Employers Choice Dinner

1
Employers Choice Dinner

• Etiquette Tips for
• Students
• 6pm Walnut Room Talley Student Center Oct. 25th

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Congrats! Now lets prepare.

• Professional dress
• Project a professional image
• Select your choice of menu item

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A bit over dressed
Can't go wrong with a jacket and tie
College Student Look - Too Casual
4
A bit casual
Looking sharp
Good for a date, but not professional
Great
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The Reception- 6pm sharp! Mingle for 20 minutes

• Set your goals- meet employers from other
  companies
• Introduce yourself with a firm handshake
• Keep hand free for greeting
• Carefully balance food and drink
• Work the crowd- spend about 5 minutes in each
  conversation

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The Place Setting

• Use silver from outside in
• Dessert utensils are at the top
• Glasses / right
• Bread plate / left

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Some basic guidelines

• Eat from left and drink from right
• Eat using utensils from the outside - in
• Served from left and plates removed from right

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The Napkin

• Open napkin (half open if it is a large dinner
  size) as soon as seated
• Place on lap with crease toward you
• If you leave during the meal, place napkin on the
  chair
• Keep napkin in your lap until the meal is over
  and you leave the table

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Tackling The Meal

• If you are served soup- spoon away from you
• sip from side of spoon
• tip bowl away from you
• spoon in cup when resting and spoon on plate when
  finished
• Use salad fork for salad (furthest outside fork
  on the left)

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Bread and Butter

• Place bread on bread plate (on left)
• Break bread into a bite size piece and butter one
  at a time before eating
• Use butter knife to transfer butter to bread
  plate

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American Style

• Cut one bite-sized piece with fork in your left
  hand and knife in your right hand
• Lay knife across the top of your plate with the
  serrated edge facing you (No oars!)
• Switch fork to right hand when eating
• When resting, place fork tines up with the handle
  resting on the lower right side of plate
• When finished, place fork and knife across the
  center of the plate with the handles to the right
  and fork tines down (4pm)

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Dilemmas

• When in doubt, follow the lead of your host (the
  employer)
• Passing food, offer left if it is closest to you
  and pass right
• Dropped food- leave it!
• Find your name card when instructed to do so and
  sit down when your host sits down
• Begin eating when
• your host begins eating

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Donts

• Salt prior to tasting
• Perform and grooming at the table
• Rock in chair
• Crunch ice
• Try to pronounce difficult entrees
• Smoke
• Dunk anything
• Blow on food

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Make Conversation!

• S- Smile
• O- Opening lines
• F- Forward lean
• T- Tone
• E- Eye contact
• N- Nod
• Safe and unsafe topics- avoid controversial
  topics. Be ready with stories to tell and
  questions to ask. Participate.

15
Enjoy a relaxed meal

• Dont look at the conversation as a competition
  with your fellow students
• Be relaxed and confident
• Throw in some of your strengths when appropriate,
  but remember this is not an interview
• Get to know your tablemates and disclose who you
  are so they can get to know you on a personal
  level
• Be personable and polite

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Closure

• Thank your host for the meal. Get a business
  card so you can hand write a personal thank you
  note that you will mail to your host.
• Have resumes ready if you are asked to provide
  them.