ENHANCING CORPORATE IMAGE THROUGH CORPORATE & PUBLIC RELATIONS - EDUCATION

 CORPORATE

The official professional identity formed by joint physical body of individuals is known as Corporate. The derivation of corporation comes from the Latin word Corpus meaning for body or a body of people. Its traces can be found way back to the Byzantine Empire in 527-565 and in the Roman Laws and Mauryan Empire in India. In the 16^th century early corporations were formed to lead colonial ventures by Hudson’s Bay, Dutch and British East India Company. Corporation in today’s modern globalized world can be termed as a structured union governed and incorporated within a legal framework of constitution for Administration & Business.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 

The policies, decisions and actions permissible within law for controlling and directing corporations is termed as corporate governance. This formation derives the rights and responsibilities among the diversified participants along with specifying rules and procedures for initiating decisions in the day to day corporate affairs. Executives, Managers, Auditors, Creditors, Regulators, Shareholders, Stakeholders and Board of Directors form the corporate framework. The governance sets and pursues objectives reflecting the framework in context to the social regulations and market environment. Ethical Behavior, Integrity and Transparency formulates the model of Corporate Governance.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

Corporate Governance is primarily more about protecting a business; on the other hand Corporate Management signifies growth multiplication or growth of business. Governance is insuring that the business is run by abiding the law, whereas Management is using the right techniques used by executives to operate and flourish the business. Governance for example is signatures of two officials of a company on the cheques to prevent frauds and allocating different budgets to different departments as per their projections is an example of Finance Management.

CORPORATE IMAGE

The visions reflected in our mind when a corporate is mentioned or discussed defines corporate image.  It is the composite psychological impression that springs across and continuously changes as per company’s performance, services, visibility and pronouncements. At times it is based on Public Perception, Reputation and Goodwill of the concerned Organization rather than on its actual position or state of affairs. Corporate image, unlike corporate identity is fluid and can fluctuate and change overnight from neutral to positive, negative and vice-versa. The right mix of Corporate & Public relations is needed to formulate & enhance a positive corporate Image.

CORPORATE RELATIONS

Corporate Relations are a formal approach to acknowledge, understand, classify and support inter & intra business activities on a wider spectrum via networks and services. It can be termed as a medium for conduction of smooth business relationships by nurturing and taking it to the next level of comfort. The term corporate relationship management is thus of special importance and organizations lay proper emphasis on its implementation and adherence. Corporate relationship management is distinct yet related to Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Enterprise relationship management is a value creation business strategy and does not focus on cost containment but strengthens the network enabled processes and transforms relationships between the organizations and often works beyond customer relationship management. In Customer relationship management, a company follows a set of guidelines based on principles and policies while holding meaningful interactions with its customers.

 PUBLIC RELATIONS

The practices used to build and sustain the goodwill image of the corporation at various community domains is known as Public Relations. This form of publicity generation can be initiated by paid and non paid forms of communication. Foremost it’s important to understand the nature of organizations goals, perspectives and interests to address them suitably among the public. In today’s corporate world, public relations are the public face of the client who mingles and cultivates professional relationships with the corporate world and associated patrons through business initiatives, CSR events, shows and media forums. Public relation activities include building targeted audiences, selecting appropriate media, addressing the media through Seminars, Conferences, Brochures, Newsletters and Advertisements.

HOW TO ENHANCE CORPORATE IMAGE

The right mix of Corporate & Public relations is needed to formulate & enhance a positive corporate Image by Organizations. Here Corporate Public Relations comes into the forefront by amalgamating both the concerns. These Publics include employees, channel partners, clients, consumers, media, education bodies, government, agencies and general public.  So to establish a corporate entity in the society, it has to nourish and maintain the relationships with its various members by constantly innovating, servicing and effectively communicating about its predominant role among them.  By directing correct flow of services & information to its targeted audience, organizations tend to enhance their Image. For schools the targeted audience is students and their parents and for Retailers their targeted audience is their consumers, it is their networking, servicing, word of mouth and promotions which will help them and their goodwill grow. You have to follow a two way process through continuous reviews and feedback from your targeted audience among whom you are displaying your products and services promoted by self and media services. Effective Corporate Image can be maintained through acts of Awareness, Acceptance and Appropriate Actions.

