You never get a second chance to make a first impression!

“I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.” General George S. Patton

As my students approach placement season and the nervous tension is palpable, I tell them that first impressions matter more than ever. Little do many realise that demographics characteristics are almost impossible to change - height, personality, background, appearance and such. What we can change is our mindset and the manner in which we approach groups of people or issues. It is fairly evident that there are certain competence cues that suggest leadership potential. As the world turns increasingly complex organisations are increasingly on the lookout for confident young men and women who have leadership potential. It makes sense to have people who have the ability to stare a problem in the face and tackle it, people who can work with autonomy and are confident enough to receive both negative and positive feedback and absorb it.

Groups of people look out for competence cues. Leadership more often than not, when shed of the glamour, is a hard grind and is not everybody’s cup of tea. It's tough work and involves sacrifice. Humans look up to leaders and would like to be led by a competent one. There are some obvious leadership cues - speaking up, taking the initiative and expressing excitement and confidence. Organisations are looking for these cues when they make a selection and while intelligence, content and grades do matter, cues seem to go a long way in sealing the spot for a young man and woman looking for a job. There is an interesting story that I like to tell my students of the great WW II soldier, Gen. George Patton, much disliked but extremely competent leader of men and strategy. George Smith Patton Jr.? commanded the?7th US Army?in the early part of the war, and the?3rd Army?in?France and Germany?after June 1944 as the Allies pushed on to Berlin. He was not liked but everybody wanted him in their corner. Leaders do matter, particularly when the chips are down!

Humans have evolved with two rather dichotomous psychological narratives, the first being an urge to avoid threats and thus inhibit the possibility of charging into danger and the second with a strong sense of optimism and progress which gives us our urge for excitement and adventure. The general idea is to inhibit the inhibitive streak and ramp up the optimistic one, thus getting the mind into a progressive psychological state, reflecting happiness, confidence and a feeling of control over a situation and a broad sense of power. To feel confident, it is very important that young people have a sense of power, moral courage and do not feel helpless.?

Taking a cue from the Pygmalion Effect it is imperative that faculty proactively work on a student’s sense of confidence and power in landing that first all-important job, while keeping in mind that initial first impressions do matter and play a vital role every time a person engages with a fresh cohort or group of people. Hence it is important to be properly represented in terms of attire, posture, manner of speaking and an ability to project confidence. This is even more critical when one approaches jobs at MNC’s where more often than not recruiters mirror behaviour culturally nuanced by the western world.