The 2022 Etiquette dinner was held earlier this month by Career Services, to help students practice going to business dinners, as well giving them a chance to find internships and jobs with some of the professional attendees.
The professional attendees include Elizabeth Branscum, one of the Sodexo chefs at Western Colorado Community College, WCCC, and Jennifer Pacheco Asst. Director of Career Services.
Branscum was a presenter for the evening, meaning she got to go on stage during the dinner and give a speech about her job and some advice on getting a job in the cooking industry.
“ Students may be faced with an opportunity to share a meal as a part of a job interview or be invited to dinner with their work team in the future, and we want students to feel at ease in those situations… I would have felt much more comfortable in those situations if I had been given an opportunity to practice dining etiquette before embarking on those interviews,” said Branscum.
She had the opportunity to talk to students after her presentation too, giving them the chance to do mock interviews.
“We had a great mix of CMU and WCCC students – it was so cool to see so many students who wanted to practice proper dining etiquette and meet community leaders,” said Branscum.
Jennifer Pacheco did not have the chance to present but had a different job for the night. She was a table head.
“I got to take the lead at a table filled with student attendees and help direct the conversations and set the tone for how to approach the dinner. The conversations were amazing and everyone at my table quickly warmed up to each other and had a great time,” said Pacheco.
Pacheco as assistant director of Career Services had the opportunity to educate students on proper interview etiquette.
“While the Etiquette Dinner isn’t designed to facilitate traditional interviews, tudents came dressed to impress and ready to talk with employers. I was blown away by the level of networking that I observed and the degree of engagement that students had with the employers at the dinner. Foundations for future employment were being made throughout the evening,” said Pacheco.
She explained that it’s important for students to have experience finding jobs, attending interviews, attending internships, and events like the etiquette dinner to make finding jobs after college a lot easier.
“Some students left the dinner with internship offers and even though others may not have had job or internship offers by the end of the evening… Another goal of the dinner is for students to have the opportunity to experience a formal dinner in a relaxed and low-stakes setting before they attend one in the future as an employee or intern,” said Pacheco.
