Whether you’re going for a job interview or still in the beginning of your college experience and figuring out what you’d like to do, here’s 5 tips to get people to take you more seriously.
1. Introduce yourself strongly.
This might be the first and most important way to get people to take you seriously. Making a good first impression goes a long way. Be firm in your handshake, and introduce yourself with your full name. Make eye contact with the person and try to create a conversation rather than a one-off introduction to make yourself more memorable.
2. Don’t downplay your accomplishments.
When meeting someone for the first time (especially someone who you’re interviewing with) DON’T downplay your accomplishments. I know it can be scary and feel like you’re being cocky when discussing things you’ve done in the past. However, done in the right way it can stimulate conversation and give them a greater interest in you. Perhaps you’ve done something that they have experience with and because of the ideas you were able to execute they become interested in working with you in the future. Catch my drift?
Example: “I’m just in a club at my school” rather than “I write for an online magazine that has a national base!” See the difference?!
3. Send follow-up emails and phone calls.
Make sure to follow up on emails/phone calls if you don’t receive a response. This will make you look genuinely interested and by actively pursuing their attention they’re more likely to want to work with you. Often, business people are busy and your email might get sent to the bottom of their inbox and they might unintentionally miss it. So by never following-up you are doing a huge disservice to yourself and missing a possible learning opportunity.
4. Send a thank you note.
In addition to following up emails/phone calls, once you work with someone you should send them a thank you note. Whether you’ve just interviewed for a job or you were talking to someone in the business you’d like to end up in, send them a note! Thank you notes go farther than you’d think and they’ll appreciate the gesture.
5. Maintain contact with people.
Make sure to maintain contact with people and create connections. Connections are everything. I’ve definitely been in a position before where because I’ve created a connection with someone, someone else is more willing to talk to me.
That’s all for now! Be sure to let me know if you try out any of these tips.
Until next time!
xoxo,
Amanda