Personality development programmes or PDP as called by youngsters, in short, is training programmes that can help them improve their personality and give them skills which would help them pass any job interview.

If you are also one who is looking for a personality enhancement course to improving your personality and making it more dynamic and impressive, then you are reading the right blog. I will let you know what constitutes a good personality and how to achieve it without having to join any programme or course. Read on…

If someone asks you to define a good personality, I am sure you would answer by saying that a good personality is one that makes the right impression on people. We all love to interact and associate with those who we like for being polite, respectful, well-informed, confident, and sure about themselves.

More importantly, a positive personality is one that helps you in achieving your career and life goals besides making you feel good about yourself all along.

That said, let’s first unpack the word good personality and see all the various components of that. We would then discuss how to incorporate these qualities and traits into ourselves.

A good personality needs to have the following:

• A neat and clean demeanor: There is no denying that if you have high personal hygiene standards and keep yourself well-groomed, you would make the impression of someone who is in control of his/her life. This is quite contrary to the lifestyle, a lot of young people follow nowadays, which in my personal opinion, must be looked at and corrected.

I would like to mention a recent interaction with a very talented young man, who we had asked to take care of our system-related issues and believe you me, it became hard to sit with him in the same room because of his strongly smelling and unkempt self. Something that puts most of us completely off and makes us think twice about our associations.

Thus, neat, clean, and well-kempt candidates make a much more positive first impression than somebody who isn’t.

• Good command over language: I can never hesitate to emphasize enough on the importance of language that one uses to communicate.

You would be surprised to know, how much your language makes an impression on people and to the interviewer, to the extent that a lot of time, employers may make a small compromise over your domain knowledge to your impressive language. They somehow believe that if you are wise enough to improve your language you would surely have the abilities to improve upon and learning new skills, and also that you have your priorities right.     

• Domain and subject knowledge: Another obvious component of your impressive personality is your domain or subject knowledge.

You need to first understand that when I say domain knowledge, it doesn’t mean that you need to be a genius or at the top in terms of academics. What I mean is that your aptitude, towards your subject is right, and your concepts are clear, because every company that hires you would put you through a training programme and teach you skills that are needed for the job.

So, if you want to make a positive impression in the job interview you need to work upon the basic concepts of your field of study and have them so clear that the employer becomes sure of your high learning quotient.   

• Awareness about your surroundings: A very pertinent, but highly neglected aspect of a youth’s personality. Unless your domain knowledge and skillsets are highly focused on what your employer needs, he may not overlook your complete ignorance about your surroundings. You would always be in a disadvantageous position If you are not aware of the changes taking place in your industry, technological developments in your field of work, or society in general.

• A high self-esteem- feeling good about yourself: One of the most important aspects of an impressive personality is the opinion that you carry for yourself. Are you at peace with yourself, and accept yourself as what you are? If yes, then you are the one who would always radiate positivity around you and would make the right impression and however, if the answer is ‘no’ then you need to work upon that. Would discuss how, later in the blog.

• Your attitude which is positive: What is your outlook towards life? Is it positive or are you the one who is always either criticizing, crying, or complaining??

This approach to life matters so much that if you don’t check yourself from getting into this crying, criticizing, and complaining attitude, the same would get reflected in the answers that you give in the job interview.

A little illustration will tell you what I mean, something, I have gathered from my interaction with a lot of young job aspirants. Say, if you are asked why you chose Mechanical Engineering over other branches of engineering, and your answer is that you didn’t get admission in other branches because of low marks or lack of opportunities, then though it is the right answer, it still shows that you are a victim of circumstances and not somebody who takes a conscious decision. You can rather answer by saying that with all the options that I had, I chose Mechanical Engineering.

How to make your personality impressive

So, we have seen what constitutes a good personality, now let’s look at the actions that we can take to work upon all the components that are important:

• Maintain hygiene and clean looks: Do make the habit of brushing, bathing, and keeping yourself non-compromising. Get your hair cut, shave or trim regularly and cut your nails or keep them clean.

Wear clean clothes and remain contemporary. Dress up well to make a positive impression. You don’t need to wear branded or impressive clothes, wearing neat well-fitting clothes makes the impression that you desire- without breaking your back.

• Maintain dental hygiene: By brushing your teeth regularly, and getting your teeth cleaned by a dental hygienist occasionally. This is nothing more off-putting than to see stained teeth and smelly breath.

The funny thing about the above is that you yourself will not realize that you, your clothes, and/or your mouth are smelling. It is only others who notice that. Therefore, check with those who you can trust and get the right feedback from.

