Summer recruiting season: always a trying time for those among us trying to maintain our weight (to say nothing of those of us trying to diet)! I still stand by my old advice on how to diet during the recruiting season, but I thought we’d ask my good friend L to offer her thoughts on how not to gain weight over summer recruiting season with all the recruiting cocktail parties and ritzy lunches). Thank you, L! – Kat. Check out more resources for summer associates, here!

When I was a summer associate (in a year I will not name, but it was pre-economy collapse), I gained twelve pounds in about as many weeks. A quantity of food I had previously called “lunch,” I started calling “an appetizer.”

Now, however, after navigating many more summer programs, I’ve figured out how to strike a good balance between having fun (free food! free drinks! bonding!) and still managing to maintain a healthy lifestyle – and fit back into my fall clothes when the summer program comes to an end.

For many, recruiting events are a chance to eat at amazing restaurants and try delicious food, and I’m not discouraging you from participating in that experience. But if you are concerned about gaining weight, then decide each meal whether the calorie splurge will be worth it.

How Not to Gain Weight Over Summer Recruiting Season

For when it won’t be, here is my advice:

Eat (a healthy) breakfast.

If you are a breakfast person, put in the time to plan breakfasts — that don’t involve the words “food cart” or “bagel.” There are tons of make-ahead breakfasts that are easy, healthy and will keep you focused and energized through the morning. I like to make a big egg, zucchini and tomato frittata on Sunday night and then eat it all week. Plus, if you skip or skimp breakfast, you are more likely to over-order at lunch.

Exercise.

Do what you can when you can, even taking the stairs or getting off the train one stop early. For summer interns, however, true workouts should be scheduled early in the morning or on nights when you don’t have events, because you should not duck out during the work day to hit the gym. For everyone else, Kat had some great advice on squeezing in work-outs during the day.

Watch what you drink!

I cannot emphasize this enough, and for many reasons. Don’t be that girl (or that guy). As Kat has advised in the past, at cocktail parties, try to alternate alcoholic drinks with water or seltzer. You can ask the bartender to put the seltzer in a small glass with a lemon or a plastic flamingo or whatever, and nobody will know that you are not having a cocktail.

Speaking of, if mixed drinks are your thing, request club soda and a lemon as mixer rather than sugar-laded fruit juices or soft drinks. If you need to doctor up your drink more, ask for a splash of cranberry juice or order your drink with half tonic / half soda. And white wine spritzers are always a lower calorie – and refreshing – choice as well.

Skip the juice and soda at breakfast and lunch too. And try to make your own coffee or tea – the sugar in those frappuccinos can really add up.

Make smart choices at restaurants.

For your first course, look for something cold – raw bar, ceviche, crudo or a simple green salad are all great options. If you’re getting a salad, ask for the dressing on the side, or ask for just olive oil and lemon juice, as many restaurant dressings are loaded with sugar.

For your main course, pick something grilled or baked over anything fried. A lot of restaurants will also have options where you can add shrimp or grilled chicken to one of the salads. If you are somewhere more casual, you can often get a hamburger or turkey burger without the bun, and with a side salad.

Oh, and don’t fill up on the bread. Especially if it’s cold. (Ew.)

Do your homework.

Look at the restaurant menu in advance so you can walk in with an ordering plan. If you have questions about the menu or substitutions, call the restaurant ahead of time. This will give you more time to socialize at the table, and you’ll look more prepared.

Make smart choices at cocktail parties.

Be mindful of what you’re eating at cocktail parties as all the passed hors d’oeuvres can really add up too. You’re better off making a whole plate at once from the buffet, and then politely declining the passed hors d’oeuvres. This also means you can do fewer food-in-teeth-checks!

Don’t be peer-pressured (or beer-pressured).

It’s okay to not eat the calamari, the bacon-wrapped dates, or the dessert if you don’t want to. You won’t look girly for ordering a salad or refusing a shot. You can have just one bite or leave food on the plate that you don’t want. Don’t be apologetic – own it; you are entitled to eat what you want. (But don’t tell people you are “dieting” or looking to “watch your waistline” – that is a huge buzzkill).

Snack (if that’s your thing).

If you need or want to snack, there are many healthy, desk-friendly options. If you have access to a refrigerator, mini sweet peppers are one of my personal favorites; they require no utensils and make a minimal mess. Otherwise, stock up on items like bananas, protein bars, kale chips or nuts to keep at your desk.