Co-Authored 

Kavita Thapliyal & Manjul Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer 

 & 

Principal Consultant

Visions Ahead

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

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Interview: A Success Journey to a Successful Professional Career ( Series-4) Training & Development

Interview - Grooming & Appropriate Dressing

"You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming and encouraging your greatest asset."

“The suit is the anchor of a professional man’s & women's wardrobe”

Dressing plays a vital role in the interview success. Clothes reveal half of the story about the success chance of the candidate. It is well said, “Dress Before You Address”. Today most of the youngsters are running far away from the true discipline of formal dressing and hence when they try these outfits at the time of interaction they are totally uncomfortable. Sometimes it is noticed that during campus interviews student borrow the formals from their peer group and thus are confused not only at the part of dressing but also at the conceptual delivery. This is the main reason to give uniformity at all working levels not only schools but corporate and business schools are also tying up with the concept of formal dressing, that sense to bring more corporate looks at both personal and professional sense. As such there is no hard and fast rule for interview dressing but yes one should always dress formal with smart appearance and the most crucial point is we need to dress according to our professional demand. Interview dressing should match as per job profile of the company and suiting country norms.

Why Grooming & Dressing?

Grooming is the processes of making yourself look neat and attractive. The things which you do to make yourself and your appearance tidy and pleasant.

Need for Professional Grooming

• To improve Communication Skills

• Good Articulation

• Improving Conceptual & Presentation Skills

• To Improve Industrial Knowledge

• Problem Solving Skills

• Team Work

• Confidence Building & Developing Overall Personality. 

Positive Traits in a Vibrant Groomed Professional:

If you look and behave like a highly trained and well-groomed professional, you will win the respect and honor of most valued clients.

• A groomed professional radiates competence and confidence.

• A professional is always positive, focused, and energetic.

• A professional avoids engaging in or repeating gossip.

• A professional always maintains the highest levels of honesty and integrity.

• A groomed professional is a role-model.

Grooming is an overall development of personality. It is the journey that covers all three major aspects of life.

Three basic things you need to consider when figuring out what’s appropriate for your working wardrobe:

1. Your Line of Work
2. Your Corporate Culture
3. Your Audience

Grooming is the persona of one’s mature life, that leads a man to be human, who understands values, respect, responsibilities and motivates him enough to perform better even at the time of adversity.

Men and Women common Dressing:

• Conservative two-piece business suit (solid dark blue or grey is best)
• Conservative long-sleeved shirt/blouse (white is best, pastel is next best)
• Clean, trimmed fingernails
• Minimal cologne or perfume/deodorant
• Empty pockets—only mobile (silent mode) and handkerchief
• Dark shoes (black lace-ups are best)
• Dark socks (black is best)
• Clean shaven face
• No gum, candy, or cigarettes
• Light briefcase or portfolio case
• No visible body piercing (nose rings, chains, bracelets &  eyebrow rings, etc.) or tattoos/ mehandies
• Wear a suit with a jacket and skirt or slacks.
• Shoes with conservative heels
• Clean, polished conservative shoes
• Minimum use of ornaments
• Avoid large purses but can carry laptop briefcase.
• Enamels need to be conservative in color
• Well-groomed hairstyle -Keep your hair shot and if long avoid open.
• Keep your makeup simple and natural

Conclusion

“Dress badly and they remember the clothes; dress well and they remember the person”

We can win the interview with our selling skills that we can master from our academic and professional career as well as with our maturity to understand current affairs like economic, social behavioral, science and political issues. We need to be confident but overconfidence can ruin our possibilities for interview success. The most important aspect to remember is that we should start preparing for our interview since the moment we choose our career. Never enter an interview hall without prior homework as it also increases the failure and disappointment chances of a candidate. Study the company profile and the vision as well as the mission of the responding company because most of the interview questions revolve around the above concepts. Speak clearly and enthusiastically about your experiences and skills. Try to be honest but optimistic and speak as you are sharing your ideas and thoughts. Don't forget that greeting is the magical mantra and smile is the tantra for your success chance during interview. Prepare a solid self introduction as it is the most demanded question to enter the chakraview of interview. My purpose of sharing this article with you is to make you that Abhimanyu which not only knows how to enter the Chakraview but after negotiating all rounds successfully knows how to smoothly sail out victoriously with flying colors.

