I feel like I start off all of my blog posts by questioning the meaning of something, but these events tend to get me thinking about the weird insignificance of language. As we talked about how you should present yourself to recruiters and how important a professional image was for your LinkedIn, I started thinking about how odd it is for us to have these professional codes of conduct. You shouldn’t act emotional, be overly familiar, or dress too provocatively. In my experience, though, most job advancement and opportunities come from unprofessionality. Being able to joke with my boss, sharing personal experiences, and connecting on a personal level have all been vital to my advancement professionally.

So why do we value being “professional”? I feel like the purpose of it is to strip away individuality. Someone with a professional attitude won’t complain about being assigned extra hours, won’t let feelings of annoyance at a boss interfere with their work, and won’t expect compassion and understanding from higher-ups if they can’t make a deadline.

I know this is kind of a lot to come away with from a professional headshots event, but it’s weird to think how much the way we present ourselves professionally matters.

Proof of attendance:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15-8l3sw1MH_XFcYEO34JthEiweZH0SVZ/view?usp=sharing