Building a Professional Presence

Out of all the topics I have learnt in this subject, Professional Presence is one of the topics I find very useful. This is because this topic teaches us the basics of dressing well for an interview and for work. This topic also teaches us many grooming guidelines such as how much make-up to put for an interview, what kind of shoes and stockings to use, the kind of accessories that are not too ‘loud’ and most importantly, the grooming standards for our hair.

I find all these grooming guidelines very useful because a well-groomed applicant will create a good first impression on the employer during an interview. We only have one chance of making a good impression and it is important to make it the best. A good impression is equivalent to half the battle won and we can only create a good impression when we are well-groomed.





Before I took this subject, I knew grooming was important during an interview, but I didn’t realise how important it was until I took this subject. This subject has taught me that grooming is the basic requirement of the working world and only when we know the fundamentals of dressing can we move on to achieve and accomplish greater things. When we dress professionally, we feel good about ourselves and it reflects on our personality, which in turn affects the work we do.

Besides teaching us how to groom ourselves, this topic also prepares us for the working world by teaching us what to wear for the different special occasions we will face in future when we come out to work such as a White Tie Event or Cocktail party. It also teaches us what kind of handbags to use and to dress according to the company culture. This is very useful when it comes to dressing for events as we represent our company during company events and we want to look professional. By dressing well, we will uphold the image of our company and it also reflects well on ourselves.

Besides dressing well, this topic also teaches us meeting and greeting etiquettes such making a good introduction of ourselves, professional handshakes, the correct way in handling business cards and safe topics for small talk. When meeting someone, a good impression depends on the physical appearance. Thereafter, we have to introduce ourselves to the person, and a good introduction is important in leaving a good impression.

Another part I find useful about this topic is the handling of business cards. The handling of business cards is important as it can affect the relationship of you with the client. For example, if a client gives you a business card and you scribble on it or put it at your back pocket, it’s equivalent to scribbling on his face and not giving him due respect as the business cards represent his ‘face.’ Hence, it is important to take note of such details and make sure we do not offend anyone when we are out to work.

References:

http://www.inozemstvo-posao.com/smf_1-1-2_install/index.php?topic=418.0

http://amdt.wsu.edu/research/dti/

Corporate Politics

Corporate politics is a very realistic topic, in a sense that this topic prepares us for what we will all face in the future. It is very real and when being played well, it can help us a lot in our work. Corporate politics are inevitable in any organization and this topic teaches us how to deal with it and use it to our advantage.



One reason I find this topic important and very practical because even at our age, we have already begun experiencing another kind of Corporate Politics – Class Politics. In a class, there is bound to be cliques, the ‘cool’ gang, ‘social outcasts’, the gossipers and those that do not belong to any of the above.

Like any other students, I have also experienced Class Politics. Just recently, because of some misunderstanding during lessons, I have not been well-liked by my classmates, especially people from a particular clique because they thought I did something that ‘hurt’ them. I wanted to let the whole situation pass as we are only classmates for another 3 more weeks, but I couldn’t stand the constant gossip behind my back. I felt a lot of pressure because I couldn't stand being misunderstood and disliked. I couldn’t concentrate on doing anything because of this.

Due to the overwhelming pressure, I texted a girl from the clique the next day to explain my actions that had ‘hurt’ them. Then, things started turning out for the better as they stopped giving me ‘death stares’ and the cold shoulder and actually began talking to me. This example shows that I have defended myself against unfair politics by stopping others from bad mouthing. Although I kept telling myself that I did nothing wrong and shouldn’t care about what others think of me, it is actually easier said than done. I felt much better after clearing the air it’s as if a weight has been lifted off my chest.



The above example proves that Class Politics, like Corporate politics, can cause unnecessary stress to an individual, which in turn affects their work performance. The example also shows that this topic is very realistic and it will be more useful when we come out to work, when Corporate Politics are being played at a higher level and may affect us in many ways, causing us unnecessary work pressure.

Employees can feel stressful because of Corporate Politics and this in turn affects their job performance, job satisfaction and possibly their employment status. It is thus important that we play the game of politics well so that we can climb up the social and corporate ladder easier. Instead of feeling stressful over it, this topic turns the situation around and shows us how we can deal with it and use it to our advantage. All of these reasons are why I feel that the topic on Corporate Politics has impacted me a lot and find it very useful.

References:

www.awake2000.com/

http://www.lawcrossing.com/article/3105/Gossipers-Get-Fired/

Customer Perception

In every business, we need customers to survive. The business is open for the customers and they are very important people to invest in. Customer Perception is a fundamental core of business success. It is the largest contributor to customer satisfaction. When their perception of us is good, it encourages repeat visits as well as good publicity through word-of-mouth. Hence, it is important that every of our customer is a satisfied one. Every customer sees things differently, meaning they can have different perceptions of the same thing. This means that each customer perceives satisfaction differently. It is thus a challenge to keep every customer satisfied with their varying perception of satisfaction.

This topic teaches us some of the factors that customer perception is based on so that we can gear our efforts towards those factors such as marketing effort and product design to form a good impression. I have also learnt from this topic that there are bound to be unhappy customers. Since they are already unhappy, the only thing that we can do will be service recovery, to do our best in earning back their trust by making amends. This will help to build a better perception of the company.


ToP Table

This topic is practical and applicable to the times I am working at Top Table. For example, Top Table is an educational institute that trains students to be ‘at the top’ in terms of service quality. Hence, according to the assessment reference of customer satisfaction, Top Table aims to be at the ‘ideal stage’, where customer satisfaction is derived partly based on experience, partly on desire. However, I think that Top Table is currently at the ‘predicted stage’, where the service standard is based solely on customer’s experience. This is because the service at Top Table is provided by students, and it may not be too good as all of us are undergoing training and we might make mistakes that upset the guest. Also, we serve ice-water, with the main courses if guests requests for it and this is the standard for many formal dining restaurants. Since it is similar to competitors, it is currently at the ‘predicted stage.’

Also as mentioned earlier, we might make mistakes that upset the guest during our course of training. This thus means that we must do service recovery. At Top Table, we make amends of bad customer experience by giving them a feedback form together with the bill for them to rate our service standards, food quality, write their valuable feedback and highlight any areas for improvement. Then, after everything is done, for our debrief, we will all read out the feedback by our customer to everyone and talk about our performance for the day or explain why that a particular comment on the feedback form is written, and any area of improvements. Top Table values customer satisfaction and service recovery helps to alter and build a better perception of the company.

Linking this to the topic Building a Professional Presence, our grooming is also part of how customer perceives us. When we are well-groomed, we will appear more professional and hence more credible, allowing the customer to have faith in us and our services.

From the above example, we can see that customers are very important to us and that is why we are doing all we can to retain their loyalty for repeated visits and perhaps positive publicity through word-of-mouth. As we are in the hospitality industry, we must provide good service and service standards perceived by every customer is different. This tells us that we have to be in tip-top performance at all times such that every customer perceives us as a good service provider, leading to customer satisfaction.

When we come out to work in future, we will be dealing with customers from all over the world. From this topic, I have learnt that it is hence important to manage their perception well and do our best to make them very satisfied so as to retain their loyalty and repeat visits.

References:

http://www.tp.edu.sg/home/about/facilities/food.htm