After final exams are over, MIT students will return from their holiday break to experience something different from their usual studies — but almost as important.
It’s the university’s annual Charm School, offering instruction in everything from how to make a first impression to how to dress for work to which bread plate to use.
Other colleges have started teaching students how to make small talk, deal with conflict, show up on time, follow business etiquette, and communicate with co-workers.
These programs may be fun, or even funny, but there’s a serious purpose to them: to give students the kinds of social skills they need to get and keep a job.
“Everybody here is smart,” said Alana Hamlett, who co-directs the Charm School, which began about 20 years ago and is optional for students. But in a tough job market, she said, “this is one additional tool that will give you an edge. The key to being a step ahead is having those interpersonal skills and being able to work a room.”
Although projections by the National Association of Colleges and Employers show that hiring is expected to be up for students finishing college in the new year, the job market remains tight and applicants will need every advantage. Only slightly more than a third of businesses say they plan to recruit this spring.
Employers complain that graduates are increasingly arriving without the kind of interpersonal skills MIT’s Charm School tries to teach. They’re skills many don’t learn at home anymore and that take a back seat in an era of omnipresent electronic communications.
