These are basic table manners. Some of us grew up with them, others just seems just seem to know, and some haven't the slightest idea. This past Wednesday, February 17th, OIT Career Services put on ah event to carve these table manners into the minds of job seekers and students alike. We call it the Business Etiquette dinner.
The whole idea behind this is to prepare future or current job seekers for a quite important part of the job interview process; The Dinner. Some recruiters will invite an interviewee out to dinner to supplement the actual interview. This isn't just a night out, no. It's a full on second or third or whatever interview. So, naturally, OIT Career Services wants to make sure that our grads go into this just as prepared as they would any other interview.
I'm one of those kids who grew up in a family that doesn't sweat table manners. If I ate the food in front of me, my parents were happy, and I was happy. The only exposure to proper dining etiquette was through television, indirectly. And so I couldn't really understand what all the hubbub was about.
This night gave one of the most direct answers I could have asked for.
I was assigned to work the event, but I was encouraged to take part in it as well. The encouragement was rather strong, as I found my name was assigned to a table when I arrived. People began to show up and get their table assignments and name tags, and were told to wait outside the dining area. It seemed like everyone but me knew what they were doing. I saw and heard people greeting each other and talking about things that weren't always interesting. I shook a few hands myself and talked about some things that weren't interesting as well. I guess this is called mingling, and it happens all the time at conferences and conventions.
Mingling is very important. This is where a great deal of the magic happens. This is your chance to meet and learn about people who could be very useful in your networking structure, and in the process, allow them to learn about you. Your goal is to impress. As I mentioned before, this is another part of your interview process, no matter how little you're speaking directly with the interviewers. Make it count.
I was surprised how much small talk goes on. I'm not a big fan of small talk, because it doesn't get a whole lot done, and takes a long time, but it really is important. Knowing how to small talk shows you know how to be sociable, and if you do it correctly, can land you a new friend who could be in a high place. Just be sure to stay away from any topic that's more controversial than the high school uniform debate.
Robin Thompson, who was assigned to do part of the opening gave us a small talk about small talk (punny), and shared some pretty important mingling advice with us. First, turn your phone off. Phones are not only distracting to whoever you're talking to, but can also distract *you* from what you're talking about. Next, if there are appetizers or beverages, pass on the appetizers and, unless you absolutely need it, pass on the beverage. If you do find yourself carrying a drink, make sure you carry it in the hand that won't be shaking someone else's hand. Wet hands feel gross. Cold, wet hands even more gross. Lastly, be prepared for the aforementioned smalltalk. When someone asks you "What's new?" make sure you have something to reply back with before the question is even posed. "Not much" is never a good answer. She also explained the dnb concept to us, to save us any possible drink or bread related embarassment.
After this brief lecture, we moved inside. I was assigned to Robin's table, and since I had no idea what I was doing, I made sure to follow and observe my tablemates. Everyone was at the table standing behind their chairs, so I did the same. Robin pulled out her chair and say in it, and I did the same; after everyone else. Robin unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap, and this time, I figured I didn't have to wait for everyone else. My plan had succeeded, and I knew it when Robin praised us for knowing not to take our seats until the host had. This made me feel good.
We spent some time introducing ourselves and doing the small talk thing again. I was kind of spaced out, but managed to retain what everyone else was saying about themselves, and say something about myself also. I phrased it different from the other people at the table, which would probably make me stand out. Nice.At this point, Mr. Don DeSaro began his presentation on general etiquette do's and don'ts. He's a great public speaker, and he knew what points to stress and how to apply them to our generation. He briefly went over the layout of the table, which really resembled what I was seeing in front of me. At this point, I decided to practice Robin's dnb, and found that my bread plate was, in fact on my left side, and the drink on the right. I will never have to worry about grabbing someone else's drink again.
Mr. DeSaro also covered other interesting topics like drinking and partying, but not very much in depth. What I gathered is that we don't attend events for the food or the drinks. We attend them sometimes as part of an interview and every time for the networking. So don't treat them like a party, and keep your drinks under control. What you do at this event is just as important as what you did in your actually interview. Have people remember you for how qualified you are for your prospective job, not for how many invisible objects you trip over.
Some time near the end of Mr. DeSaro's speech, we were served the opening course of the meal; the soup. I'm not a fan of vegetable soups. Much less a fan of the onions that were in this particular soup. But I sucked it up and ate it, since I didn't know what else to do in this situation. Lucky for me, I was served last at my table, so I didn't have to be too concerned about waiting for everyone else to be served before starting. I realize now that I had stopped listening to Mr. DeSaro's presentation when the food showed up. I must have been hungry. I did, however, pick up the fact that being nice and *respectful* to the servers is just as important as being nice and *respectful* to the people you're dining with.
While we all dealt with the soups in front of us, we had some time to ask Robin some questions. I took this chance to ask about how common these set-course dinners were. Be prepared. At conferences and conventions, usually you don't get a menu, and you're served the same meal as everyone else. If you aren't a fan of something that they're serving, politely give the server a "No, thank you".
So, right now, I'm going to take an intermission. Part two on Monday!
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