Impress in 15 seconds

August 18, 2014 Comments (0) Sponsored Post Like

When you first meet someone, it’s human nature that they’d be forming an opinion of you, and you of them.
Some say it takes the first 15 seconds, others say 7 seconds… i even heard 0.5 seconds before. Tough!

There’s the possibility of getting nervous when you meet people for the first time,
and it’s the worst when it’s for your first job interview. In your life. Ever.
First of all, you’ve never had a job before, so how would you know how a real job interview would be like?!

I remember i would get all these tips from my parents and older friends when i had to get a job after college.
“You need to buy office clothes!”
“Ask questions about the company!”
“Make sure you don’t go out the night before!”

Five years after that i ended up having to interview people myself,
and i would notice all these little things that you’d think aren’t important,
yet are so noticeable to the person interviewing you.

The most important thing is your HANDSHAKE.
It creates so much rapport cos you’re physically touching the person.
Remove the notion that it’s acceptable to give a limp-fish-shake, that’s the worst!
On the other hand, don’t squeeze so hard either!
It’s rare but when someone does squeeze my hand too hard,
inside, i’m all, “Ow…. #youhurtme #sad”

One thing that moves me when i first meet someone is when they look me straight in the eye and i look back. This is made even more powerful when done during the handshake.
And best when done with two smiles.

Posture is also of importance. Someone standing upright oozes confidence and capability to me, whereas a person who slouches makes me think you’re timid and needs space to grow.

These are just a mere sprinkle of what one needs to know before acing that job interview.

I was having a look thru a new section on Shine On and there were all these tips on what to do and vice versa. Called Hello Confidence, it’s an online platform that works out challenges and exercises for people who are about to go thru their first interview.

There are lots of suggestions on how to boost your confidence, improve those grooming skills, and what best to say. Each activity is crafted to prepare someone completely clueless.

That’s how in-depth i think the site is!

I read a page called Icebreakers (under Own The Conversation) which listed 10 questions you could ask your interviewer, to show interest in the company you might potentially be working for.

There were some really good ones like:
“What are some challenges the person filing this position face?” or
“What are the most valued talents in your company?”

I thought, “Huh, i better read this in case there’s a question i least expect to be asked!”
(After going through them, i was reassured that i already have all the answers in my heart and head XD)

Besides all this information that’s readily available, girls can comment on each others’ posts to get a conversation going. Essentially, Hello Confidence is an interactive platform that allows a community of girls to come together to share their methods and tips, while inspiring others at the same time.

What makes it so special is that it’s real girls sharing their real stories in real time with each other.

One of the more interesting pages on the site i found is called Pitch Yourself, where you’re asked to think about your best attributes and how you can keep your pitch to just under 15 seconds. (You just have to read the page yourself to know the rest.) Then there’s even an accompanying page for you to upload your “practice” pitch in video or written format, so that you can get feedback on it from people who are not gonna end up being your real boss.

I was like, “Man. They didn’t have sites like this ten years ago! You guys are so lucky!”
All i did was skim the surface of what i should have thought about before barging in. :p

There’s another one i like called the Idea Cube (under Pitch Your Idea). Everyone contributes random words to the Idea Cube, and it jumbles them all together to distribute to you a bunch of words. I didn’t know i was gonna get words from other people and was totally unprepared for it. You’re supposed to use all the random words to MAKE UP a pitch even if it the product is imaginary. I wrote some rubbish cos i just wanted to go on to the next page which is called the Idea Bank, and when i saw what other girls my junior wrote, i was kinda impressed (then embarrassed by my half-assed attempt and wondered whether it would show up in public).