Kavita Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer & Consultant

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

These Series of Articles can also be viewed at http://www.articlesbase.com/interviews-articles/interviewa-success-journey-to-a-successful-professional-career-706363.html

Interview: A Success Journey to a Successful Professional Career..... ( Series-3) Training & Development

Interview Categories

Interview Mantra: K (Y×C×P) 

 K= KNOW                                                          KY = KNOW YOURSELF

Y=YOURSELF                                                   KC = KNOW YOUR COMPANY

C=COMPANY                                                    KNOW THE PROCESS

P= PROCESS

"For good or ill, your conversation is your advertisement. Every time you open your mouth, you let men look into your mind. Do they see it well-clothed, neat and business-like?"   

                                                                                          - Bruce Barton


1. Screening Interviews
2. Telephonic Interviews
3. Face To Face Interviews
4. Panel Interviews
5. Group Interviews
6. Structured Interviews
7. Campus Interview
8. Performance /Situation Interviews/ Stress Interviews
9. Online interviews
10. Presentation Interviews
11. Video Conferencing
12. Dinner Interviews

Screening Interviews

This is the most primary type of interview. In this category the candidate is categorized by different set criteria's like: subjective, departmental, academic, profession & experience.

Note: Most people loose their hold in interview at the screening rounds, wherein this round is very crucial.

Why is the Screening Crucial? 

Through this process only the candidate is invited for interview.

• One must be very particular, while filling his forms or forwarding his CV/Resume.
• Where the hand written details are to be forwarded we need to be very cautious about spellings, vocabulary, and grammar as well as writing skills.
• People are using internet as the main source of communication but they are least tentative in making the ID's matching with their profile, here also most of the candidate loose points. We should always go for decent Email: ID's
• We also need to keep in mind that the photographs that we affix in our CV / Resume need to be updated and need to also match with the desired profile.

Telephonic Interviews

Seeing the time frame many of the organization are focusing on the telephonic rounds. The basic criteria of the telephonic interview session are to judge employment objective, education, or required skills.

Note: Responding to the telephone/mobiles is much tougher than carrying it. Since these interviews can often occur unexpectedly, it is important for a candidate to know the best practice of using it.
How to handle Telephonic Interviews?

Telephonic interviews basically check’s the communication skills and interpersonal etiquettes of a candidate; hence it becomes important for us to talk confidently and maturely at the time of interaction.

• When we receive any such call, we should always greet the person and should talk clearly
• Avoid or reduce distractions. Always search a quite place for interaction.
• You need to have enthusiasm and self confidence while answering the questions.
• Keep small note of your academic/ professional details and highlight your strengths.
• Avoid caller tones and absurd openings at telephonic rounds. In your absence groom your acquaintance to receive telephonic calls properly
• Make it more professional by your voice, mannerism and always pay thanks back at the end of the call.

Face To Face Interview

As it is well said," First impression is the last impression". Face to face interview works like a mirror for the interviewee and interviewer. It can be explained as a direct answer to a demanded question so we need be well prepared for the face to face interaction.

Note: words play a powerful role in this kind of interactions so, when you come to face such interactions you need to be well advance prepared about yourself, your profile, subjective contents, company profile, work experience as well as the current industrial demand.

Handling Face To Face Interactions:

• Face to face interview can make or mar the prospects of a candidate for his further rounds. The impression you make will be a lasting one. It is vital to look your best. Dress conservatively and in good taste and be confident and calm.
• Always focus on your SWOT analysis. You can win your interview by your strength and opportunities but on the other hand you should also highlight your weaknesses in such a positive manner that it leads you to a door of self evaluation and opens a way of self improvement.

To master face to face interactions a candidate need to impose five listed elements within self.

