On Oct. 8, the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy visited the restaurant Spain of Narragansett for their annual Etiquette Dinner, meant for its graduating sixth-year PharmD and fourth-year BSPS students.
The etiquette dinner covers more than just table manners – it also focuses on social skills like networking, building your brand, handling difficult conversations and managing your online presence, skills that employers and potential employees can agree are essential to landing a job or internship.
The event was run by Dean Libutti, associate vice-provost for enrollment and student success at URI.
While this event has only occurred for three years, Libutti says he has been running programs similar to this for much longer, beginning in 1995 when he worked in career services for a university in Philadelphia.
After talking with employers, Libutti said their response was that certain things would be missing when they would decide to hire students for internships or jobs.
“They started explaining things that weren’t always covered in the classroom, but were life lessons,” Libutti said.
Wanting to give students ‘a leg up’ in the interviewing process, Libutti and his colleagues created a series of programs that would help give students confidence in fields beyond just classroom knowledge, such as dining etiquette. When Libutti moved to URI in 1999, he took the programs with him, and began working with the various colleges and student groups at URI, such as the College of Pharmacy.
While the event is conducted as a formal dinner, it is actually comprised of six ‘modules’, the first of which is about ‘building your brand.’ As a new hire or intern for an organization, Libutti walked the group through how to go about a networking event, beginning with the RSVP and then progressing into other scenarios, such as what to do when waiting in line for appetizers (use the line to interact with those around you), what side to clip your nametag on (left or right side of shirt, never in the middle) and how to have a drink without suffering a wet handshake (hold your drink with a napkin in one hand, this way you always have a dry hand to shake with).
The next module, naturally, is the dinner itself, handling everything from place settings to how to pass rolls and deal with potential spills.
The Etiquette Dinner program has continuously evolved with the times, and one of the more recent additions concerns the use of phones at the dinner table, as well as the usage of social media in building one’s brand. A lot of times people think of etiquette as being RSVP’s, how to give a proper handshake, or even what fork to use. It also extends into behavior outside of the professional self, according to Libutti.
“You have people out there liking goofy posts on social media or making inappropriate comments and 70% of employers out there look at your social media posts,” Libutti said. “What is your brand and etiquette saying about how you treat and respect others?”
The last module that was covered talked about ‘the intangibles.’ A good example of this is sending thank-you notes after interviewing for a job or internship, according to Libutti.
“It’s the art of being thankful,” Libutti said. “It shows your manners but also shows the relationships that have occurred.”
Libutti also said that the number of people who do not send thank you notes after an interview is at an all time high.
“Well, where did that go?” he asked. “What happened with manners and etiquette that you don’t thank the people for their time and reiterate your interest that you can give yourself a leg up, right?”
Students attending the dinner had positive takeaways for what they can apply to their upcoming professional careers as pharmacists.
Russ Scarpa, a P4 PharmD student from Pennsville, New Jersey, said there were many skills learned that could be helpful in the workplace, and general life.
“My dream is if a URI student can get a leg up in an interview or in a social setting,” Libutti said. “That’s a win-win for everyone, right? It’s a win-win for the University and to help prepare them, and then maybe they’ll come back and hire the next URI intern or grad.”