Students schooled on dinner etiquette

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA - Terika Rhodes admitted to having a fit of nerves before an etiquette dinner Wednesday on the University of North Alabama campus.

A junior majoring in business, she needs the skills she would learn at the dinner, but would she be graded? Would she use the wrong fork? Would she remember to pass the bread basket in the right direction?

Once seated, Rhodes calmed herself and realized that, if mistakes were to be made at a dinner such as this, now was the time to make them.

"I definitely think this is something we need to learn because, especially in business, we're going to have to know these things," she said.

"I don't want to be in a situation where I don't get a job because I don't know basic social skills."

Each semester, the Office of Career Planning and Development at UNA has etiquette dinners for students to learn the do's and don'ts of how to conduct themselves during a meal that is part of an interview.

Melissa Medlin, director of the department, said these are critical tips as students prepare to graduate and enter the work force.

"I've seen students get an interview and fail to get a job because they lacked these kind of skills," she said.

"(The dinner) is an effort to put students at ease and make them comfortable because, if you're going to screw up, this is the place to do it. You don't want it to happen when it really matters."

Medlin takes students through the gamut of meal-time obstacles, from whether to eat a meatball with their fingers to passing the salt and pepper together to giving the proper handshake and making introductions.

"The purpose of a meal interview is not to eat," she said. "Employers want to see you in a social situation, and they want to get to know you. These are the basics, the (common sense) things you should know before you're confronted with that."

Students had to pay to participate in the dinner, which took place in the dining halls of the Guillot University Center. They were served a full meal, including appetizers and dessert.

Medlin said just talking to the students about proper etiquette at the table isn't enough.

"They need to see how to hold their fork and knife and how to put this theory into practice," she said.

For UNA junior Will Shannon, it was the practice that demystified the process of having appropriate etiquette in certain business situations.

"These aren't things I've grown up knowing because we didn't have a lot of formal dinners at my house," he said.

"But I've learned a lot of things, and I believe I'll feel more comfortable when I have to do this for real."

Michelle Rupe Eubanks can be reached at 740-5745 or michelle.eubanks@TimesDaily.com.