You: The Product You’re Selling — Part 1
Presenting yourself improperly can lead to rejection. Harsh, personal rejection.This is a challenging blog series to write.
Like most people, I resent that idea that potential employers or clients assess my looks instead of my skills. I’m also sort of a free-spirit. I don’t care about fashion or image — I’m all about the human element in every interaction. What this means is that, IRL, I spend a lot of days in jeans and a baggy tank top with my hair pulled into two Pocahontas braids and about an inch of “sparkly” roots that I haven’t made time to eliminate.
But when I go to meetings or to work on site, I have to bow to the reality. In a business context, image matters. Over the next few blogs, I’m going to talk about both face-to-face and virtual image, and how to use the reality of image to your advantage in business.
In the meantime, keep in mind that cultivating a professional image isn’t caving to the rampant “lookism” that makes it so hard for women in the workplace. This is about first impressions, and even respect. As an example, when I (as my writer alter-ego) submit a manuscript to a potential publisher, I make sure that I use good quality paper, that it’s printed cleanly, and that it’s formatted to meet the editor’s guidelines.
Does this make my book more entertaining or moving? It does not. But by making sure it’s professionally presented, I show that I respect the editor and that I take my career as a writer seriously. In interactions with potential clients, I need to do the same with myself.
In the next blog in this series, we’ll talk about that most uncontrollable factor: authentic, genetic beauty (oh, the unfairness of it all!).
Keena Tomko
Filemaker Developer
