Your Career, Your Image
27 May 2008
Read by 1641 persons
Your image plays a crucial role in your credibility. But what is credibility? It's above all the trust that others give you in a totally subjective way, in accordance with their beliefs and prejudices. You will have understood that it corresponds only to the way others see us, at a given moment in time.
Credibility is mainly composed of factors related to your personality and what it conveys, your professional reputation and credibility by association.
In a career transition context, the people who will decide whether or not your application will be accepted will mainly focus on your resume and its compliance with the job requirements. Your years of experience, your studies, the type of companies you have worked for, your title, these are all factors that will determine whether or not you will be called for an interview. So you should refine your resume to attract attention.
But once received for an interview, from the first minutes of the meeting, it is the personality factors that will come into play. During dozens of workshops on career and image, we were able to observe this: we asked participants to give their first impression of all the people present in the room after a very short presentation of each. We were surprised to discover that more than 80% of the points mentioned were related to personality and only 20% to skills as such. We are talking here about outward appearance, qualities or defects that are immediately apparent.
The impressions expressed were strangely close, according to everyone, to their true personality. To such an extent that the participants were amazed by their agreement with reality. On the other hand, some people received comments to the effect that they exuded great self-confidence, while in reality they felt particularly vulnerable. This leads us to believe that simply "looking like" is often enough to preserve the image.
We have power over several credibility factors. Just think about clothing. Thus, many people take great care in choosing appropriate clothes and get a "new look" simply to feel their best during their interview.
You may have heard that non-verbal communication speaks as much as the words you say. It is a matter of taking care to choose your vocabulary when preparing for the interview, paying attention to your tone of voice, your pace, looking the interviewer in the eyes, without being too insistent, avoiding shifty eyes that bother many interviewers, checking your body language (too much movement or not enough). All these elements can be checked by good interview practice and solid feedback.
As for credibility by association, it corresponds to the strength of your network of contacts, which so often makes the difference in the choice of candidate. Your credibility is tainted by the mere fact of knowing one person or another, whether positively or negatively. For example, you have been recommended by a member of your entourage who praises your merits to an employer. It is obvious that this employer will be tempted to meet you in an interview.
Your reputation precedes you and references are a vibrant example. The employer attaches great importance to comments from a former boss, a colleague, a client or a supplier.
We have the power to manage our credibility or not. What choice will you make?
Published November 24, 2007
Posted online May 20, 2008
orhri.org
Credibility is mainly composed of factors related to your personality and what it conveys, your professional reputation and credibility by association.
In a career transition context, the people who will decide whether or not your application will be accepted will mainly focus on your resume and its compliance with the job requirements. Your years of experience, your studies, the type of companies you have worked for, your title, these are all factors that will determine whether or not you will be called for an interview. So you should refine your resume to attract attention.
But once received for an interview, from the first minutes of the meeting, it is the personality factors that will come into play. During dozens of workshops on career and image, we were able to observe this: we asked participants to give their first impression of all the people present in the room after a very short presentation of each. We were surprised to discover that more than 80% of the points mentioned were related to personality and only 20% to skills as such. We are talking here about outward appearance, qualities or defects that are immediately apparent.
The impressions expressed were strangely close, according to everyone, to their true personality. To such an extent that the participants were amazed by their agreement with reality. On the other hand, some people received comments to the effect that they exuded great self-confidence, while in reality they felt particularly vulnerable. This leads us to believe that simply "looking like" is often enough to preserve the image.
We have power over several credibility factors. Just think about clothing. Thus, many people take great care in choosing appropriate clothes and get a "new look" simply to feel their best during their interview.
You may have heard that non-verbal communication speaks as much as the words you say. It is a matter of taking care to choose your vocabulary when preparing for the interview, paying attention to your tone of voice, your pace, looking the interviewer in the eyes, without being too insistent, avoiding shifty eyes that bother many interviewers, checking your body language (too much movement or not enough). All these elements can be checked by good interview practice and solid feedback.
As for credibility by association, it corresponds to the strength of your network of contacts, which so often makes the difference in the choice of candidate. Your credibility is tainted by the mere fact of knowing one person or another, whether positively or negatively. For example, you have been recommended by a member of your entourage who praises your merits to an employer. It is obvious that this employer will be tempted to meet you in an interview.
Your reputation precedes you and references are a vibrant example. The employer attaches great importance to comments from a former boss, a colleague, a client or a supplier.
We have the power to manage our credibility or not. What choice will you make?
Published November 24, 2007
Posted online May 20, 2008
orhri.org
