In almost all of my classes I teach how to have a confident handshake. While it may seem like a really small thing, your handshake actually speaks volumes about you. You want to be sure it expresses that you are a confident, professional person. I saw this video about the 10 different handshakes and thought it did a good job of explaining what each handshake says about you. See if you fall into one of the deadly nine or the perfect ten.

A good handshake is one where you put your hand fully in the other person’s hand, web to web. It’s accompanied with good eye contact and a smile. The grip is firm, but not bone crushing. Both men and women shake hands the same way. Men, no need to be delicate with women. Women no need to hold your hand as if it’s going to be kissed or you’re afraid to touch the other person.

Make sure your handshake is not giving a bad impression about you.

I recently taught a social skills etiquette class to some high school students from Puget Sound Community School. One of the topics I covered was poise. I asked my students what poise meant to them. They replied “good posture”, “being confident” and “grace”. While those are part of poise there is more to it.

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I have a problem. It’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time and until recently didn’t realize how serious the problem was. I’m working on changing, but it hasn’t been easy, especially since most people have the same problem. It’s a “you guys” problem. As in, “Have you guys seen the movie Avatar?” Those in the south use “y’all” instead of “you guys”. Either way, it’s improper English and needs to go away.

Why is it that we feel we need to add an extra word after “you” when we are talking about a group? “You” is both a singular and plural pronoun, so there is no need to add “guys” or “all” after the word. 

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