Today we had our business etiquette meeting with the HR representatives. Most of the information presented on general business etiquette was common sense; however, there were a few very important points that were touched upon that I did not know prior to this meeting. First and foremost, we learnt about the importance of first impressions. Each and every one of us makes judgments and decisions about others within the first 20 seconds of meeting them. We all pretty much are aware of that. What came as a surprise to me was that these judgments are based only 7% on words, the rest is all physical. I never really realized how little of a role words play in our first impressions. Interesting huh?
Another topic that was addressed was office conversations
and what is acceptable and what should be avoided. Obviously you can control
what you chose to talk about; however, you cannot always control what others
chose to talk about without, what kinds of questions they ask you, and the
direction of the conversation. As an
intern, this is a tricky thing because other employees and interns around you
trying to get to know you, asking you questions regarding your personal life,
and other topics. You may not necessarily feel like talking about certain
things in your personal life in the office but at the same time you don’t want
to be rude to people who are going out of their way to make you feel
comfortable and trying to get to know you. Also, you may be ok with talking about
a certain topic to that specific person one on one but there are many other
people around you who are in earshot and might perceive the conversation in a
different light. The HR representatives
in the meeting gave us great insight and advice on handling these types of
situations.
I think that this was one of the most helpful meetings I’ve
had so far here at Dwellworks. As an intern, the corporate world is a territory
we have had either little or no experience in and millions of different
questions pop up in your head throughout the course of the day- a lot of which
has to do with conduct and protocol. Everything is new, you are unsure of
certain things, and you are constantly being analyzed and giving off
impressions to others. They did a wonderful job on this presentation and I
gained very helpful insight and guidance.
They even threw in some dining etiquette...napkin on lap, use utensils
from outside in, bread plate on left and drink on right J Time for lunch, bon appétit!
Brittany Orwin
Valuation Services Intern
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