Finally, I want to say that the above suggestions work for me and make me feel good. But I think that they are adaptable to any diet or lifestyle. So if you prefer to eat a low-fat or low-carb or low-meat diet, etc., do you.

Ladies, let’s hear from you — are you dealing with summer recruiting season right now? Do you find weight maintenance to be a struggle when faced with a zillion cocktail parties, lunches, and more? What are YOUR best tips? 

This post was originally written in 2016 but substantially indicated in 2023. Updated images via Stencil.

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Today we’re talking about business dining etiquette, and we’d love to hear readers’ thoughts — especially any tips specific to lawyer lunches and manners. What do you think are the most important rules to follow at work lunches (and dinners)? Any “fun” embarrassing business lunch stories to share so that readers can learn from your mistakes…?

Here’s an important issue: What if you’re not comfortable eating indoors yet, for example, if you’re immunocompromised? Readers had a big discussion in the comments a couple of months ago about that tricky issue… Have you run into this problem at work? (Do you try to take the initiative in scheduling things because you know the spots with available outdoor dining?)

Tips for Business Dining Etiquette

What to Order — and Not to Order

If you’re worried about ordering a meal that doesn’t “match” your colleagues’ choices, casually ask them if they’re planning on ordering an appetizer or salad or just starting with the main course. If you really can’t decide what to order and the server turns to you first, politely say something like “I need another second, please — can I go last?”

On the flip side, if you’re a senior person at the table, you can help out interns or summer associates you’re dining with by saying something like, “Hmm, the [dish you want to order] looks good…” or “Let’s see, I think I’m going to have the [appetizer] and [entree]…”

{related: lunch with partners: who picks up the tab?}

If no one else is ordering alcoholic drinks, don’t order one. And, although it probably goes without saying, don’t choose the most expensive thing on the menu if you’re not paying.

Don’t order something that’s hard to eat or likely to be messy, like spaghetti, ribs, or lobster. Ideally, don’t order a dish you have to eat with your hands.

We’ve shared posts on eating gluten-free at a business lunch and being the only vegan or vegetarian at the table (though bear in mind, special diets have become a lot more more common!), but in general, it’s fine to ask the server a question or two about the menu. (As a vegetarian, for example, I’ve learned that vegetarian-sounding soups often contain chicken broth, so I have to ask.) Just avoid channeling Sally in this famous scene from When Harry Met Sally. (No, not THAT famous scene, but you know, don’t do that either.)

(Tip from Kat: You can always call the restaurant ahead of time if you have a lot of questions! I used to do that because I was doing WW and wanted to plan my day.)

{related: what to wear to an alumni lunch event}

Once Your Food Arrives…

If you’re going to an upscale restaurant and you’re not familiar with formal dining, take a quick look at a typical place setting before you go. (Here’s one from Emily Post.) If I ever can’t remember which bread plate is mine, I remember the B and D trick — your left hand can make a lowercase B and your right can make a D (just don’t do this, you know, on top of the table). You can also think of “BMW” — “bread, meal, water/wine.”

Put your napkin in your lap as soon as everyone is seated … or as soon as you sit down. Etiquette advice differs on this; for example, articles from GQ and MyRecipes say to do the former, while The Boston Globe and The Spruce specify the latter. (Putting your napkin on the chair vs. the table when you briefly leave the table is also a hot debate among etiquette experts…) At the end of the meal, the proper place to leave your napkin is to the left of your plate.

When the butter plate is being passed around the table (to the right, as with the bread basket), use the knife on that plate to put butter on your bread plate, i.e., don’t butter your own piece of bread with the communal butter knife. Once you’re ready to eat your bread, to be ultra-correct you shouldn’t butter the whole thing at once; instead, break off a small piece, butter it, and eat it.

{related: can I take the leftovers from my business lunch?}

Wait until everyone’s food is served before starting to eat. If the final person waiting for their food says to go ahead and start, it’s polite to demur once until they urge you again.

Try to eat at the same pace as the rest of your party. If you happen to look down and you have most of your dish left while everyone else has a lot remaining on their plate, consider whether you’ve been monopolizing the conversation. (Of course, if this is a job interview, you’ll be expected to be speaking a lot!)

Don’t bring up politics or religion. If you want to feel prepared, take a look at the headlines that morning and pick out a story or two to have “on deck” (not an ultra-controversial one, obviously), and maybe have a couple of work topics ready to discuss. (If this is an interview lunch, check out readers’ best interview advice.)

