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Interviewing Successfully
Dining Etiquette
Whether you are interviewing for an internship, a job, a graduate school program
or a fellowship committee, proper etiquette can help you outshine the
competition. Table manners play an important part in making a favorable
impression.
Also on Dining Etiquette:
Where To Sit
Whether in an interview, luncheon, or meeting, your host should indicate where
you should sit. If your host doesn’t do so, ask politely where you should sit.
Napkins
Place your napkin in your lap when you sit down at the table. Place your napkin
on your lap, completely unfolded if it is a small luncheon napkin or in half,
lengthwise, if it is a large dinner napkin. Your napkin should remain on your
lap throughout the entire meal and should be used to gently blot your mouth not
wipe across your entire face. Place your napkin on your chair if you need to
leave the table during the meal. At the end of the meal, place your napkin
neatly on the table to the right of your dinner plate. (Do not refold your
napkin, but try not to wad it up either.)
Restaurant Service
The most common type of service we encounter in a restaurant is Ala Carte. This
is where each item on the menu is priced separately. Often entrees will include
a starch, vegetable and may include soup or salad. Usually a server will take
your order and bring your meal. If, after looking over the menu, there are items
you are uncertain about, ask your server any questions you may have. Answering
your questions is part of the server's job. It is better to find out before you
order that a dish is prepared with something you do not like or are allergic to
than to spend the entire meal picking tentatively at your food.
As a guest, you should not order one of the most expensive items on the menu or
more than two courses unless your host indicates that it is all right. If the
host says, "I'm going to try this delicious sounding cheesecake; why don't you
try dessert too," or "The prime rib is the specialty here; I think you'd enjoy
it," then it is all right to order that item if you would like.
Silverware
Use silverware from the outside in toward your plate (each course should have
its own silverware). Starting with the knife, fork, or spoon that is farthest
from your plate, work your way in, using one utensil for each course. Place your
silverware either straight across the top of the plate or diagonally across when
you are simply resting between bites.
Quick Tip: Liquids on the right, solids on the left. That’s
your coffee cup to
the right of the plate, and your bread
plate on the left! Your napkin is always
placed
somewhere within your dining territorial borders.
The traditional place setting has the forks on the left side and knives (always
turned inward facing the plate) and spoons on the right side. The silver is
placed in order of use so that you can follow the rule “begin at the outside and
work in” towards the plate!
Formal Dinner Place Setting
1. Napkin
2. Fish Fork
3. Main Course Fork
4. Salad Fork
5. Soup Bowl and Plate
6. Dinner Plate
7. Dinner Knife
8. Fish Knife
9. Soup Spoon
10. Bread and Butter Plate
11. Butter Knife
12. Desert silverware
13. Water Glass
14. Red Wine Glass
15. White Wine Glass
American & European Styles of Eating
There is an American style and the European or Continental style for eating your
food. Either style is considered appropriate.
In the American style, you cut
your food by holding the knife in your right hand and your fork in the left hand
with the fork tines holding the food to the plate. Cut a few bite-size pieces of
food, and then lay your knife across the top edge of your plate with the sharp
edge of the blade facing in. Change your fork from your left to your right hand
to eat, fork tines facing up. (If you are left-handed, keep your fork in your
left hand, tines facing up.)
The European or Continental style is the same as
the American style in that you cut your meat by holding your knife in your right
hand while securing your food with your fork in your left hand. But, your fork
remains in your left hand, tines facing down, and the knife in your right hand.
Simply eat the cut pieces of food by picking them up with your fork still in
your left hand with the tines facing down.
What To Do When You Are Finished
Do not push your plate away from you when you are finished eating. Leave your
plate where it is in the place setting. The common way to show that you are
finished with your meal is to lay your fork and knife diagonally across your
plate, as if pointing to the ten and four on o’clock, with the handles of your
silverware at the four. This is the finished position. The knife blade should be
facing inward with the fork tines up. Once you have used a piece of silverware,
never place it back on the table. Place the spoon that you use for soup on the
saucer, not in the bowl although you may leave a soupspoon in a soup plate. Any
unused silverware should simply be left on the table.
Tips
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It is best to order foods that can be eaten easily with a knife and fork.
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Always pass from left to right. This is true for passing food, dishes, salt,
anything.
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Wait for everyone at the table to be served before beginning to eat.
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If in a business or interview setting, do not order alcoholic beverages (even
if your host is doing so.)
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Sit up straight at the table. It makes a good impression.
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Try to keep your elbows off the table. When you are not eating, keep your
hands on your lap or resting on the table (with wrists on the edge of the
table).
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Bread and rolls should be broken into bite-sized pieces, not cut into a slice.
Use your knife to butter each individual bite as you eat it.
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Always taste your food before you season it – this includes salt and pepper.
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Never chew with your mouth open or take a drink while you have food in your
mouth. Although it is possible to talk with a small piece of food in your mouth,
do not talk with your mouth full.
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If you need something that you cannot reach easily, politely ask the person
closest to the item you need to pass it to you. For example, "After you have
used them yourself, would you please pass me the salt and pepper?”
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You should not leave the table during the meal except in an emergency. If you
must go to the bathroom or if you suddenly become sick, politely excuse yourself
from the table.
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Say “Please”, “Thank You”,
“You’re Welcome”, and “May I”.
Want to learn still more about proper etiquette?
The CDO Resource Library has several books discussing domestic and international
etiquette, professional image, and dressing.
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