We are being constantly watched by everyone around us. They observe the way we behave, speak and carry ourselves, and a judgment is made, tantamount to what your personality is. The vitality of this judgment will depend on who the person is - it could be the senior you directly report to at work, your relative/ neighbor or just a by-stander. So is there a specific code of conduct that we are still unaware about? What would be expected of us in an interview? How do I behave at a client’s meeting? What kind of dress am I allowed to wear for a social gathering? These are common questions that cross our minds, but we might not know who to ask from, how to inculcate this as a part of our behavior and so on. To bridge this gap, the Rotaract Club of Wellawatte decided to initiate a program on "Professional Etiquettes". The goal was to share some insights and key areas on professionalism at your work place, social gatherings/ events, attending interviews and many more.
This was a joint project conducted along with the Rotaract Club of Imperial College of Business Studies, Colombo 03, at their premises on October 26, 2020. "Suit Up- The Ultimate Guide to be a Professional” kick started at about 11am on the said date. As expected a large crowd turned up consisting of members from both clubs. The guest speakers for the day, Mr. Tilanka Wanasinghe, Manager – Corporate Banking, Nations Trust Bank PLC, Mr. Deeptha Haturusinghe, Assistant Vice President – Compliance Product Management, HSBC and Mrs. Amali Fernando, PhD Candidate/ Visiting Lecturer and Science Communicator successfully conducted the session by sharing valuable insights on the key attributes necessary for a professional and conducted demonstrations. A wide range of areas such as the attire that is acceptable at different work places and social gatherings/ events, the code of conduct inclusive of table manners, way of speech etc.. There was also an interesting Kahoot session, where all participants were divided into groups and had to answer multiple choice answers- this created some noise! Many questions were raised and we received positive feedbacks from all the participants. To sum up, it was an engaging session which undoubtedly added value to all who participated and the session wrapped up at about 1.30pm.