Over the past few months, select FolioFLY student members had the opportunity to work on an incredible real world publishing initiative. Those members were selected to write for an important promotional book for the hotel industry, and not only enjoyed a first class resume builder, but also learned some important business etiquettes along the way.

And even though it’s sometimes difficult to learn from someone else’s experiences, I thought I’d share a few of the lessons this particular group of students found eye-opening – something that you just can’t learn in a school environment.

Lesson 1: Project Deadlines Are Imperative!
Unlike due dates for class reports and school projects, missing a business deadline can cost a company money, or even a client – depending on how overdue the project is. This is a big lesson to learn before you begin your career since an oversight in this area can cost you your job, or at minimum your reputation at your company. So before you agree to work on any project, make sure you consider the following things:

- Is the project deadline reasonable?
- Do I have enough time to do a quality job on this project?
- What committments do I have in my personal life, that may impact my success in this project?

If you’re going to have a problem with a deadline for ANY reason, it’s critical to immediately let the Project Manager, or whoever is in charge know about your conflicts and concerns. Which brings us to Lesson 2: Communicate with your Project Manager.

Lesson 2: Communicate With Your Project Manager
Once you’re assigned to work on any project, through FolioFLY or otherwise, it’s SO IMPORTANT to communicate your project status to the PM. Several FolioFLY student members learned this critical lesson first hand…Something you can’t learn in school no matter how terrific the lesson.

- Are you on schedule to meet your deadline? – It’s considered a BIG business faux-pas not to contact the PM and tell him or her of any deadline impacting issues.

- Do you have access to all the resources you need to effectively do your part of the project? If not, DO NOT wait till the day of the project to let the PM know. Giving them a heads up early on will allow them to assist you in obtaining the information you need.

- Did the PM contact you to find out your project status because he or she hasn’t heard from you? If this happens, EMAIL or CALL THEM BACK in a timely manner. They’re asking you your status to ensure you’re not being held up by any unexpected obstacles. Not contacting them right away may show you have a lack of interest in the project’s priority.

Lesson 3: Use Your Project Manager As The Sole Project Point Person?
Unless your PM is doing a TERRIBLE job and impacting the success of a project, OR if they can’t be contacted after a reasonable amount of time, it’s business etiquette to route all questions and concerns to that PM, unless otherwise discussed.

If you’re a student working on a project for The Widget Company, and they’ve assigned a PM to oversee creating a commercial ad for the widgets, if you need information to help you do your part of the commercial CALL THE PM. If you contact someone else at The Widget Company before asking the PM, it can make it seem as though the PM isn’t doing their job properly.

One of the main reasons for having a PM is to have a single source who coordinates and addresses all project elements. A good PM should provide you with multiple ways to contact them including phone, email and possibly the numbers of an assistant, if applicable. Better to learn this lesson on a student project while still in school, rather than P-Off a new business colleague you have to see everyday at work.

Lesson 4: Keep In Contact With Your Business Contacts
Once you make a new business contact on a FolioFLY project and you’ve done your best to follow the above lessons and make a positive impression – keep your business contact on your short list.

- Be sure to drop them a quick note every couple of months or so, to keep your name fresh in their minds. This is particularly important for students looking for work. Share an interesting video or article related to their field of work or your shared common interest. Avoid sending politically driven or “gray” area material that you think is funny, but may not be very funny to the recipient.

Lesson 5: Clean Up Your Online Act
Google yourself now and then and see if you’re surprised at what comes up. If private party pictures are all over the web, obviously they can be seen by future employers. See which websites are coming up in your results, and modify the settings to only be seen by your friends, or even turn off search ability so your personal information isn’t picked up by web crawlers.

Nowadays though, it IS important to create a positive online presence. Suggestions to do this are start your own blog, submit articles in your area(s) of interest to online publications, leave postive posts on other’s blogs to show your interest in a cause, career or other, or join free professional sites like LinkedIn or XING.

So Bottom-line – these are some of the real world lessons FolioFLY students learned during their hotel industry publishing project. The book the students were selected to write for will be published in fall 2009, and rumor has it, finished copies will be given to every member of Congress to illustrate how the industry has grown in importance and advanced over the last 100 years.

Have some real world business lessons to add to our list? We’d love to hear them…