In this CSE Connect original blog post, Director of Career Strategies, Julie Miller emphasizes the value and power of the “Hallway Hello”.
CSE 1-2-3: Hallway hello and how are you
Imagine that you’re alone and you’re walking down the hall in the Brandeis International Business School building. A person you haven’t met is walking down the hall in the opposite direction, towards you. They may be a professor, or a staff member, or a student, but it’s someone you haven’t met. Would you:
A) Avert your eyes and pass the other person without saying anything nor acknowledging them?
B) Make eye contact and smile at the other person as you pass?
C) Make eye contact, smile, and say “Good morning” or “Hello” to the other person as you pass?
If you said option A, you’re not alone! Some students may prefer to avoid acknowledgement of people they don’t know in a situation like this. But did you know that options B and C are considered polite and customary, both professionally and personally, in the halls of a university in the US?
Additionally, a sense of community is a particularly important part of the Brandeis International Business School culture. The Brandeis community consists of students, staff, and faculty, and a fundamental part of helping to grow that sense of community is greeting others within the building, whether or not you have met the person, when you pass them in the hallway or sit next to them in the classroom.
Finally, have you noticed that in the US, people often say, “How are you?” when greeting someone?
A funny story: A former international student of mine at another university said, “When an American asks you, ‘How are you?’, they don’t really want to know the details. Just say ‘fine’!” And that’s actually quite accurate: When someone says “How are you?” as part of a casual greeting, it’s generally customary in the US to respond “Fine, thank you” or “Good, thanks” or “Great”, regardless of whether you are, indeed, feeling happy about your day!
So: Revisit options A, B, and C as listed above, and give option B or C a try to see if you can become more comfortable with the “hallway hello” custom while you’re a student at Brandeis. It’s easy to build a hallway hello habit! Here’s how:
- As you approach someone in the hallway – whether or not you know them – make eye contact
- Smile and say hello (or Good Morning, or a similar greeting) as you pass, and respond similarly if someone greets you first
- If someone says, “How are you?”, typical responses in the US would be “Fine, thank you” or “Good, thanks” or “Great!”
Looking forward to seeing (and greeting) you in the hallways!
