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Monday, March 27, 2006

IT Consultant Image: Are You Professional?

As an IT consultant, your jobs will be as variable as your client’s attitudes and expectations. Your customers’ observations about your level of professionalism will have a profound impact on your career. A successful IT consultant has strong ethical standards, care for his personal appearance and conduct and will present this image clearly in printed materials.

ETHICS

As an IT consultant, you have to be true to your values, and this means being honest and up-front with your clients. You need to finish projects in a timely manner and stand behind your work in order to be perceived as professional. Your personality should ideally match that of your clients. If you like to work in informal settings and your client has a very formal company atmosphere, you might run into long-term projects. You might have to occasionally adjust your style a little, but you should still be genuine.

PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND BEHAVIOR

As an IT consultant, you are in a very people-oriented field, and the way others see you is important. Therefore, you should dress neatly and appropriately for all jobs. If a client’s office is informal, you can wear casual attire, but if your client works in an atmosphere of suits, you should up the ante.

Communicating professionally with others is essential, including during phone conversations. You should respond to phone messages on time and always indicate the reason for your call and an appropriate time to return it when you leave voice messages. This will help the client know he is important.

YOUR IMAGE IN PRINT

All printed materials, including proposals and brochures should reflect a sense of professionalism. An IT consultant can lure clients and drive them away through his written material, and are often a first impression of your company. Decide on a consistent image from the very beginning. Similarly, your printed materials and of course your website should be without spelling or grammatical errors and easy to understand and navigate.

Added By: Computer Consulting Kit