• Make efforts to improve your language: So, you understand how a good command over language is so advantageous for us; this is what you can do to further improve upon it

a) Learn grammatical concepts and correct your language. Language incorrectly spoken makes a very bad impression. Correct your language observing people, taking grammar lessons by joining a course, or ask without hesitating to those who speak well

b) Improve vocabulary, which is the foundation stone for speaking well by learning one or two words every day

You can read more about the process in another blog of mine.

c) Don’t hesitate to talk, make mistakes but do observe and correct them and keep on practising. One day you would become a good speaker

• Get your basic concepts and domain knowledge updated: Your conceptual clarity gives the impression to the interviewers that you are teachable and trainable, a quality every company is looking for in a candidate. You can do this by:

a) Keep repeating the concepts, practising them, and seeking clarifications from those who are good

b) Make a time table to cover a few topics every day and just glance over them regularly, this will keep the information afresh and updated

c) Better! Watch videos on YouTube or other platforms. The internet is replete with information that you need, besides being more interesting and assimilating.

• Remain updated about your surroundings, society, country, and your field of work: Being aware of whatever is happening around you, in your society and the world, in general, gives an impression of someone who is responsible, active, and a contributing member; qualities you must display in an interview. You can do that with a little discipline and doing the following:

a) Read newspapers, online papers, or magazines regularly, in fact, make this your routine. Even if you do this for just half an hour every day but regularly, you would see how updated you would become over time

b) Join internet groups, blog sites, which are relevant to your field of study or work to remain updated

Being updated about your domain gives confidence and makes a very high impression, besides helping you in keeping your skill sets relevant. It is also good to have an opinion on all the important events happening in the country, world. However, it should be well informed, factual and without prejudice and of course with a flexible and learning attitude.

You need to realize how important it is if you can give your opinion which is factual, realistic, and, reasonable, without sounding dogmatic and rigid. A sure way of making a positive impression.

• Love yourself and feel good!!: Your performance in life in general and at a job interview, in particular, depends a lot on how you perceive yourself as.

If you have a positive opinion about yourself and have a clear understanding and acceptance of your abilities, looks, skills, and shortcomings, you would be more peaceful and surer about yourself, resulting in a higher level of confidence. You should:

a) Assess your personality, maybe doing personal SWOT and knowing where you are in terms of your peer group and competitors and what skills, qualities, and traits that you have and what you need

b) Accept yourself as what you are. We all are born with certain positives and negatives, strengths and shortcomings. What is given to us by nature cannot be changed, we should rather focus on things that we can change and then make efforts to change them

c) Pick up new skill, learn something new, however, small or insignificant that maybe you would have a sense of achievement and accomplishment. Each time you add something to your personality in the long run you would become sincere, competent, skilful and updated

d) Use positive statements for yourself and stop the usual habit of self-demeaning and undermining yourself when you only look at your shortcomings and ignore your strengths. You, over a period of time, erode your self-esteem and confidence. You can, instead, use positive self-talk to improve your confidence

• Pick the right attitude- become an achiever: Your positive attitude is not only essential but also highly contagious. Everything that we have discussed earlier and all the steps that I have suggested that you do, are possible if you just have the desirable attitude.

And, the good thing is that it is possible to either change your present limiting attitude or acquire one that is positive, let’s see how:

a) Stop complaining, crying, or criticizing as a habit, or do so if it is unavoidable or imperative and only when the outcome that you seek is positive. Don’t let these three traits become part of your personality or else people will start identifying you as being negative

You should instead, become appreciative, compassionate, and accepting people, with faults, knowing that we too are not devoid of any.  

b) Laugh more often more importantly loudly, crack jokes on yourself rather than on others, and smile. All this will help you become positive and radiate energy and happiness. The same is judged easily by interviewers in job interviews

c) Read books, watch videos, and read articles that talk about progress, development, skills, happiness, relationships, and entertainment

Don’t get into listening to people, who are peddling their opinions on various issues, merely criticizing and finding faults without being factual, as this, will only leave you with the feeling of inadequacy and dismay.

d) Last but not least, do an audit with the company that you are friendly with and move in. This is one piece of advice that I consistently push to all the young people, who I come in contact with.

You gradually become like those, who you are moving with. You would develop all the traits, habits, and attitudes that your friends have, something that happens gradually without you realizing it.

Keep positive people around yourself. Befriend those who are progressive, appreciating, and positive and you would surely become one. A key to success!!

By taking small steps towards what we have just discussed, I am sure you wouldn’t have to look for ways to improve your personality. Your desirable personality would just be around the corner.

Do read some of my other blogs to get more specific information on various traits, skills, or habits that you can develop, such as improving willpower, book reading, etc.