Pass the Job, Please
Don’t let a lack of mealtime manners make an employer pass on you.
by Rita Gworek

As you move up in the interviewing process, you may be asked to meet for lunch. It is also possible to be invited to dinner with your spouse. This often occurs with a high-level management position. The interviewer wants to observe your social graces and your table manners. When your spouse is included, the employer wants to observe her, her table manners and how you interact with her.

Getting started
Let’s go over basic table manners.

• Let the host show you where to sit. For a male, wait until the females are seated before you sit down.
• When you see the host or hostess place their napkin in their lap, do the same.
• If you are ordering off a menu, never choose the most expensive or least expensive items. And never pick something that is difficult to eat like spaghetti or a lobster that needs to be shelled.
• Start to eat only after you see the host or hostess start.
  

Utensils 101
The table is set with the utensils you will use first, starting from the outside to the inside

of the plate. The spoons and knives are placed on the right side of the plate and the forks on the left side. Dessert forks and spoons are placed above the dinner plate. A butter plate is placed to your left, just above your dinner plate, with a butter knife placed across it. Do not use your butter knife to cut anything. It is used to spread things.

Table Tips
Follow these pointers once the meal begins:

• When speaking, do not gesture with autensil in your hand.
• Do not place your elbows on the table. Youmay lean one forearm on the edge of the table.
• Never chew with your mouth open.
• Do not put too much food in your mouth atone time.
• Do not talk with food in your mouth, and nevertake a drink with food in your mouth.
• If you should place something in your mouth that you need to remove, place your hand to your mouth and quietly deposit it in the cup of your hand and place it discreetly on your plate.
• Break off a bite size piece of bread and butter it  before placing it in your mouth. Do this with each piece of bread.
• Never take food from a serving platter directly to your mouth. You should place it on your butter dish and eat it from there.
• When you are eating, lean forward slightly, so as not to drop anything in your lap, and then lean back again.
• Put your fork and knife down between bites.
• If you are having soup, do not leave a spoon in a cup or bowl. Place them on the side of the dish when not in use.
• If you are a male, when a female gets up during the course of a meal, you should also rise until she leaves and then rise again when she returns. You may want to assist her with her chair.
• When you have finished eating place your fork and knife across your plate, touching 11 and 5 as pictured on a clock. This signals you are done.
  

Hope all goes well and you enjoy the meal!