To start this blog off, I would like to apologize for missing the last two blog posts. I found myself busy and was not thinking about the blog at all. Part of what would be considered professional would be posting blogs on the timeframe promised and I have not been professional in keeping the promise.
Professionalism is very similar to perfectionism in a lot of ways. I have always tended to make thing professional, even if there is no benefit to it. It makes me feel better if I do make it look professional. I try to make most things in my life look professional if possible, including my website, my homework assignments, and the organization of files on my computer.
So, what makes something professional? Making something professional comes down to a lot of choices but making something uniform around that choice. I can give a specific example from my website. When I work on my blogs, all the pages that have the blogs are in the same format. Professionalism also requires that all the colors on the website are in sync. The website must have a common theme. Links must go where they say they go. I do a lot of this compulsively. It is something that I can't stand to be wrong.
A general rule that I use to make a lot of my choices to make something professional is to make it look like other things that I have seen. That is not to say that I copy them, but I use them for inspiration and as a guide as to what to consider professional. The most common and unwavering quality that professional things have in common is having everything in order and completely organized. It also doesn't have extra information. If it is not needed for any reason or does not have any purpose being in the document, website, or whatever it is that is being made professional, then it shouldn't be there.
This week is Purdue's Industrial Roundtable where a lot of Purdue Students will get internships for next summer. To look impressive to companies, it is a necessity to look and act professional as well as present professional documents such as a resume. Making sure that things like your resume is professional can help to make you stand out from other people. This makes being professional very helpful in today's society. I wish you luck in trying to make things in your life professional.
Until next week,
Seth Pohle