When I was growing up, good manners were expected. Today they can be a competitive advantage.

That’s no joke. Today recruiters can generate a battalion of applicants for every opening. You need a way to stand out from the crowd. Having good manners might do the trick.

A couple of summers ago my grandsons came to visit. After they left my neighbor, Bill, came over. He wanted to tell me something about the boys.

“They said, ‘Please’ and ‘Thank-you’ and ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘No, ma’am,’” Bill said. He told me that my grandsons were “fine young men.”

Bill and I are the same age. When we grew up, people noticed if you didn’t have manners. Today, you stand out if you do. Peter Post, director of The Emily Post Institute, says what that means in the context of a job search.

“Your skills can get you in the door; your people skills are what can seal the deal.”

When we talk about manners, that’s what we’re talking about: people skills. I’m not suggesting that you master arcane codes of conduct or learn thousands of rules by heart. I’m talking about ways that you show respect for others by the way you talk and act. Here are my basic rules.

Be on time and don’t waste the time of others.

Say, “Please” and “Thank-you.”

Use language that the other person is comfortable with.

Act in ways that respect the other person.

That’s a good start. You may be doing those things already. And they should cover most of the “manners” issues. In today’s world, they just might be your competitive advantage.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 5:33 am and is filed under Tools and Strategies for Success. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.