward slightly. Don’t sit with knees spread or crossed.

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How to fast-track your promotion
by Danny Pancho

Is your career in dead mode? Here are ways to accelerate your race to
the top.
Have you been stuck in the same position for some time? Most employees find themselves in this situation. Since the structure of any
organisation is a pyramid, it follows that the higher you go, the fewer the positions available. Therefore some employees remain where they are.

But what if you believe you are more than an average employee? What
can you do to get yourself promoted fast?

The first thing you have to do is to analyse your situation and why
you do not get promoted. Quite a number of employees get stuck not because they are not qualified for a promotion, but simply because there is no room for them to move up. If your boss has already reached the highest level, then you can’t move up while he’s still there. If he is retirable or “piratable,” you might like to wait until he retires or gets pirated elsewhere. But if you are impatient and cannot wait, it may be worth examining other options outside the company, a route many have taken.

On the other hand, if there is still room at the top, yet others are getting promoted ahead of you, what can you do? Here are a few tips
that may help.

1. Know the needs of your unit. You may be the most capable person in
   your line of work, but if your competencies do not fit the needs of your unit and the organisation, then you can’t expect to get ahead. As such, it is important for you to study your unit and determine its needs. Know the weak areas of your unit as these present opportunities for you to fill thegap. If you can find high-impact areas that you can fill, so much the better.
2. Learn the competencies required to fill the need. Once you have
   identified the needs of your unit, prepare yourself to handle them. Sometimes, this entails only a little training and orientation. If the need is more complicated, then you may have to undergo extensive training and experience.
3. Take the initiative to fill the need. Once you believe you are capable
   of addressing the need, volunteer to do it. If your superior doubts your capability, convince him that he has nothing to lose and all to gain by giving you the assignment.
4. Get yourself noticed. In whatever you do, pour your best effort. Do
   not be contented with ordinary accomplishments. Give the task everything you’ve got. To make sure that your boss notices what you are doing, give him periodic reports and updates. If you can show him savings in cost, effort and time as a result of your actions, so much the better.

Now, let’s see some concrete examples of how these ideas were put to work.

Early in my career, I was hired as a management trainee by a
multinational consumer company. My main responsibility was policy formulation, communications, and employee relations. In addition, I was also expected to help out in the other functional areas.

I joined up in May of that year and sometime in September, we began
preparing the salary increase budget for the following year. This
involved studying the salary structure, preparing a tentative salary increase matrix, then projecting the possible performance ratings of the
employees.
Based on these assumptions, we would calculate the individual salary
increases. Finally, we would have to total these increases on a
departmental and divisional basis to come out with the total budget.

Since HR was not yet computerised during those times, four of us
worked on this assignment and we had to do a lot of number crunching-often late into the night and sometimes even on weekends. And if the results did not please the company, we had to manually recalculate everything all over again. Here was where I saw an opportunity.

I told my boss that we could save a lot of time and effort if we
computerised the salary administration function. My boss had some
reservations about this, having no experience with computers, which
were then only in use at the Accounting Department. I told my boss that I
would work on my own to do the program and once I was finished, we would
take it from there. He willingly agreed to this arrangement. After all, he had
nothing to lose.

And that was precisely what I did. I took some special courses in
computers and studied the salary administration system. Then, after
regular office hours, I would go to the Accounting Department and use
their computers to prepare the program. After six months, I presented
the program to my boss, showing him how, with just a few keystrokes, we
could change assumptions and the computer would automatically recalculate everything. Because of the program, one man could do what it would take four men to complete.

The boss was so impressed that he bought me a computer-the first in
HR. Come budgeting time, we were able to calculate the salary budget so
fast that other departments took notice. But we did not stop there; we
proceeded to computerise the other areas in HR.

What did this get me? Barely 18 months after being hired, I was
promoted to the position of compensation and systems manager. And because my boss got promoted to concurrent head of HR for the Asia-Pacific region, I also got assigned as the compensation officer for the whole region. I got to travel to the subsidiaries in other countries to implement the systems we created.

Of course, the kind of opportunity that I found does not come to all
us.
However, even small things can offer big opportunities if these have a
high impact on the organisation.

I once joined a company whose HR systems were being neglected. Almost
everything was done manually. Payroll was often delayed and
inaccurate.
While timekeeping was being done by HR, the actual payroll function
was with Accounting.

I had two timekeepers, one of whom had been in the position for over
10 years. Noticing his good potentials and wanting to give him a break, I
asked him why he had not been promoted to handle bigger
responsibilities. He told me that no opportunities presented themselves to him and no one else wanted to handle his tasks, so he was stuck with the job. I told him that I planned to computerise the timekeeping and payroll systems and if he wanted to, he could grab the opportunity to be promoted. He agreed to do so.

So at nighttime, I had him study some computer and basic accounting
courses (if we were to handle payroll, he had to learn how to make
ledger entries). I also got casual help for timekeeping so that I could send
the timekeeper to other companies to observe and learn their timekeeping
and payroll systems. After a few months, we sat down and reviewed what he
had learned. I was amazed at the knowledge he had gathered and his genuine excitement.

We then prepared a detailed proposal to computerise the timekeeping
system, outlining all the savings that we could generate and the
mistakes
we could minimise, if not totally eliminate. Top management agreed to
implement the project with the timekeeper as a project leader.

In a matter of months, we were able to computerise the whole system,
fromtimekeeping all the way to payroll calculations. And it only took two
people to do everything. The payroll function was taken out of
Accounting and became part of HR. Everyone appreciated the improvements we made.
So when I recommended the timekeeper for promotion to paymaster, there
were no obstacles. Everyone knew he deserved it.

What was nice about this guy was that he did not become complacent.
Having tasted success, he was eager for more. He trained the other timekeeper to handle the whole payroll function and set his eyes on computerising the other HR systems. Having gone through the same route, I gave him my full support.

When I left the company after two-and-a-half years, that lowly
timekeeper was already the personnel administration manager. He accomplished in two years what he had not in 10.

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