{related: how to deal with political talk at the office}

Choose your seat carefully. Try to avoid sitting where you’ll be stuck only talking to one person. If there’s someone at work you’ve been meaning to talk to, try to sit near them. Here’s a handy infographic about picking an ideal seat at a table.

Limit your smartphone use. Keep your phone on silent/vibrate, don’t leave it on the table, and don’t take phone calls during lunch. If the lunch isn’t a job interview and you really have to keep an eye on emails, do it discreetly — and if you have to take an urgent call, step away from the table and apologize when you return.

Readers, do tell: What are your top tips for business dining etiquette? What mistakes do you see interns and summer associates making, and what mistakes did you make when you were new to the work world?

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I would love to hear from the readers at the bigger firms and companies — if you have a summer associate or intern program, what does it look like this year (and how does it compare to 2019 and earlier)?

Over the years we’ve covered a ton of summer associate questions — including things like what to wear on a yacht or company fishing trip, what to wear to your boss’s pool party, what to wear for a corporate golf scramble, and so forth. (Stay tuned tomorrow for our thoughts on dining etiquette!) What unusual events is your company hosting this summer? (What other perks do your interns and summer associates enjoy?)

General Resources for Summer Associates and Interns

• Top tips on networking when you’re junior
• How to build your network
• How to use alumni networks
• How to stay cool on hot workdays
• Also check out our roundup of the best law school resources for women! 

Fashion Tips for Summer Associates and Interns

• What not to wear to work
• Our guide to business casual
• What to wear to the company gym
• Do check out our regularly updated list of wardrobe essentials for work!

What to Wear to Summer Associate Events

• The office pool party — employers, please stop scheduling these things! We’ve even discussed whether a bikini is appropriate for office functions (but perhaps we should do another deep dive on that issue this summer?)
• The company golf outing — years before that, we also had a golfer friend advise on how to prepare for a corporate scramble if you’ve never golfed.
• The company picnic (read the comments too; lots of discussion on that post!)
• A company sailing event
• The company baseball game
• What to wear to a business meeting in the Bahamas (may everyone be so lucky to have to ponder the question of what’s business professional attire for a tropical island!)
• The black tie event (which I think is rarer for summer associates just because of timing, but maybe that’s me) — we’ve talked about how to do black tie on the cheap as well as what not to wear to a black tie event…
• The company cocktail party (I would LOVE to know what my current readers think of my original suggestions —  many look pretty hideous to me in the light of 2022. I’d suggest just going with a basic sheath dresses, preferably with pockets and sleeves…)

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Reader A, a law student, writes in with an urgent request: what to wear to an interview dinner with a student hiring committee? Here’s her question about what to wear to a recruiting dinner:

I sent in my cover letter + resume to a firm and was invited to a dinner with potentially 2+ members of the student hiring committee (I’m assuming other students were invited as well…) the restaurant is quite high end and I was wondering what recommendations you would have to wear. They didn’t mention a dress code. I’m thinking either: 1) A black dress + Black jacket OR 2) Black dress pants + dress shirt + black sweater over it. What would be your choice?

Ultimately, this is an interview, and that means one thing to us:  full suit. Because it’s unclear, though, be prepared for the possibility that you will want to take off your jacket to be more casual. So, for example, choose a suit where you like the pants by themselves, and choose a layer beneath the suit that has sleeves and looks professional.

A lightweight sweater, a short-sleeved sweater, or silky tee would probably be our choice here, accessorized with pearls or other conservative (and good) jewelry.

{related: the best on-campus interview tips and resources}

Some of our latest favorite sweater tees:

Some of our favorite silky tees (they come in a ton of other colors):

As of 2023, some of our favorite silky silk t-shirts include Quince, Cuyana, M.M.LaFleur, AmourVert, and Brooks Brothers. Silk-blend knits are harder to find; LilySilk and J.Crew both have them.

And yes, we did say pants — even though we’re normally huge fans of the skirt suit for interviews, because this is dinner, you want to avoid any appearance that you thought you were going on a date. Go with a skirt if you want; we’d avoid a dress at all costs.

Readers, what say you? Also, do you have any other tips for the tricky dinner interview? We’ll point you to an older post we wrote about dining etiquette; we’d also advise drinking very little (one glass of wine at most) and ordering something easy to eat, like ravioli.

