Have you ever received an email and mistaken it for a misplaced text? Or met someone for a business meeting and they look like they just walked off the track?
If you have not, there are a couple of people who have and most
of them get quiet irritated by such things. Most of these people will tell you that this is something common among this current generation of working class, i.e. those from
the ages of 25 and above.
Business etiquette or professionalism is highly lacking among such people, there are a few young people who do not know how to dress for the office and that is definitely something that is not lacking.
The biggest problem is the professional language that we use: A lawyer friend was interviewing a young lady for a position in the firm, the lady was dressed smartly and passed that bit of the interview, her CV was well, good but when the time came to talk about what she wanted to do or expects the get out of the firm, young lady did not know how to express herself.
Due to the fact that most people want to be modern, our English has become corroded by the “hip” new terms or sentence constructions that are used in that if you were to construct an intelligent sentence for someone you want to please for a job, it will sound very off and an unappealing.
When talking to a client/ boss or anyone else professionally, hold the eye contact, minimize on the gestures because they become too distracting and make sure to be polite and respectful no matter who you talk to (yes, even the cleaner and the annoying receptionist) because that is a judgment of your people skills.
You cannot walk to an office or go for a meeting dressed like you were pushing cargo in DT or just out of the gym, it does not matter what job you do, when it comes to business meetings one must always make sure to be smart, simple. The fact is your appearance is a representation of you as a person, the company you work for and what you are expected to deliver and I know people like the underdog look but that only works in the movies, in the real world, we judge you by how you look, act and carry yourself.
Emails are the first things a client/ boss or anyone else you are doing business with will see before they read your work, make sure they are always appealing, simple, straight to the point and precise.
When you want to pitch or hand in documents to a person, take a thorough for all the grammatical errors and unnecessary language, use professional language in the emails and avoid words that may include: like, sorry, hey, hi among many others and avoid including smileys.
Ladies, too much make up is not meant
for the office nor are your wild ratchet hair styles and very loud nail polish, noisy bangles and shoes. Always make sure to keep it simple and stylish.
Lastly, ladies and gentlemen, ALWAYS SMELL GOOD!!