2 Chapter 1: Introduction to Professionalism

1.1 Professionals and Professionalism

• Definition of Professions:
  • Specialized knowledge, moral communities with shared ethical values, formal professional associations
  • Examples of original professions: law, medicine,
  • More occupational groups are “professionalizing”
  • Examples of professional associations:
    • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA): https://www.aicpa-cima.com/home
    • American Marketing Association: https://www.ama.org/
    • Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): https://www.shrm.org/
    • Association for Talent Development (ATD): https://www.td.org/
    • Kansas Board of Cosmetology: https://www.kansas.gov/kboc/StatsandRegs.htm
    • American Hotel and Lodging Association: https://www.ahla.com/
• Defining a Professional:
  • Broader term for a member of a specific occupational group
  • Individual with specific characteristics or behaviors–professional norms and expectations
  • Generally, demonstrating professionalism in business communication is demonstrating:
    • Care: paying attention to details
      • Proofread, spelling grammar, punctuation, capitalization, no texting lingo
      • Times, dates, locations, correct attachments
      • Check font type, color, size
      • Your personal appearance
    • Courtesy: follow the standards of business etiquette
      • Emotional control—tone and word choice
      • Proper forms of address (Dr., Ms., Mr., other professional title such as Director, President)
      • Following chain of command
      • Politeness
      • Communicating to serve your audience’s needs
    • Convention: Follow accepted norms
      •  Breaking conventions or organizational norms can distract you’re your message
      • Formatted properly, standards of design
      •  In an organization, you may be provided with specific formatting guidelines

• Professionalism’s Gatekeeping Function:
  • Individuals judge messages and, in turn, the sender of those messages by their professionalism.
  • Those who demonstrate professionalism will have better access to individuals and information.
  • An unprofessional message may be ignored or offend others and damage relationships.

1.2 Professional Characteristics: The Employers’ Perspective

• National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) core competencies for career readiness:
  • Overview of the eight core competencies developed by employers to create a shared understanding and common vocabulary between academia and industry
  • Table 1.1: Detailed definitions of each competency
    • Self-Development: Proactively develop oneself and one’s career through continual personal and professional learning, awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses, navigation of career opportunities, and networking to build relationships within and without one’s organization.
    • Communication: Clearly and effectively exchange information, ideas, facts, and perspectives with persons inside and outside of an organization.
    • Critical Thinking: Identify and respond to needs based on an understanding of situational context and logical analysis of relevant information.
    • Equity & Inclusion: Demonstrate the awareness, attitude, knowledge, and skills required to equitably engage and include people from different local and global cultures. Engage in anti-racist practices that actively challenge the systems, structures, and policies of racism.
    • Leadership Recognize and capitalize on personal and team strengths to achieve organizational goals.
    • Professionalism: Knowing work environments differ greatly, understand and demonstrate effective work habits, and act in the interest of the larger community and workplace.
    • Teamwork: Build and maintain collaborative relationships to work effectively toward common goals while appreciating diverse viewpoints and shared responsibilities.
    • Technology: Understand and leverage technologies ethically to enhance efficiencies, complete tasks, and accomplish goals.
• Employer Expectations:
  • Employers report graduates to be least proficient in the areas (professionalism, communication, and critical thinking) employers value most.
  • Table 1.2: Comparison of essential skills and graduate proficiency
  • Professionalism by employer standards:
    • Acting equitably with integrity and accountability
    • Being punctual, present, and prepared
    • Working productively with others
    • Managing time effectively to accomplish organizational goals and meet deadlines
    • Showing attention to detail
    • Having a professional work image and a positive personal brand

1.3 Professional Image and Attire

• Importance of Professional Image:
  • Impact on employer impressions
  • Adapting to different work environments
• Dress Code Guidelines:
  • General principles for professional attire: clothes that are clean, ironed, well-fitting (modest),subtle patterns and colors; accessories that are quiet, scents that subtle (if worn at all)
  • Good personal hygiene and grooming (washed and managed body and hair)
  • Visual examples of feminine, masculine, and gender-neutral business professional and casual attire

1.4 Your Networking Pitch

• Definition of a Networking Pitch:
  • Networking Pitch is also termed an “elevator pitch”:
    •  the time an elevator takes to go between floors is generally thirty to forty seconds)
    • be able to articulate your value proposition (the skills you have and the position you are seeking)
    • Networking pitches can be used in any networking setting including career fairs, interviews, conferences, tradeshows, industry gatherings, LinkedIn
• Crafting an Effective Pitch for employment networking:
  • Three-step process (write, edit, practice)
  • Key elements to include:
    • Educational background
    • Experience in the field of interest
    • Skills, strengths, passions (be specific and provide examples or proof to demonstrate you possess these skills, strengths, passions)
    • What do you want to do
    • Why would you be good at a position
• Delivery Tips:
  • Confidence and conviction
  • Adapting to different situations