For as long as I can remember, my mother has been nagging me about the importance of manners. As a child, I was constantly told to always say “please” and “thank you.”
I was taught the way to make a good first impression the importance of appearing presentable in important situations. I quickly learned when it was not appropriate to ask personal questions or to repeat the stories I’d overheard my mom discuss in private-stories not meant for everyone’s ear.
Apparently not everyone had these life lessons. Perhaps that is why the Dolan School of Business held the Competitive Edge dinner. The dinner was led by etiquette guru Anne Marie Sabath of At Ease Inc., author of several etiquette books and a frequent speaker on proper business behavior.
During the three hour manners marathon, Sabath lectured on the proper way to make a first impression, e-mail and voicemail etiquette, proper attire, and dining behavior. Although Sabath was an energetic speaker who made a manner study bearable, I spent a majority of my time at the dinner wondering why a manners dinner was really necessary.
While in college, we spent a great deal of our four years dressed casually, giving very little thought to proper business behavior.
But, do college graduates really need to be told that they should be nicely dressed, with their hair in place and their shoes shined, when they meet a prospective employer? I for one thought this was common knowledge.
Apparently it isn’t. Sabath has lectured to college students and Fortune 500 employees throughout the country She even has a business etiquette hotline for those pressing manners emergencies.
Sabath made the long night entertaining and was somewhat informative. But I assumed that after four years at an established university, Fairfield students could figure out how to dress and introduce themselves, in a business environment, and let their education and training speak for itself.
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