There is no such thing as a free lunch.
I received a terrific question from a job seeker who is pulling out all the stops in his networking. He posed:
When you invite someone to lunch for a meet and greet, who is expected to pick up the bill?
You should generally assume that, if you are the inviter, you should pick up the check. And yes, this is true even if you are unemployed. Here's why - you're asking a favor of the person you invited, and not only for their time during the meeting, but for their future networking support as well. If you anticipate they will either serve as a referral, open up their network, or help with your search, you should consider the cost of the meal as an investment in your career. As such, this is the least you can do for someone who is willing to help you out.
That being said, most invitees will be gracious enough to decline your offer if you are unemployed. If they don't, or fail to thank you for the lunch, reconsider this person as a networking contact. In a way, you can think of this as a small investment you've made to determine how valuable this contact is to you. And perhaps they're assessing you in the same way. Consider this example from The New York Times:
A financial analyst said he was asked to lunch by a laid-off colleague who wanted advice on where to look for a job. The two met at a buffet near the analyst's office, and the tab was a reasonable $40. In such cases, business etiquette prescribes that the person asking for advice should cover the check. But the analyst, who had sympathy for his colleague's plight, offered to pay.
So far so good, right? Everyone is playing by the rules. Here's where things get sticky:
The colleague declined the offer. Instead, he said, he had one more expense report to submit and would slip their lunch past his bosses. The analyst was astonished and a little embarrassed, but he also thought the remark told him something about why his colleague might have lost his job.
Ouch. Beyond the obvious impropriety, this scene also raises the question of where to go for lunch. Does it have to expensive or can you take them to McDonald's? My policy is to aim for somewhere in the middle - very high end suggests that you're foolish with your finances, and fast food is just plain insulting. And if you can't afford to cover the cost of a meal, just go for coffee. The bottom line is that there is no such a thing as a free lunch.
For more info: Networking Lunch Protocol from Job-Hunt.org
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