Foundation: Professionalism and Communication

Although professionalism seems obvious, its importance should not be taken lightly. It can significantly influence your career in a positive or negative direction. 

Professionalism is a complex, all-encompassing transferable skill; a combination of interpersonal skills, qualities, and behaviours.

From a Canadian anglophone perspective, professionalism can encompass:

• Knowledge and competence in your field, 
• transferable skills, like communication—actively listening and reflecting—and Emotional Intelligence (EQ), 
• qualities, such as integrity and ethics, and
  
• behaviours or conduct, for example taking responsibility for an error, or consistently following through on promises.

Additionally, nonverbal communication (body language) and paraverbal communication (voice language) are key components of professionalism as well.

The challenge with defining professionalism is that it can vary by occupation or industry, and definitely from country to country. What is deemed professional conduct in one country or cultural background might be inappropriate in another. Simple things such as exchanging business cards or punctuality (Uzialko, 2018) can spark irreversible consequences, if not demonstrated in a respectful (and informed) way.

What defines professionalism can change. For instance, Covid-19 shifted the standard way of greeting in Canada. Extending a firm handshake was customary. Zoom calls with incoming kids and/or pets in the video preview have become accepted and “normal”.

Professionalism can extend beyond your work identity. Your digital identity can be scrutinized and judged on its portrayal of your professionalism.

Portraying Canadian anglophone professionalism: competence, transferable skills, qualities, and conduct will impact your career. It looks like treating everyone with respect and empathy irrespective of their socio-economic background, gender, age, ethnicity or behaviour. Professionalism needs to be infused to resolve conflict, career search, and build your community network.