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Every impression counts
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 6:43 am
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I’m back in the office for one day only today - conducting recruitment interviews for a role in the team - before returning to paternity leave for another week or so.
Preparing last night for the interviews lreminded me about when I was interviewed by my current full-time employer.
When I arrived for the interview I was met by a lady who walked me up several flights of stairs, along corridors and eventually to the interview room where the two interviewers were waiting.
She was very chatty and welcoming. I now know this lady is the Communication team’s office manager, and she’s always very friendly.
Several months later I was talking to my line manager about the day I had my interview.
She mentioned that the office manager had said, based on our informal chat as we walked to the interview room, that I’d made a positive impression with her and that what I’d said on the walk to the interview room tallied with what I’d said in the interview room.
Now I’m not suggesting that the walk to the interview room becomes a formal part of the recruitment process, but the lesson here for marketing and PR professionals is that every impression counts.
Every piece of communication, every conversation, every action you take on behalf of your business, brand or organisation needs to be consistent with the values that organisation holds.
Without that your audiences will see your organisation as fake and insincere, just as I would have appeared had I been offhand or inconsistent on that walk to the interview room.
Tags: Branding, consistency, Marketing, personal+branding, PR, Public relations, public+relations, recruitment
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Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 9:13 am
We interviewed someone at a consultancy where I used to work, who made such a negative impression with her first words on exiting the lift, that we all wished we’d pushed her back in and hit the down button.
She didn’t get the job needless to say!!
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 11:56 am
My father often repeats a story where he got a job, and later learned he had made an impression with his walk! Not what he said during a walk, but the actual gait and manner of his walk.
Apparently, he was told that he walked with purpose - that he had an important reason to get from A to B - the type that stops market researchers even trying to speak to you in the street.
Needless to say, he’s always made the point to me that first impressions count, right down to every last detail in your body language.
Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Thanks for the comments Heather and Chris.
It was a long day of interviews, with a real variety of candidates.
I’m pleased to say my first impressions of one particularly strong candidate were backed up by the interview itself, so it looks like the day was successful!