College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Formal dining
LAS students get tips on how to eat during a job interview.
Tips had been coming right and left.

Use your silverware from the outside in. Fold your napkin in half on your lap. Never order items "on the side." If ordering pasta also get a small noodle.

Each tip was met with a question or comment.

Then West Des Moines etiquette instructor Callista Gould gave out another tip to the packed Campanile Room.

"Never salt and pepper your food before you taste it," she said.

Laughter emitted from the corner of the room where a student or two already were shaking salt onto the main course.

"This shows your corporate host that you're impulsive," Gould says.

The formal dinner and Gould's presentation were included in the final "Passport to Success" workshop series offered by the Office of Career Services and Multicultural Student Services, both offices in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The eight-event workshop series also included sessions on resume writing, dressing for success and interview skills.

The etiquette dinner was offered Tuesday, April 10, for students interested in learning the finer points of dining as part of the job search and interview process. During the dinner Gould discussed table manners, place settings, host/guest protocol, restaurant etiquette, alcohol do and don'ts, interviews, and dining with prospective employers.

"We wanted students to be prepared for all aspects of interviewing for a job," said Steve Kravinsky, director of LAS Career Services. "After today these students will never again fear eating dinner and interviewing at the same time.

"I think they will be surprised at what they learn."

Gould says etiquette is "a code of behavior - a way of behaving properly and politely while concentrating on the business at hand.

"The number one rule of etiquette is to make people around you feel comfortable."