Career Carnival teaches with games

Career Services set up games to teach students necessary professional skills at its Career Carnival on Oct. 11 in the Student Center Courtyard.
The games were designed to teach students how to dress professionally, how to tie a tie and how to prepare for a job interview.
“We wanted to provide students a fun way to learn about and prepare for the job market,” Career Services Center Program Coordinator Liz Davis said.
There were four game booths set up.
Each student who chose to participate at each booth could enter his name in a drawing for prizes.
Career Services Assistant Director of Special Programs Tiffany Johnson said: “We have an area for resumes, mock interview questions, a dress for success area, an area for stress management, basically just career education games. Everything we do is to assist students from the time their freshman all the way into adulthood when they are looking for jobs. We have lots of resources available.”
Over 144 students participated in the event.
“We prepared 144 gift boxes for students who participated and all of them are gone,” Johnson said.
There was a wide variety of games to choose from to encourage more participation. The games consisted of a dart thrown at balloons to answer mock interview questions, a game where participants picked a duck out of a kiddy pool and answered interview questions based on the number on the bottom of the duck they picked out, a tie tying contest where participants went head-to-head tying a tie onto a dummy head and neck and a game where participants tried to pick out a professional outfit from a box of random clothes, if students could not find an outfit they liked they could describe the ideal professional outfit to wear to an interview.
There was also a concession area.
Career Services Administrative Specialist Jennifer Anderson said, “This is the first year for the carnival. The program staff brought back lots of ideas from a professional development workshop they went to and the carnival was one. They collectively brainstormed all the ideas for the carnival.”
Prizes for the drawing include BearBucks, career planning kits, blankets, t-shirts, hats and other UCA paraphernalia.
Students who entered their names and information will be contacted when prizes are drawn.
“Depending on the turn out, we hope to make this an annual event,” Anderson said.