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Juniors already anticipating next year’s
big question, “What are you planning to do after graduation?”
can take heart. CMC's offices of Career Services and Alumni Relations
have teamed up to create a dinner event appropriately titled, “Welcome
to the Real World: Preparing for Your Senior Year . . . and After.”
Much more than an exercise in table etiquette,
organizers say the dinner was created in hopes of assuaging any
anxieties a student may have about senior-year responsibilities.
Scheduled for Wednesday, April 3 at 5:30 p.m. in the Athenaeum,
the evening’s itinerary includes such topics as locating graduation
schools and targeting job openings, preparing for interviews, writing
resumes, and – as formerly suggested -- a briefing on proper lunch-interview
etiquette for those nerve-wracking lunch and dinnertime interviews.
“The idea for the junior dinner is to help
students prepare for the job searches or the grad school searches
they’ll be conducting during their senior year,” says
Beth Ricca, assistant director of career services. “The content
will include practical information, as well as more fun components.”
Rather than adhere to the standard buffet format,
the meal will be served so participants can practice proper dining
etiquette. Between courses, career services staff will discuss career-related
topics and quiz students on such pressing questions as which forks
to use (and when), and what to do if your napkin drops. Answers
will be resourced in the book Don’t Slurp Your Soup
(Brighton, 1996).
“We’re trying to help students understand
that it does take advance planning for their senior year,”
says Holly McCord ’92, associate director of alumni relations.
“With all of the things juniors have next year—thesis,
grad school tests and applications, finding a job, interviews—there
are still things they can start now.
“The dinner is meant to be a teaser to get
students thinking about what Career Services has to offer them,
as they prepare for their senior year,” McCord added. “Our
goal is to keep the program fun, informative, and not overwhelming.
We want to give students something to take with them going into
their senior year.”
Six CMC alumni who work in various human resources
departments also will join the evening's activities, called in for
support to sit with students at dinner and give practical, real-world
advice about interviewing.
“Because the job market is low, we want to
give juniors the information they need for finding jobs,” said
Brian Green ’03 who is assisting the Alumni Relations office
with planning the event. “We’re trying to make juniors
aware of the opportunities that Career Services and the Alumni Relations
offices provide.”
The first junior dinner was held last year and
focused primarily on lunch-interview etiquette. Last year’s
dinner was well attended, Ricca explained, but some revisions were
necessary for this year’s program.
“We feel we need to cover more than etiquette,”
said Elise Kim ’03, who is working with Career Services to
plan the event. “We want to make sure people are prepared for
their senior years, and that they’re aware of what resources
we have on campus.”
Members of the junior class were sent invitations
via campus mail and were asked to R.S.V.P. to the Alumni Relations
office by last Thursday, March 28. Participation is limited to 40
students.
Food for thought: Readers who don't get a seat
at this year's dinner can check out next month's Inside CMC for
answers to some of the etiquette questions pondered above.
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