Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994                   TAG: 9408010012
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: D4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Camille Wright Miller
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IMAGE ISN'T EVERYTHING IF YOU MUST BE INTERVIEWED ON TELEVISION

A. Ken Srpan, host of the Blue Ridge Public Broadcast Now and Then and director of Retirement Services at Friendship Manor, suggests you dress conservatively and wear solid colors.

Avoid wearing white or patterns, as these don't show well on the viewer's screen.

Srpan recommends listening to the interviewer's questions carefully and responding as forthrightly as possible. Take a moment to formulate your answer.

Srpan finds the average viewer isn't familiar with industry terminology and, therefore, advises using simple, straight-forward language. Avoid jargon.

If you don't know the answer to a question, be honest and say, ``I don't know.'' You can, Srpan says, offer to find the answer and get back to the interviewer.

Look at your interviewer while answering questions. Avoid looking at the camera or TV monitor while being interviewed; these distractions will cause you to lose your train of thought.

A major point Srpan emphasizes in his seminar, "How to Deal with Media," is to treat the interview as a conversation with the interviewer. Concentrate on the conversation and you'll come across as a professional.

Q. I haven't had a salary increase in three years. How do I negotiate a raise?

A. Roger Fisher and William Ury offer negotiating guidelines in the 1981 Penguin publication ``Getting to Yes.'' Based on their Harvard Negotiation Project experience, Fisher and Ury recommend identifying your BATNA - Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement.

If you can't negotiate an increase, what are your alternatives? Do you have other employment opportunities? Are your skills such that replacing you would be difficult for your employer? The stronger your BATNA, the better your negotiating position.

Fisher and Ury argue that unsuccessful negotiations are often the result of parties holding to positions - ``I must have a raise.''

If you are, instead, intent on finding mutually agreeable solutions, you may get the raise, or you and your boss may find new resolutions. For example, if your company can't afford to increase your salary, is an additional two weeks' paid vacation a possible resolution? Would flexible or reduced hours for the same pay be attractive?

Remind your boss what you've brought to the company and areas where you've made significant contributions, state your preferred goal, and offer to work together to find a resolution that satisfies you both. Be creative in your search for mutually agreeable solutions; look for shared and compatible interests. All options should provide mutual gain.

Q. I have a co-worker who eats lunch at her desk. I could handle a salad, but her microwave meals nauseate me.

A. The lunch break is a valuable tool for renewing energy and gaining fresh perspective for the afternoon's work. Taking a break is healthy for the individual and for the company.

While many employees occasionally will have to work through lunch, it is impolite to eat in front of others. Even a rushed lunch away from one's desk is preferable to having food eaten near paperwork and in front of co-workers and clients.

With so many workers brown-bagging lunch, organizations should have space set aside for the midday break. If your company has a breakroom, invite your co-worker to eat there with you. If your company doesn't have a breakroom, enlist your co-worker in requesting space for breaks.

Invite your co-worker out for lunch or suggest alternatives - going for a quick walk followed by lunch in the breakroom. When the microwave meals smell good, tell her so. When they don't, you can say something like, ``It's amazing that Parmesan cheese can taste so good when it smells so heavy cooking.'' The slightly negative comments may alter her lunch selections.

A direct approach is to tell your co-worker, away from others, that you know she is unaware that her meals have an undesirable odor. Suggest she eat in the breakroom or limit her food choices to those that have little aroma.

If efforts fail, remark on the odor in the office. Open a few windows to air the office. Spray a light air freshener after lunch while commenting that the office feels stuffy after lunch.