Students Learn Networking, Etiquette Tips At Texas Exes Career Services Event (Slideshow)

By Tim Taliaferro in Blog, Careers, TXEX on March 3, 2011 at 4:58 pm | No Comments

Wear your nametag on your right side. Shake hands like you mean it. And cover your lemon when you squeeze it into your iced tea.

About 50 UT students got these tips and more Wednesday night as part of a program for members of the Texas Exes Student Chapter and recipients of Texas Exes scholarships to learn about etiquette and networking.

The event, held at the Alumni Center and led by career services director Jennifer Duncan, armed students with practical tools they don’t always get from school but will need in the real world.

“The No. 1 thing that I see that new grads are lacking is the ability to network, to know how to network,” Duncan says. “And the best way to do that is on a one-on-one basis.”

Duncan briefed the students on the basics of how to make that connection with employers: always have a personal elevator pitch ready, prepare before situational interviews, and ask contacts in the industry for informational interviews instead of just job leads.

Included in a packet for each student was a sheet listing social no-nos, like talking with your mouth full, avoiding eye contact, and thinking “business casual” is the same as “business professional.”

“There are a few faux pas that I will hopefully not be guilty of committing again,” says Meghan Wied, an accounting junior, “like cutting my salad all at once and wearing my name tag too low on my shoulder. Next time I meet someone I’m going to say the individual’s name 10 times in my head, so I don’t forget it.”

Wednesday’s event was the latest in a series of spring programs designed to help students find internships or jobs in what is an increasingly competitive job market.

“In college we learn how to write a business proposal or how to best give a speech, but the all-important lesson of soft skills is often overlooked,” says Dylan Amaya, a business senior.  “This dinner gave us practical lessons on how to be comfortable in those real world settings that we will soon be a part of.”