Making the Right Impression

1. Dress for Success

Find out what your office dress code is before the first day. If there isn’t one, then ask coworkers you’re comfortable with asking (in your position or just above) what they recommend wearing. Invest in clothes that fit you well. If you’re unsure exactly how to dress, lean closer to nicer than more casual because it’s always better to be overdressed than underdressed. As the saying goes, “dress for the job you want, not the job you have”. With many people working from home, dressing nicely is less important, but still relevant. If you know you’ll have video calls that day, it’s worth switching out the hoodie for a button-up, sweater, or at the very least a clean t-shirt. Just as essential is having a clean room in the background of your video!

image from Emily at Ruin My Week

2. Email etiquette

Pleasantries can be annoying and feel silly, but they are necessary. Always check for spelling and grammar mistakes before sending any email or other type of communication. I definitely recommend installing Grammarly or another similar spellcheck/grammar-check extension to catch any of your mistakes. Keep in mind the tone of your writing so that no unintentional messages are conveyed. This is where pleasantries like starting every email with hello, adding “please” to any requests, and ending with a thank you remark can go a long way. Don’t make emails too long, even though you may be very tempted to (especially when sending one to your boss). No one likes reading through a five-paragraph essay of an email! Try to answer every email you receive in a reasonable but timely manner - you don’t need to drop what you’re doing to respond to each email, but don’t leave coworkers (and especially clients or managers) hanging. If someone requests something from you but you’re busy with your current tasks, it’s not a bad idea to respond immediately to let them know you’ll get back to them as soon as you get the chance. For more advice on how to send professional-looking emails, check out these articles.

3. A chaotic desk is a chaotic mind

Don’t let your desk/office space get messy or out of control. It’s of course completely fine to add personal touches, but remember it’s still an office and seen by everyone else, not your private bedroom. For those of you still doing remote work, it’s important to keep your background clean or use a virtual background to hide a potentially disorganized room behind you. Similar to organizing your physical workspace, keeping your email inbox will help you stay on top of tasks and respond in a timely manner to coworkers and clients. See my “Organizing your Email Inbox” Island for tips on this.

image from Claudya Martinez

4. Office small talk

We’ve covered this a bit already in this map, but I want to emphasize - making small talk is an important skill. The quick conversations you can have with coworkers while passing them in the hallway, over a lunch break, or by stopping by their office will form the foundation of your workplace network. These conversations can be pleasant ways to get to know people you don’t directly work with, and in some cases even spark an idea for a new collaboration. I’m not saying you should stop to talk to every person you ever pass by or you can never eat lunch alone (we all need the occasional quiet lunch break). But the more people you can meet at work and the more conversations you can have, the more opportunities you will encounter to learn from others or to do new and interesting projects with others.

These are just a few of the many things you can do to make a good impression on others at work. Tiffany Yeh has written some advice on how to prepare for the first day in particular. I would also recommend talking to friends, mentors, or other connections at your workplace to ask them for their advice on the company culture and what you can do to stand out!