Mary Crane & Associates : Read Mary Newsletter

Summer Survival Tips

Before you know it, this year’s summer associates, new hires and summer interns will arrive. The new, young professionals who will soon march into your offices share a common trait: Each and every one of them is afraid of committing the blunder or the blooper that immediately marks them as someone who shows poor judgment.

Help ensure their careers launch successfully by sharing the following tips:

Business Attire

Most organizations we know have adopted business casual dress policies, with even the most conservative firms and companies promoting more relaxed dress during the summer months. Appropriate business casual dress attire includes the following:

- For gentlemen, business casual implies trousers, quality fabric shirts and sports coats or jackets.

- For ladies, business casual implies tailored slacks or skirts, blouses and jackets, all of quality fabric.

- In most office settings, gentlemen and ladies should wear closed toe shoes and appropriate hosiery.

Even where business casual policies are in place, we recommend new professionals always be prepared for the unexpected invitation to a client meeting. Encourage gentlemen to stash a “just in case” tie in the office. And it’s not a bad idea to suggest that both ladies and gentlemen store a more conservative business suit in their offices for just such an occasion.

What should never be worn to the office? Advise against short skirts, short shorts, strapless tops, midriff-bearing clothing, beachwear and shirts with questionable logos.

Business Dining

Many of your new professionals will participate in their first business lunches and dinners this summer. Before they head out to a restaurant, share the following:

- If they are uncertain what to order, mimic the host/hostess. If the person who invited them to lunch orders an appetizer and an entrée, they should do the same. If the host/hostess opts to forego dessert, they should skip that course.

- If wait staff approaches the recruit or new employee first, they may go ahead and order an appetizer and an entrée. Recommend they avoid ordering items that are either the most or the least expensive offerings on the menu. Also, avoid ordering any item that is challenging to eat neatly.

- If wait staff asks for a beverage order, at a business lunch, stick with water, ice tea or soda. At a business dinner, take cues from the host/hostess. If they order a cocktail or glass of wine, the new professional may feel free to do the same. Avoid drinking to excess. Consuming too much alcohol at a business event may permanently mar a reputation.

Shop Mary

In our experience, the one dining issue that most perplexes new professionals and senior staff alike is which bread and butter plate to use. End the confusion forever by sharing one of our “Coffee Cup Clue” mugs.

Go to www.marycrane.com, enter the site and click on “Shop Mary.” You’ll find an assortment of tools that will help your recruits and new employees position themselves as consummate professionals.

Business Communication

Once senior members of firms and corporations complained most loudly about the “younger folks” and their communication styles. Now, the people most likely to complain are the ones who were new to your organization just a few years ago.

Before your new professionals log-on, remind them of the following:

- Never write anything in e-mail that they would not feel comfortable seeing on the front page of the local newspaper.

- Use the same rules of grammar, usage and punctuation in e-mail as they use in formal business communications.

- Respond to all e-mails and voice-mails within 24 hours.

Also, suggest that your new professionals avoid speaking on their cell phones while walking down an office hall (it’s very distracting to others at work), and recommend they turn off their cell phones (or turn to vibrate) at any business lunch or dinner.

If you’re attending NALP’s annual conference in San Diego, don’t forget to stop by and see Mary on Friday, April 28^th, at 3:30 p.m., when she presents “Besides Cappuccino on Demand, What Do Today’s New Professionals Want?”