Where you're at: Job Seeker Toolkit >> Articles >> Dining Lessons for the Corporate World Dining Lessons for the Corporate World Inside a tiny banquet room with sunset views of a New Jersey highway, a group of Rutgers University students is eating cream of asparagus soup — slowly and carefully. A hand goes up. "Can you dip the bread in your soup?" a young male student asks. "No," says the instructor, Douglas Ricci, an assistant director of career services at Rutgers. "That's reserved for home." While good manners have never been out of style, dining etiquette is making a comeback from the go-go days of the late 90s. Protocol slipped during that period, but the ensuing economic downturn and tough job market prompted a return to formality, etiquette experts say. As a result, lessons on which fork to use are on the rise at universities and big companies. Potential employers don't want to see a job candidate fumbling for the correct bread plate or water glass. Corporations, especially financial-services firms whose success relies on trust and credibility, don't want employees blowing noses with napkins or eating filet mignon with fingers. "Dining etiquette is becoming increasingly asked for," says Pamela Holland, a Jenkintown, Pa., business communications consultant and co-author of "Help! Was That A Career Limiting Move." "The pendulum started swinging back to an appreciation and respect for people's business behavior," she says. Rutgers began etiquette lessons in 1999 at the request of corporations, who complained that graduates were well-prepared in terms of technical skills but lacking in ability to conduct business socially. Prudential Financial Inc., Johnson & Johnson and L'Oreal SA have all sponsored workshops on the New Brunswick, N.J., campus. Young people who have grown up eating in front of the television, in the car or at soccer practice often need lessons, says Danielle Turcola, president of Professionalism International Inc., a Twinsburg, Ohio, consulting firm whose clients have included General Electric Co., Hewlett- Packard Co. and Deloitte & Touche LLP. "Dining etiquette is the most scrutinized aspect of all business etiquette," says Turcola, who finds herself training executives who dislodge food in their teeth with their fingers while sitting at the table or hold forks like shovels. Turcola often trains financial planners and accountants on how to meet with clients over the dining table. "They're going to be receiving large sums of money from someone in exchange for services," she says. "Whenever large sums of money transfer, people expect more from the person." Michelle T. Sterling, a former investment banker with Bank of America Corp.'s Banc of America Securities, now teaches dining etiquette and protocol skills through her firm Global Image Group in New York. She says junior-level employees do less talking than the boss at business lunches and dinners, so they need to make sure their dining skills stand out. "It talks more about your social-class level, and it speaks to how you conduct yourself as a professional," she says. "Even if you go to an Ivy League school, there are people there who have atrocious dining skills." Holland said companies sometimes ask for a lunch workshop because "they have employees who have just embarrassed themselves or the organization." At the Rutgers banquet, Ricci the instructor gives a lesson on eating a garden salad studded with cherry tomatoes before the main entree of basil-marinated chicken is served. "Cherry tomatoes are a real challenge," he says, to laughter. "My advice is: don't eat the cherry tomatoes." A gasp goes up from the crowd at the concept. ECU Editor’s note: If you are an ECU student or alumni and are interested in participating on Dining etiquette training, contact The Career Center at 1-800-391-0506. Ask for Sue Martin. Copyright 2006, The ECU Career Center |