Behaviour for Beginners - II: To the manner born!

YOU need all the help you can get when it comes to getting a job, and if you, like most normal people have an ideal job in view, you probably need to find the most appropriate way to snaffle the job before others get to the finishing line before you!

Cast wide thy net

It is possible that someone in you social or familial circle knows someone who knows someone who has something to do with the organisation you are looking at. Sometimes even if relatives or friends are not in your area of career, they may know of openings into which you can squeeze yourself!

Whether the leads work out or not, please always acknowledge them because if anything new happens they will always pass the lead onto someone who appreciated their effort! You must also return the compliment they have done you by passing on information about jobs that may be of interest to them. Being in contact is important, be helpful and obliging at all times to everyone in your circuit. Always project a positive picture of yourself, don't become known as a pathological whiner. Nobody likes being associated with people who sap their energy by constantly complaining about their miseries! One good way to network is to be associated with professional groups and social clubs. This way you widen your acquaintance and add to your circle of well- wishers. Be seen, and get noticed!

Proxy patter

The Age of the Telephone Interview is here! To save time many organisations like to conduct long-range interviews over the phone. So, to ensure that your telephone numbers are provided clearly with area (and country) codes.

Ensure also that you will be available by mentioning the times you are likely to be found. If you own a mobile phone, you might like to provide that to facilitate a call to the nearest landline.

A good thing to remember thereafter is to make certain you always answer the phone politely and with appropriate decorum so as not to give the wrong impression. Nothing is as irritating to a prospective employer or HR hirer than having a conversation with a young child that has little or no notion of telephone etiquette! Make certain that only responsible persons attend the phone when it rings. Try not to use answering machines since they too are too impersonal and tend to be irritating to someone who is calling over a trunk line.

Wired writing

The Internet has been both a bane and a boon. In the job-search it is invaluable. You can apply hither thither and yon with a felicity that is unrivalled! However you need to use a soupcon of sense when you do apply. For instance, having a `cool' e-mail address is not so `cool' when you apply for a job. Something like suehottie@sexy.com {lt}mailto:viruhotmale@sexy.com{gt} is totally unacceptable. Which HR department is going to be enthusiastic writing to this address? Be circumspect and let the address add to your stature, not ruin it! Remember, some companies like your attached CVs to be formatted in text form while others have no objection to a word document. Whichever it is make certain it is in a font that is easy to read and is in a format that is generally accepted. All fancy refinements like variegated bullets, artistic fonts should be avoided! When there is a reply, answer promptly. Some mails have a read-receipt tagged on, in which case the sender will know when you opened the mail and when you decided to answer it, giving them a shrewd idea of how interested you are in the job. Above all have a good, updated virus killer onboard. Nothing can kill your chances faster than a virus-laden response to an advertisement!

Don't make dining whining!

It is becoming common today in some of the more progressive companies to make the final interview into a fact-finding mission to discover the urbanity and social skills a candidate has. Actually I find that observing a person's behaviour during a formal `by-invitation-only' meal is an accurate means to measure the fitment of candidates to the culture and ethos of a corporation. It is not unlike a final stress-interview when no questions are asked and the candidate is allowed to excavate his own career grave! It is unfortunate that most B-schools do not teach the soft skills that are needed for these occasions. But if you keep these pointers in mind you might be able to wriggle through without getting totally bruised and battered!

First, remember you are not there to break the Guinness record in eating oneself into a standstill. You are there to observe and be observed and demonstrate that you know how to carry yourself in exalted circles. Pay scant heed to the food, but focus on the conversation and look at what others are doing.

That's what they are doing to you anyway! Secondly, familiarise yourself with the crockery and cutlery before you attend one of these soirees.

Fumbling around will be seen as bumbling around! There will be more glasses than you need, only one will hold water, the others (if any) will be filled with white and red wine, so don't use one of them as a finger bowl! I refer of course to a formal sit-down dinner or lunch, on the other hand you may be invited to a business lunch where the observation will be more acute and the rules as rigid, but the number of dishes will be (thankfully) fewer. Never reach across people to help yourself to some dish, ask for it to be passed, even if you can reach it. Don't do so even if the person next to you has asked for it and you are only doing them a favour. Do not smoke at a meal between courses unless everybody else is doing so. Also do not quaff your drinks as if you are leaving for the Sahara desert the following day. Finally, do not be sloppy or careless in anyway, the argument is that if you can be sloppy in your personal habits, you'll be a lot sloppier at your work!

With these factors taken care of you should be on your way to taking up the position you've dreamed about, the only word of caution is that make sure you go in whole and come out whole - not feet first!

S. RAMANUJACHARYA

professor1@sify.com