LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) - Students at Ohio State Lima and Rhodes State College stepped away from the classroom and into a dining room for the Dine and Shine luncheon on Wednesday.
The event focused on helping students learn professional etiquette for interviews and networking over a meal. Students practiced how to maintain conversation, handle table settings, and carry themselves professionally in a meal setting.
"This is a really important skill, because many times students think of a job interview as a setting where they're just answering questions and exchanging conversation with an employer, but many times important decisions are made over a meal," said Rachel Richardson, career development manager for Ohio State Lima. "This is giving students hands-on experience to learn how to professionally dine and have an evaluative conversation, such as during a job interview, and really how to network in a professional way."
"Some of the things we're going to address is what happens when you first get to the restaurant, when you're with your host or your hostess, putting your napkin in your lap, what price, menu item to order, not to order messy foods, order easy to eat foods. What to do with your sugar packets? What to do with how to share like bread on the table, how to appropriately share breads and butters and things like that, what to do for napkin falls on the floor, just little intricacies that would really help make this a smooth interview process for our students," said Krista Richardson, director Of career development for Rhodes State College.
Both schools say the goal is to give students real-world experience and help them feel more confident in professional settings.
