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Chef Stephanie started this morning with a concise overview of the interview process. The importance of first impressions: "If you have a suit in your closet, wear it." You'll show that you're doing everything you can do to get the job. "For the females: if you can hear your jewelry, it's too much."

The inevitable question that comes in every interview is, "Tell me about yourself." Chef said the funniest answer she got was from a woman applying for a bartending job: "As you can see, I'm about twenty five pounds overweight..." Chef said, "I did learn that perhaps she has some low self esteem." She recommends that we prepare a three sentence answer to that question: where you are in your career, a point of recent work-related pride, and why you're interested in the job that's being offered.

"What is your weakness?", another inevitable question, is meant to disarm you, and your reaction is more important than the answer itself. Chef said, "Take a strength and add 'too': 'I am too detailed oriented.'" When you are asked why you left your last job, or why you're looking to leave, you should talk about yourself: "I was not as able to perform as well as I could..."

She said that a typical kitchen interview will take about 20 minutes. If you are dismissed in less than 12, you have "no chance." If your interviewer spends more than 25 minutes with you, it's a good sign.

She said the Deadly Sins, for her, were lack of preparation (including getting lost en route), body language that indicated a lack of enthusiasm, and lack of follow up. "I will remember the candidate who sends me a thank-you email."

Then we talked about Mail Merge for a bit. "Everybody uses Mail Merge. Use it a little creatively so that your letters look customized." For the rest of the morning, we worked on our menus. We had to include three different designated styles, clip art, word art, and a page border. Hungry?