Acting Professionally As A Student

Acting appropriately and professionally as a student isn’t always an easy task, especially with so many distractions and unhelpful friends around to change your demeanour. Behaving in a professional manner doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun whilst studying, it just means that you have to conduct yourself in a more positive manner when you are in the company of people that you don’t know all that well.

You may wonder why it is important to act professionally whilst still studying, after all you aren’t seeking work, you’re still a student – and we all know how students are stereotyped! However, this isn’t the case as employers are always looking for the best and most professional candidate for the job role. Communicating effectively and professionally with the people around you, you project yourself in a positive manner, which potential employers are desperately seeking. Who would you rather hire to fill a role in your company; someone who posts pictures of all their drunken parties on Facebook, regularly adds curse words to their sentences and doesn’t type using correct grammar, or someone who communicates effectively, keeps their personal life exactly that… personal, and who participates in activities within their area? Not a hard decision to make, is it? 

It isn’t as hard as it may seem to present yourself in a professional way, in fact there are a few easy steps that you can take to ensure you are seen as professional and motivated.

• Communication and Emails – be sure to communicate effectively, limiting the use of any curse words to friends and family. Remember to use spell check when sending emails to potential employers or contacts… simple typos give off a negative image, especially as most email programs include a spell check feature.

• Appearance – try to dress appropriately for the situation. Common sense tells you not to attend a job interview in a football jersey! The same goes with wearing too much make-up, or having an unusual hairstyle. If your job role includes interacting with potential clients, then image plays an important role.

• Social Networking – Be wary of what you post or upload to social networking websites, such as Twitter or Facebook. It is not unusual for potential employers to do a background search on all job candidates before or after the interview process. Do you really need to put the pictures of your latest drunken party online?

• Interact with fellow students – Again, as part of the background check potential employers may even decide to talk with your fellow students, teachers or previous employers to get some information on how you interact with other people and how well you work in a team.

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