1. Punctuality   2. Politeness   3. Professionalism 4. Positive Attitude  5. Pro-activeness


Panel Interview

Panel interviews are also titled as committee interviews. These interviews are basically conducted with several individuals at one time, typically sitting around a conference table to evaluate the multiple skills of the candidate. The main purpose of such interactions is to provide a unanimous decision for the acceptance of the candidate.

Best Deed to Face Panel Interview:

Commonly great everybody: But face to the more mature person and if a lady is also a part of panel rounds than never forget to honor her. Be confident and sit smartly while facing panel interview. Keep eye contact with each person, with special attention to the individual who asked the question.
Remember that you can't suffice each panelist satisfaction but your maturity, handling stress and positive interaction can win many success chances as many HR experts believe that the real check of a candidate is panel rounds so one needs to be prepared with all dimensional skills.

Group Interviews

As per the limitations of time the group interviews are becoming popular day by day. Basically group interviews are conducted to see the participation, communication and leadership skills of a candidate.
Note: As it is a team work where the main purpose is Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM), but we should never forget the main theme behind this round is to lead within the group. A candidate need to be smart enough to show his strengths living within the group and ultimately shine at the end to achieve results favoring him because the whole group will not get the job, it will come to that candidate who is the STAR * (Situation, Task , Achievement, Result) performer.

How to Conquer Group Interviews?

• To conquer group interview a candidate need to first win his group, by his magical communication, content, knowledge and command on the topic in which the interaction is proceeding.
• He should show his STAR performance at the different stages of interaction. 
• Should also steal the dialogues of the team players and lead them by his interpersonal skills and would show brilliant task for the demanded situation and at end can achieve the targeted results.

Structured Interview

Structured interviews are commonly used for research departments are basically pre structured on a set pattern. They are also known as a standardized interview or a researcher-administered survey.
Note: The designed questionnaire need to also include all necessary details in-order to reach to the maximum possible results.

As these interviews are more statistical so the interviewing body need to plan systematically and must focus on the reliability and validity of results.

Campus Interviews

Campus interviews are becoming popular day by day. Corporate visiting campuses for recruitment generally test candidates on their technical expertise, aptitude, and personality. These rounds are based to check the academic & industrial knowledge of the candidate.

Criteria of Campus Interviews:

The candidate's communication skills and aptitude is judged through group discussions and written tests. His personality is evaluated trough presentation skills. Some companies also conduct online test at the preliminary rounds. Keeping in mind the corporate stress some companies also focus on psychometric test to know candidates maturity and his ability the handle stress.

Advantage to the Candidate:

The best advantage for a candidate to win the campus interview is that he is well advance familiar about his interview destination and can perform better as it is the most comfortable environment for him.

Performance/ Situation/Stress Interview

In this category candidates are given certain task related to their workforce to perform. These situations can be categories in different areas as Academic, Social, HR, Marketing, Finance, IT, IB Etc.

The motive of such interviews is to get the best results on spot. These rounds can also be categorized under audition interviews: like singing, dancing, acting etc. Candidates are asked to deliver presentation or demo in their respective area and even could be asked to solve certain stressful situations.

The most important thing to remember during the situational rounds is you show your competency.

Online Interviews

Internet is the best way of communication today. It is also the fastest and the cheapest medium of interaction.

Tips for Online interviews:

• Candidate need to write precise and to the demand of the questions.
• Candidate need to have good command on his writing skills.
• Spellings, formation and editing need to be checked before sending the mails.
• One must be aware of formal writing.

Presentation Interview

With the emerging change interviews have also taken up electronic impacts within. It is becoming increasingly common for presentations to be delivered as part of the recruitment process. It enable employer to assess individual's talent for effective organization growth. Communication skills, Confidence, presentation, body language, concepts are certain parameters to collate and analyze information. Now the usage of projectors, laptops has also added professionalism in the delivery of the candidates and hence the corporate is focusing more on the presentation skills.

