W5-3/3 The Importance of Friendliness in Office Culture (7/26)

    On Thursday I attended a lunch break with some other workers and I was given some sound advice. Advice that I really needed to hear and something that I feel like I have really been missing in my workplace skillset. When it comes to professional environments a lot of times, I am far too formal and stiff. I was told that for the most part I would have a good chance to be hired for a job in the computer science field except that I am not too personable and that could hurt my chances as employers might think that I would not fit in well with office/corporate culture.

       I have always had a very strict face when it comes to more formal matters. My father’s family is formal to a ridiculous extreme that I have never seen anyone else even come even close to rivaling and it is of course a very grave matter to that side of my family. When I played football (from kindergarten to my senior year of high school) formality was also very, very important. Taking it easy was not an option and to call it a game was a great insult to any coach. I think these experiences have grown on me and kind of shaped me to practice “professionalism” in a similar manner.

I need to really loosen up and be more outgoing in the office environment. Part of working with someone is socializing with them and if I am not pleasant to socialize with then I am less likely to be hired. Even more so the impressions we give a person during an interview are highly based off how we interact with our interviewer not just if we can answer questions correctly and have a nice-looking resume/CV. I’m going to start being more outgoing towards the employees of my internship and I am going to try to be less stiff about things. I want to stand out somewhat. Blending in with wallpaper of wallflowers wouldn’t be much better than being stiff so I must be a good acquaintance to those I work with and at least leave some small impression as friendly worker.  

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