BUSN 101: Putting Your Best Foot Forward by Gabriela

BUSN 101: Putting Your Best Foot Forward by Gabriela - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

Good morning class, and welcome to Business 101: Putting Your Best Foot Forward. You may be wondering why exactly you have to take a class on presentation. Although they will be covered, PowerPoint and other slide-based presentation methods are not the main focus of this course. This course is all about how you present *yourself*. You see, first impressions are the most important, and often times they are entirely superficial. You can’t get your foot in the door if they rule you out after looking through the peephole.
This class will teach you all about how to dress, how to speak, how to act, and how to sell yourself to the best of the best. You will learn how to carefully craft an elevator pitch that you will use a hundred times to no success, just for that one time that someone says “tell me more.” You will learn the nuances of business casual, smart casual, business formal, and business professional. You will learn skills that will help you on interviews, at conferences, in meetings, and during your day-to-day life. You will hate it at times. Every single one of you will complain to your roommates that you have “ANOTHER mock interview” on Monday, and you will scramble to smooth out the wrinkles in your shirts when I pull an impromptu interview with you. You will learn what it takes to get into the career that you want, and how to fake that you belong there.
If you don’t think you need this class, go ahead- drop it. It won’t be my fault when you get passed up for that big promotion, pay raise, or dream job: it will be yours.

In case it wasn’t abundantly clear with my “first day of class” lecture, I would teach students how to present themselves in a business or professional setting. I believe this is important because of how the internet has changed the way that people interact. I learned very quickly into the college application process how important word choice and voice are in writing, and my first interview taught me that no matter how good I am at writing, I need a *lot* more practice at professional speaking.
Applying for most entry level positions today is a simple process that takes place entirely online. However, after that point, in-person interviews and phone calls become much more common. My generation has not had the daily practice that our parent’s generation had with formal verbal interactions. Many people my age express thoughts of anxiety at ordering pizza over the phone, let alone conducting an interview. We need the guidance on how to dress, speak, act, and sell ourselves. Despite being the most technologically trained generation to enter the workforce, we shun networking through LinkedIn and other professional sites. We don’t know that the tasks we do every day can be easily translated into skills to put on our résumés. I had no idea that proficiency in Microsoft Word was a skill that I needed to promote. I took it for granted before I was taught the importance of highlighting my strengths.
Everyone could use a refresher course on how to be professional, but current college students need it the most.