Tips for Better Presentation Interviews:

Dress professionally: Matching Profile. It is well said, “Dress Before You Address”

• Rehearse the topic as much as possible.
• Know your target audience.
• Command on topic as well as with the time frame.
• Good body language
• Pleasing personality/Smiling attitude
• Audience friendly attitude.
• Complete homework including entire aspects.
• Good blend of knowledge and humor.
• Voice modulation.

 Video Conferencing

The widest form of interaction is video conferencing. This form of interaction is very common in most of the international brands. It is more conventional and time saving. The basic requirement to conduct such type of interview is camera, microphone and software.

Dinner Interview

These interviews are becoming popular day by day but the most important aspect to remember about such type of interaction is that we needn't to forget that we are not going for party or dine out where the most hidden aspect is the interview. Remember that the purpose of the dinner interview is to get to know you. Eating should always be secondary to conversation.

Think to Remember:

 Most of the companies ask employee for a dinner interview to check confidence and acumen of handling stress and also social grace.

      Tips to follow:

Know all dinning and business etiquette in advance. These etiquette will always give you the edge over another candidate.

• Dress smartly.
• Less interest on food and again more on communication skills.
• Emphasis more on non-verbal skills.
• Be confident and where you feel nervous wait for others to proceed first.
• Avoid taking that food for which you are not at all familiar.
• Take water before the core meal.
• Be polite. Remember to say "please" and "thank you" to your host and well as with the server. 

Kavita Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer & Consultant

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

These Series of Articles can also be viewed at http://www.articlesbase.com/interviews-articles/interviewa-success-journey-to-a-successful-professional-career-706363.html

Interview: A Success Journey to a Successful Professional Career ( Series 2) - Training & Development

Interview and the Three Major Elements

The most important fact about the interview process is the first impression that a candidate scripts in the mind of the employer in just initial five minutes.

Research shows that initial first impressions are made up of the following 

Three Elements:

1. 55% visual impact, i.e. dress, facial expressions and body language;
2. 40% tone of voice; communication skills: verbal and nonverbal
3. 5% from what you actually say. All is not lost if you are very nervous at the outset but try to create the best first impression you can - a warm smile and firm handshake will help.

When you are being interviewed it is very important that you give out the right body signals as body speaks more than words. During interviews one should always look attentive; a bad body language can disqualify the image of an employee in the very primary rounds of interaction. As it is well said, "face is the index of mind." We should never forget that, one of the most burning questions in the mind of the interviewer will almost certainly be ‘Will this person fit in?' Therefore, if you are perceived as being a good fit with the prevailing corporate style and culture you will be strengthening your case and it wouldn't be wrong to state, that knowledge of Kinesics will add to the overall persona of your personality. The success graph of the deserving candidate is been sketched at the moment he enters the interview venue or the interview room, his body language clearly depicts his mental attitude. The positive body language can even be judged by a novice interviewer not very familiar with the kinetic traits.

The initial five minutes can make or break the connection between two people when they meet for the first time. The starting point for any interview preparation is to try and understand oneself. First impressions are crucial! The employer obviously believes you are qualified to do the job, which is why they have asked you to an interview. But still many interviewees fail because of poor communication skills, which is not only the content of your speech, but includes other non-verbal behavior such as eye contact, posture, facial expression, tone of voice, and gestures.

Get all of your preparation out of the way well in advance, and allow plenty of time to get to the interview so that you arrive in a cool calm state. Arriving 15-20 minutes early is appropriate. One should be well prepared about the location and required time in order to deliver the best results. The interviewer is looking for a candidate who is interested, enthusiastic, and confident. Professional appearance is extremely important, when you first meet the interviewer, give a firm handshake with greet and smile and let the interviewer take the lead when directing you towards their office and once you are in their office by waiting for them to offer you a seat.

Confidence is the magical word, if you are confident then you will be relaxed, calm and organized and able to talk lucidly about yourself, you will be able to look the interviewer in the eyes, you will not slouch or fidget - you will have the potential to clinch the job. Along with the confidence one need to be very particular about dressing sense. Try and understand all aspects, be it your appearance, personality, likes, dislikes, strengths or weaknesses. Many people think that, interview is a place where one should always speak of positives, but speaking about weaknesses is not negative as it enables us to reason for self improvement.

