Cardinal Rules for Dress and Grooming

1. Dress For The Job You Want, Not For The Job You Have

If as a Sales Executive, you aspire to become the Sales Manager someday...then don't dress like the Sales Executive do. Instead, take a look at what the Sales Managers wear and emulate them. This will show the management that you're focused on growing with the company and will enable them to visualize you as ONE of the Sales Managers.

2. Keep It Understated

Loud clothes and accessories is synonympus to Loud People. And nobody likes either. However, this is merely a guideline and not the rule of the law. You have to dress in accordance with what goes at the workplace. So, what would work in a law firm may not necessarily work if you were a model, actor or a fashion designer. However, even in those cases - Dress Classy, Not Trashy!!!

3. Represent Your Company

Whatever you wear (especially when meeting with clients, customers and other stakeholders) is a reflection not only on you, but your company as well. Hence, it becomes imperative that your dress should be in alignment with the image of the company.

4. Be a Neat Freak

There's nothing more ghastly than the sight of a collar ring on your white shirt. So, be aware of what you wear. It'll help to remember the following equations -

Dirty = Laundry

Torn = Mending

Loud = OUT

5. Reveal (Less of Yourself, More of Your Work)

Clothes that are too revealing are a strict no-no at the workplace. Whether intentional or not, low-cut blouses, see-through tops, backless dresses, tight pants send a sexual message. Its important to come across as competent at the workplace, so dress conservatively and keep such apparels for romantic get-aways.

  

Getting rid of fillers

Are you someone who resorts to 'ummmmmm', 'aaaaaaaaaaaaa' and such other sounds between sentences? Its easy to find out. Record yourself giving a speech for 5 mins (use a mounted handycam for best results, but you can choose other devices as well). Once recorded, observe your speech patterns. And count the number of times you use fillers while talking.

As a corrective action, you can request a friend or someone to remind you everytime you use a filler. Other tips which can help are - plan in your mind the speech that you'll be giving so you do not do a lot of thinking and unconsciously use these fillers. Another approach which seems to have worked is speaking slowly and deliberately. Enunciate when you're talking and take appropriate pauses.

These strategies and tips, over time, will help you in reducing and eliminating these fillers. To see the difference, re-record a speech again after a month of practice and count the number of Fillers again. If its less, practice more. If it's more than the last time, then buy my forthcoming book.

Action oriented CVs

To make the most of your CVs, use action words to describe what you DID - roles and responsibilities, achievements, etc.

So, instead of:

- I was Leading a team of 6

write -

- Led a Team of 6

Some common action words - Managed, Developed, Reported, Handled, etc.