Career Services host “Halloween Hoopla” event

In the EUC on Wednesday, October 27, between the hours of 10 and 3, students were bombarded by offers of candy, prizes, and the option to have their fortune told; all accompanied by singing and dancing.  The reason behind all the commotion was the Halloween-Hoopla: an open house hosted by the Career Services Center.

The goal was simple, to get students to learn more about what UNCG’s Career Services Center offered.  The Halloween-Hoopla acted as a holiday themed open house that exhibited the many services offered by this department in a festive way.

A game wheel offering prizes ranging from pens to a brand new Spartan Careers t-shirt stood center in one of the rooms.  Also, after playing a certain number of games, students were eligible to enter a raffle to enter to win a brand new iPod shuffle.  That incentive may have brought in a few students as well. Free gear is a student’s best friend.

The main attraction of the event was the career psychic.  She gave advice on planning a resume, taking the right steps to getting into a top choice graduate program, and above all else, she knew what the future held, “CASH,” her cards spelled out.  According to the psychic, anytime you aren’t paying for college, you’re bound to make more money than you can make while in college.  She emphasized the importance of getting involved, and finding a major that really fit what you wanted to do with your life and career.

The games were not only fun, they were helpful to anyone who may one day be in the job market—the majority of UNCG students.  One game, Salary Scramble asked you to figure out the average salaries of 5 common occupations.  Think a teacher’s salary would be the lowest?  Think again.  Dieticians make about $10,000 less than the starting salary of a teacher.

The Cover Letter Catastrophe gave students the opportunity to look at a cover letter and unmask as many mistakes as possible.  Not only a valuable lesson in grammar, but also a fantastic example of how important revising before submitting can be.  One cover letter contained 14 mistakes that spell check would normally miss.

Another game offered was Reality Check in which player received a “salary.”  With that salary, they had to pay for average monthly expenses such as cable, cell phone plans, Internet, gym memberships, rent, and various unexpected expenses.  At the end of the game, each player counted how much of his or her salary was left over.

Each of these games catered to real life problems that students will face in the future.  Whether in or out of school, the Career Services Center aims to help.  The games and the Halloween-Hoopla’s fun environment provided these things to students in a non-threatening way.  Many students say they were pulled into coming by the promises of free candy and popcorn, but most stayed beyond the treats and learned something new about job hunting.