Career Sabotage at Lunchtime
As proposal professionals, we tend to eat meals alone at our desks. However, we are almost always interviewed at lunch.
I just came from a restaurant and people watching. I pointed out to someone that I could pick out the youngsters who would get job offers after an interview, and who would have to wait in line for a job.
I’ve interviewed many young people starting out in their careers. Lunches were very telling.
Some will say it is because people lower their “game face” when breaking bread together. I think it is because they reveal the level of their game when they have a knife and fork at hand.
One tall, beautiful young woman would ruin her career at lunch. She slumped over her plate, as if she needed to protect it from encroachment by others at the table. I glanced over as she used her hand to stuff a huge piece of food into her mouth. She chewed with open mouth, another effective technique to discourage anyone getting close to her plate. She brandished her utensils like weapons, waving them around and completing the effect that she had recently emerged from a cave.
No one would dare allow this young lady near a customer. Her lack of table etiquette would reflect poorly on any institution. She’ll be kept in a back room someplace. I would pass on hiring her because I build work teams. If someone joins the group who is so far removed from their effect on others, it’s a sign of an attitude I don’t want to deal with in the workplace.
I can train folks to do anything, but I can’t do anything with a bad attitude.
Another young man would seem to some as non-career bound. He had long hair in a ponytail and a goatee. However, his table manners were excellent. He sat up straight, ate with mouth closed, was able to carry on a conversation because he took bites that fit his mouth, and handled a knife and fork like a gentleman.
No one would hesitate having this young man join their organization. He could dine with any CEO and be welcome back. He seemed self confident and at ease, so I’m sure he has been practicing good table manners for years. The fact that he has mastered good manners means he can be trained, and to me, probably has an attitude that will be a positive influence on a team.
When I was young, we were expected to know the difference between American and Continental table manners, and be able to shift between them, depending on our location and our guests. Today, that level of facility is only necessary for folks planning to work on-site internationally. However the ability to avoid grossing-out your future employer is a career requirement for everyone.
Anyone else remember the story about the executive being interviewed, who lost the job because he salted his meal before tasting it? It’s a famous old story about showing a lack of judgment by assuming everything needs more salt. Seems lunch time pratfalls have been around a long time.
What’s for lunch?
The team that stood out for me was one that used the Theme lavishly. Their theme was The Jetson’s of cartoon fame. Each of the issues were adopted by at least one character, making it easy to remember that the object being sold felt good in the hand because George Jetson liked the way it felt in his hand, the object was easy to clean because Rosey the robotic maid found it so, and the object was fashionable because the teenage daughter, Judy Jetson declared it so, and the materials used were space-age because the genius young son, Elroy Jetson described it so.
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