Tamil Nadu - Others   

Of handshakes and etiquette

Deepa H Ramakrishnan

Workshop on personality development and soft skills for students Tips on how to attend interviews, how to ready a biodata and how to present one's case in a group discussion were given at the programme

Pondicherry: "Young women, when you attend an interview and the manager is male don't be proactive and extend your hand for a handshake. Remember we are in India and say namaste. There is nothing wrong in that."

This is a piece of good advice not just for young women who attend job interviews but also for others, who have to meet and interact with men in the course of their jobs.

Chennai-based Ripe Institute was in Pondicherry recently to present a one-day workshop for engineering college students on personality development and soft skill training.

Sriram of Ripe Institute had a lot of other tips for students of different engineering colleges.

"If men have to shake hands with a lady, then they should never apply pressure. It should be a very quick and soft handshake", he said, as he showed the different types of handshakes, that are — political shake in which the persons don't leave until their hands pain; the business shake where the thumb presses the other person's palm and an interview shake where there is a complete lock between both the palms.

At the workshop organised by Rotary Club of Pondicherry Central, Mr. Sriram gave tips on how to attend interviews, how to prepare a biodata and how to present one's case in a group discussion.

Eye contact with panelists

"Supposing there are three people on the interview panel then each of them must be given individual attention and eye contact. Also you must introduce yourself first by giving your name."

All that shows how confident you are about yourself, he said as he along with two students demonstrated how they should approach an interview.

He also spoke about the importance of e-mail etiquette, which has become very important especially now with a lot of business being conducted through the internet.

Even e-mail IDs should be businesslike.

"If the ID is very childish or if the interaction is very chatty, all those have negative connotations," he added.

Not much time to interact

"Most of the participants, who felt that the session was very useful, said that one day was too little for them to interact and learn the skills," said Natanasabapathy, club president.

Charter president Pratap Chandran said the programme was being organised under the club's vocational service avenue and that it was offered free to the participating students.

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