Twenty-three lucky students beat out a lengthy waiting list to attend the etiquette dinner hosted by Career Services at Firestone's in Quechee, Vt. last night.Director of Career Services Skip Sturman presented tips on useful interviewing skills within a restaurant setting. A Firestone's manager led students step-by-step through a four-course meal to inform them of practical dining etiquette.
Attendees from every class year were able to enjoy a free meal and hands-on learning experience in a non-confrontational environment. The purpose of the dinner was to build confidence in students preparing for a full-time job search as well as those wishing to absorb skills necessary for internship interviews and formal social occasions.Shounak Simlai '05 attended the dinner in a navy blue suit and prepared to learn more about how to market himself. Simlai hopes to get an early start on perfecting his self-presentation, which will be critical in whatever career path he chooses.
The dinner benefited students looking to lessen the stress of upcoming interviews and the heightened anxiety which can surface when as many as four knives and five pieces of stemware are involved.
Awareness is crucial to impressing potential employers, according to Career Services Outreach/Marketing Coordinator Teresa Hawko.
Students fail to build the skills they need for job searching, simply because they are unaware the skills exist, Hawko said.
Caroline Schmutte, an '04 from Germany and a transfer student from the London School of Economics, also attended. In London, her peers were highly-focused and extremely knowledgeable about the process of job searching "European-style."
Schmutte is considering working in the United States. She attended the etiquette dinner in order to learn more about the interviewing process in this country and to find out "how people are judged here."
Sheila Hicks '04 said she attended the dinner because she came from a modern family.
"We were too busy to eat together," she said. Hicks said the extent of her etiquette knowledge came from what she could ascertain from the film "Pretty Woman."
While she has not yet decided whether she would like to work for a non-profit organization or matriculate in a nurse-midwifery school upon graduation, Hicks, a women and gender studies major, feels that manners are a "good thing to know, regardless."
Career Services hopes to hold other etiquette dinners in the future.
The dinner was sponsored by a variety of on-campus organizations, including the Latin American Advisors, Black Student Advisors, the Native American Advisors, Asian and Asian American Advisors, the International Office and International House and the Office Residence Life through the Wheeler-Richardson Affinity Cluster.
