Making a Good Impression – Presenting Yourself

Managing how people perceive you is crucial to your success at work. This isn’t limited to making good first impressions – in fact, managing impressions is a lifetime of labour and will take careful maintenance if you want it to pay off.

First Impressions Matters

When it comes to that important first impression, Dumb Little Man says that good body language, punctuality, and a positive attitude will improve your prospects at work. Together with carefully choosing your words and your outfit, you will be on your way to securing a good first impression.

Knowledge workers today may be blessed with a plethora of talents, but don’t be in a hurry to make your versatility be known at every chance you get. The harsh reality is that people are still looking for niche specialists and not jack-of-all-trades, says Steven DeMaio at the Harvard Business Review. In fact, as Tamara Erickson asserts, sometimes, saying less is more.

Expertise and Experience

Litemind explains that developing expertise is a great way to create a good impression. However, the road to becoming an expert takes times and requires you to continually extend and deepen your experience while putting in pure hard work and practice to hone your craft.

If expertise seems too daunting for you, resist the temptation to use a little dishonesty to get ahead. Bizzia firmly warns against lying – even the white lies in your resume or on your business presentation – advising instead that honesty makes keeping a clean reputation far easier. Lying merely leads to an unending struggle to consistently maintain that false front.

These days, the first thing people might see of you is a photo, and it might not be only the one you choose on your resume. Seth Godin says that personal photos on your favourite social networking site should be professionally taken and well-cropped, communicating a sense of enthusiasm and openness. Good advice for any photo, really.

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