3 Ways to Look More Professional than You Really Are

Being thought of as a professional is not all suit and tie. It's not all about qualifications either. True professionals have an aura about them. And even though they may not completely understand every situation they're thrown into, they can navigate their way through it with little problem.

Few of us walk into the corporate world with that professional aura already in place. I was no exception.

My first meeting was with my boss, a couple VPs and a bunch of high-level consultants brought in to pilot a massive transformation within the company. I was in way over my head.

But after a few months in a high-profile position, I taught myself how to act in order to gain the respect of my established peers. Today, in a new career path, I'm more prepared and more confident when dealing with people. And it's all about looking professional while doing so.

1. Be the first to shake someone's hand

It's the first thing you always do when stepping into a meeting. But it can be so customary that we're sometimes apathetic about it. Someone will initiate it eventually, so who cares?

When you're the youngest person in the room especially, it's really important that you make an effort to be the first hand that's reaching across the table. It says a lot about your energy level and your confidence as a professional.

2. Know how to make small talk

Nothing is worse than uncomfortable silence when a meeting gets put on hold. Last week, Penelope and I had a meeting with a local radio station. Halfway through, Penelope had to take an important phone call and left me alone to entertain.

One of the people we were meeting with was a marketing exec, so I asked her how the web was affecting ad sales in the company. But I didn't stop there. I went on to talk about how I loved the fact that they were putting radio on the Internet and how it was the best way for me to stay in touch with my favorite programs back on the coast. They loved it.

In short, it's really important to be conscious of your audience. And not just about what they're saying, but what they'll be interested in you saying.

3. Be aware of opportunities to send thank you notes

It's a really good gesture to send a follow-up email or a card to say thank you. I always think it's nice when someone is thankful for my time. And why not? It makes me feel important.

It's not always appropriate though. Typically, Corporate America doesn't send out a thank you notice when a meeting takes place in-house. I sent an email thanking a VP one day. The next day, my boss gave me a reality check. A VP doesn't need to know how thankful I am. They don't care.

I was pretty amazed by this at the time, but I guess it makes perfect sense. In the world of entrepreneurship showing your gratitude is pretty common. Our time is important to us and it's nice to show your appreciation. But there's always such a thing as too much. Even though the line tends to be rather blurry sometimes. So learn a little more about who you're dealing with and then decide exactly how you're going to show your thanks.

Thinking Inside the Box: Garden Level, Much Like the Cake, Is a Lie

First and foremost, +1,000 geek points to any of you who understood the reference in today's title. For the rest of you, have a chat with your video-game addicted friend and ask him about Portal and its significance in relation to cake.

Now then, on with the show.

When I interviewed for my current job, I made it a point to ask about the physical properties of where I would be working. I wasn't doing this to be a diva (is divo the male equivalent?), but rather because I already knew I had the job and just wanted to get a sense for what the office was like. While I couldn't go take an actual tour of the department, I was assured that it was clean, friendly, and on the "garden level."

This news was very exciting to me, as garden level sounded like the nicest place in the whole building to work. In fact, near the front of our place of business is a beautiful arrangement of flowers and shrubs, whose very presence screamed, "Come on in, it's wonderful here! Oh, and while you're at it, would you mind giving us a big ol' sack of money?" You see, I work for a fundraising non-profit, our very existence is owed to the fact that the man in charge can get money from even the most miserly old curmudgen. In fact, once I was talking with him and just had the overwhelming urge to give him all the money in my wallet. I simply said, "I only have $5, but I know you can do more with it than I ever will." He then took that $5 and created seven scholarships. I think he's magic, either that or counterfiting cash like crazy. So you see, the building has to exude an air of welcome and joy, because only happy people will give you their hard-earned cash.

Even if I wasn't working up with the happy flowers and shrubs, the back part of our building is adjacent to a golf course, so it just seemed like I was about to find myself in a world full of sunshine and joy.

But was I wrong…

You see, it turns out that "garden level" is a fancy term for basement. Yeah, I went from communing with nature and enjoying the first buds of spring, to life as one of the mole men, only allowed to emerge from my subterranean lair when my toils were finished and I was deemed fit to leave.

There are no flowers on the garden level, only a few bushes of unknown origin outside one set of doors. Our other set of doors open below the loading dock, because nothing screams nature like a big, smelly truck delivering this week's shipment of napkins and linens that we use to impress potential clients who enter our building through the real "garden level."

Obviously, being as I work in a basement, there are no windows, so I can go through a whole day and not even know what the weather is like. It's supposed to snow this Friday, we could get up to 10 inches, and everyone upstairs with their windows will likely be long gone before us poor underlings (and I use the word in the most literal sense) even know our vehicles are buried in snow drifts. I suppose management assumes that ignorance is bliss.

So I warn you dear readers, if you interview for a position and you are told you'll be working on the garden level, don't expect to see anything remotely resembling a garden. Of course, I suppose you could dig up a corner of the office and plant your own beans and carrots. Oh, and I hear watermelon just grows like crazy under fluorescent lighting. Of course you may get some complaints from coworkers after you apply that fifth bag of fertilizer, but they'll thank you when you make them a nice homemade salad for the company picnic.

Garden level is a lie, now where's that cake I was promised?