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Career Development Center hosts business etiquette luncheon with corporate partner Enterprise

Students gathered for a business lunch and a humorous demonstration of the value of applying etiquette in their professional lives after college Wednesday.

In the well-decorated dining hall, Enterprise talent acquisition manager Sherron Hawkins led the demonstration in the Chartroom at Cal State Long Beach.  

CSULB’s Career Development Center has traditionally arranged a Business Etiquette Luncheon nearly every year with its employer-partner and corporate sponsor Enterprise in order to properly demonstrate how a meal between professionals should proceed. The talent acquisition manager at Enterprise, Sherron Hawkins, led the seminar.

After introducing herself, she dove straight into the appetizer with one sarcastic piece of advice after the other. She explained that she learned how to apply business etiquette when she was younger, during a period when her family lived in England. A majority of the students were dressed up in business attire and prepared for a stricter atmosphere than what it turned out to be.

“I am not an expert, but I am very well-phrased when it comes to dinner expertise,” Hawkins said before she asked students to introduce themselves to everyone around each table. “Do you guys know each other a little better now than what you did 60 seconds ago?”

The communications coordinator at the Career Development Center, Terri Armstrong, said that this interactive seminar is one of their most popular events. She said she thinks that this is one piece of professional development that students do not get a lot of exposure to.

“I do not think that our students really know how to conduct themselves in those business situations where food is involved or when alcohol is involved,” Armstrong said. “That is the purpose of this event; to give the students a practical experience.”   

For practical reasons the students were not served real alcoholic beverages during this occasion. But the handling of such beverages  is typically a common problem in the business industry, according to Sherron, who encouraged the students to gently sip on them during the meal.

“You have to know your tolerance.” Hawkins said. “Every conference at Enterprise, someone has been fired for drinking too much alcohol. When it is free, some people cannot control themselves.”

Throughout the seminar, Sherron regularly gave advice on interview techniques and how to interact in such formal situations. In her business, she is part of the recruiting process, so she has interviewed many applicants throughout her time there. She mentioned that she has met some students from Cal State Long Beach who have made a good impression during this process.

“We want to make sure that we are helping students in their entire preparation for when they enter the workforce,” Armstrong said. “Making a good impression is something that we are constantly emphasizing. We want employers to know that we are preparing our students in a lot of various capacities.”

When the dessert was served, Sherron complimented the students for doing an excellent job, and those who were interested in eventual future job opportunities had the chance to come up and talk to her.

“I learned a lot of new things today,” said Abhishek Chature, a public administration graduate student. “I think she did a pretty good demonstration of business etiquette. It was a different experience.”    

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