{"id":1589,"date":"2015-04-17T11:35:38","date_gmt":"2015-04-17T15:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/?p=1589"},"modified":"2015-04-17T11:39:27","modified_gmt":"2015-04-17T15:39:27","slug":"professionalism-so-what-exactly-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/professionalism-so-what-exactly-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Professionalism\u2014So What Exactly Is It?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1591 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"Group of professionals standing in a cluster\" width=\"300\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals-300x255.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals-100x85.jpg 100w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals-150x128.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals-200x170.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals-450x383.jpg 450w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals-600x510.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/files\/2015\/04\/Professionals.jpg 610w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Congratulations! You\u2019ve landed that first job\u2014and you\u2019re ready to start.<\/p>\n<p>Now those same folks who were asking: \u201cWhat are you going to do when you graduate?\u201d are giving you advice to get started: \u201c Remember to be professional!\u201d Professional is such an all-encompassing word. What exactly does it mean?<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Well, like beauty, professionalism is in the eye of the beholder, but there are some general principles most would agree on. Professionalism is a cluster of attributes including your competence, your work ethic, your ability to work with others, your attitude, how you dress and comport yourself, your time management skills and your ethics and values.<\/p>\n<p>What should you focus on as you step into a new position, wanting to demonstrate a high level of professionalism?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Communicate effectively with others<\/strong>. Show positive regard for each person you interact with, and demonstrate good listening skills. Ask questions! Admit mistakes and make things right! Effective interpersonal communication may be the most important way you demonstrate professionalism.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Demonstrate your commitment to the team<\/strong>. Assist others with projects as appropriate and commit to team goals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Display a positive attitude<\/strong>. Research shows that more people are fired because they don\u2019t get along with others than because they can\u2019t do the job. Don\u2019t grumble or whine.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dress appropriately<\/strong>. Read the Operations Manual for any information about dress codes and observe the work culture. Dress in keeping with other professionals\u2014and those whose positions you aspire to. Make sure your attire is suitable for the work you are doing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Manage your time effectively<\/strong>. Prioritize and meet deadlines. Be reliable and punctual.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Practice good etiquette<\/strong>. Yes, that\u2019s manners! Don\u2019t interrupt, yawn, look down or otherwise convey lack of interest in others. A word about phones and other technology: silence them in work meetings.<\/li>\n<li>K<strong>eep good boundaries between home and worklife<\/strong>. Minimize personal calls and discussions of personal problems at work.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, and perhaps most importantly<strong>, convey integrity and commitment to your values<\/strong>. Your colleagues need to know that can count on you for honesty, confidentiality, and commitment to organizational values.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So yes, it is about the dress, and it is about the manners, but it\u2019s so much more than that. It\u2019s conveying that you are a person who is intelligent, committed, hard \u2013working, and an all-round great colleague. It\u2019s all true\u2014isn\u2019t it? Great, you are already on your way to being a great professional!<\/p>\n<p><em>~Mary Beth<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congratulations! You\u2019ve landed that first job\u2014and you\u2019re ready to start. Now those same folks who were asking: \u201cWhat are you going to do when you graduate?\u201d are giving you advice to get started: \u201c Remember to be professional!\u201d Professional is such an all-encompassing word. What exactly does it mean?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":832,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128337,1],"tags":[116804,131420,132056,133173,46457,569,528,138802],"class_list":["post-1589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dress-to-impress","category-uncategorized","tag-advice","tag-career","tag-career-path","tag-etiquette","tag-jobs","tag-photos","tag-tips","tag-your-first-job","entry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"career","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/author\/career\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/832"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1589"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1594,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1589\/revisions\/1594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/career-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}