Stock photo via Deposit Photos / nejron.

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Ladies, what are your favorite easy office decor ideas? What’s the first thing you do in any new office, and what ideas would you recommend to summer associates, interns, and others? Decorating your office with cute desk accessories and more can be an essential way to making your workspace happier — and giving yourself more energy.

But, if you’re a summer associate, intern, on-site consultant, on a secondment, or any other kind of temporary worker, you don’t want to put in a ton of effort into decorating your desk or office. So what are the top affordable, easy office decor ideas that help you avoid staring at boring blank walls or that ubiquitous cubicle-wall shade of beige-gray-tan?

Obviously, you should make sure not to damage the office in any way, such as leaving behind adhesive residue or accidentally removing paint/drywall when you remove things from the walls. You also won’t want to bring too much stuff, or else by the end of your time there you won’t even want to bring it all home. (Plus, it’s a little weird when a temporary worker looks like they’ve moved in, yes?)

So what are the best ideas beyond “colorful tissue box”? (Always an option!) We thought we’d round up some great ideas for cute desk accessories and other simple, fast ways summer associates can decorate their offices.

(Update: as you see in the comments, a lot of readers bristled at the very idea of this post, noting that summer associates or interns should NEVER decorate their office. We’ve updated the post a bit for clarity, but it’s a good reminder to know your office. )

Easy Office Decor: Office Plants and Flowers

• Flowers: If you’re feeling splurgey, you can also get yourself a bouquet of fresh flowers every week — they add a lot of color and fun to a room. Even a single flower in a bud vase can cheer you up! CB2 has affordable metal bud vases that should be lightweight and easily packed up, pictured below (1).
• Houseplants: Small, potted plants (such as those sold at bodegas and other convenience stores) are far more affordable than weekly flowers — but look out for bugs first! (For more permanent workers choosing office plants for the long run, we have a zillion different articles on how to choose office plants on our Office Decor Pinterest board!)

Stay tuned for some of our favorite plants for the office!

Cute Desk Accessories

You’ll want to choose wisely here and avoid anything that’s too silly or otherwise unprofessional, but you’ve got plenty of options to brighten up your space:

• File folders. Maybe buy a few colorful file folders (we’ve featured some over the years) with stripes, polka dots, or designs from Orla Kiely (pictured above, #5) or William Morris. As we’ve noted before, cute file folders probably shouldn’t be given to people at the office, but instead used for personal folders at the office. For example, if it makes you feel happy to keep your billable hours or something else that lives at your desk inside a pretty folder, it’s an easy, affordable way to bring color to your desk space.
• Colorful desk accessories. A colorful mug to keep your pens and pencils in is a classic item — but note that spots like Poppin have a ton of affordable, disposable items like the cardboard boxes pictured above (4).
• Mousepads. Depending on how relaxed the company is, you can use your own mousepad decorated with things like bicycles, fine art, or abstract designs. (Pictured above, #3: Van Gogh Almond Blossom Painting MousePad, $11.99.) 

On the hunt for cute office supplies? As we’ve noted in the past, Target, Anthropologie, ShopBop, Urban Outfitters, and Amazon all have a ton of personality-infused office supplies. Some of our favorites as of 2023 include these:

Office Artwork

You have a ton of options for things to put on your bulletin board, in frames, or on the wall, including:

• Family pictures. We’ve talked a lot about family pictures at the office over the years. Bottom line: put pictures in a nice frame, and consider the content of the photo when you’re placing it — for example, if it makes you smile to see that silly picture with your brother, have it facing your desk, not your visitor. If you’re a temporary worker you may want to default to a computer slideshow from Dropbox, or a single picture in a frame.
• Postcards or greeting cards. These attach easily to a bulletin board and are easy to take with you and go — but they add a nice dash of color, mood, humor, and (if they were actually sent to you), a nice reminder of friends and family.
• Colorful calendars. A calendar is a functional, quick, and affordable way to add a lot of color to your office quickly. Anthropologie has several cute calendar options; your local Barnes & Noble also has a ton.

Readers: Have you found some affordable, easy ways ways to decorate your office, whether you’re a summer associate, an intern, or maybe just the new kid? Do you aim for color (energy!) or just a nicer decor?

Pictured (all under $20!): 1) bud vases 2) pretty calendar 3) artsy mouse pad 4) colorful desk organizer 5) fun file folders

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