Interview & 3 C's Principle: 

                                All three are correlated to each other and hence work as a bond.

Kavita Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer & Consultant

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

These Series of Articles can also be viewed at http://www.articlesbase.com/interviews-articles/interviewa-success-journey-to-a-successful-professional-career-706363.html

Interview: A Success Journey to a Successful Professional Career ( Series 1) - Training & Development

How to Handle Interview Successfully

The most essential aspect to beat after your academic and professional qualification is an interview. We all focus on our educational development like academic credentials and percentages and are least tentative on focusing ourselves on winning the interview. With the emerging global change, interviews have also taking gigantic leap from the old traditional conservatoire to the recent magnetite global demand. Today Interview is an exhibition of candidate's talent. It's a process through an employer gets to know, how to bridge a gap between employment: Demand and Supply. Modern interviews are not only stress to the candidates, but also equal stress to the employers. For the candidate the stress is to get the right job, and on the other the stress is to get the right candidate.

What is an Interview?

"Interview is an art of expressing self, where an interviewee is a seller and an interviewer is a buyer". An interview is nothing but bringing our internal knowledge outside and make other feel comfortable listening to it. It is nothing but an interaction between the sender (interviewee) and the receiver (interviewer). In the simplest word interview can be compared with the theory of the guest and the host relationship. Man being supreme creation of god tends to learn by experience; the same is with the interview, we should never take interview as a negative note rather it's a positive gesture to conquer next step with more perfection and maturity; where there are less chances of failure than the first. Our practice can provide us a mature platform from where we can make difference in the qualitative approach of getting selected or rejected. This art of learning could be beautified through preparation and practice, as it is well said, "Practice makes man perfect". To compete an interview with the flying colors the candidate need to learn with the same theory as he used to learn in his kindergarten stage, trail and error technique. As when we learn bicycle: The more we fall the better we grip, and one day we paddle it with even leaving both the hands. Major interviews speak the success story of the deserving candidate in just five minutes. As the hiring managers don't want to hire the most qualified person they also want to hire the person whom they like most to work with. It's very easy to get to an interview but it is harder to turn an interview to a job. Interview can be successfully beaten by the magical charm of communication skills, where verbal and non-verbal communication plays a vital role. Articulation, phonetics and soft skills also multiply candidate's success change during the interview process.

Interview Selling Skills

"Selling is an art and for that we need to be an artist." The most important aspect to master in selling skills is to master on two major aspects; first is the product and the second is service. In order to bridge the gap between product and service we need to believe in self, as it is well said, "Self Confidence is the key of all locks." Confident person can chase his hardship much smoothly than the one who is crippled with diffidence.

Six Sigma's for Interview Success:

As it is said that interview is an interaction, but this interaction can easily be converted to triumphal victory by the magical spell of the interviewee, where he mingles his interaction with the six sigma effects by using his interpersonal skills, team spirit, social grace, business etiquette, negotiation skills and behavioral trades. Interview process is the sum totals of six most important skills that makes correlated bond between Interviewee and Interviewer. 

Six- sigma's between Interviewee & Interviewer

1.      Interpersonal Skills

2.      Social Grace

3.      Behavioral Traits

4.      Negotiation Skills

5.      Business Etiquette

6.      Team Spirit

Among many job aspirants the most crucial and stressful zone is the interview hall. Although they may have all required qualifications, experience and well framed records, yet they may lose the battle to conquer to the other, who are well versed and confident at the time of interaction and can answer the questions in the most acceptable way keeping the track of their interpersonal, social, as well as their behavioral skills. He needs to also sell his business acumen, team spirit and attitude at the time of interaction. These are really the basic component that makes a candidate perfect. No matter what your industry or the role is; effective selling skills are integral to your success.

As it is well said by James Allen: "For true success ask yourself these four questions:

1.  Why? 

2. Why not? 

3. Why not me? 

4. Why not now"?

Kavita Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer & Consultant

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

These Series of Articles can also be viewed at http://www.articlesbase.com/interviews-articles/interviewa-success-journey-to-a-successful-professional-career-706363.html