Impressive First Impressions: A Guide to the Most Important 30 Seconds (And 30 Years) of Your Career

This book provides systematic frameworks, insightful information, and practical tips that will help professionals and job seekers boost their first impression on others and increase their value to employers―both in the physical and virtual world.

Geared toward any professional or job seeker, Impressive First Impressions: A Guide to the Most Important 30 Seconds (And 30 Years) of Your Career shows how to make your first impressions take hold in all contexts of daily professional life―from job interviews and client meetings to working in teams and persuading others of your ideas.

Based on an extraordinary wealth of research and proven, effective techniques, Impressive First Impressions distills a vast amount of information into straightforward, practical steps. Part I covers the big picture―strategies and philosophies―while Part 2 gets down to specific "tactical and practical" advice for initial encounters of all kinds in the professional world. The concluding section for the advanced reader shows how to master the art of the first impression by embracing one's ACE (audience, culture, and environment), as well as how to approach the "virtual first impression" when initial introductions are made via telephone, teleconference, or the Web.

Vu H. Pham, PhD, is a partner at Spectrum Knowledge, Inc. and works with dozens of organizations from the Fortune 500 to government and nonprofit agencies to boost employee performance and strategic effectiveness.

Lisa Miyake is currently a program manager at Spectrum Knowledge, Inc. and manages teams for research and training projects for Fortune 500, government, and nonprofit agencies.