Written by: Abbie Baggerly

Knowing how to present yourself while at a dining table may be your advantage when it comes to landing a job over your competitor. Career Services will be hosting the Dining Interview Etiquette Workshop on Tuesday at 4 p.m. and on Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. 

Many employers are beginning to hold dining interviews in order for the employer to look at an interviewee’s social and conversational abilities, as well as to see how the interviewee handles pressure.

“The focus of everything that we do is to kind of polish the package and get students to think about (the) impression that they are leaving,” Dana Wheeler, career counselor, said. “We teach students that their resume is to get you the interview, but how you act, how you dress and how you present yourself is how you get jobs.”

The workshop will consist of classroom-style learning, but students will get to practice their skills with provided plates and silverware as if they were in a formal setting with future employers. 

Students will watch a professional video that engages the students.  Also, students do not need to dress up for this event.

“We encourage students to come as they are, and we can answer any questions that they may have about professional image,” Wheeler said.

 The dining etiquette workshops are not the only workshops that career services offer students that are looking for career options in their future.

 “We are doing a lot of things—virtual career fairs, we just had a part-time internship fair which (we) had 23 to 25 employers come to,” Williams said. “We are looking at enhancing a lot.”

 For more information, visit Career Services on the second floor of Powell Hall West.