On March 28 in the University Center at Southeast Missouri State University, the Office of Career Services held an event for students that included the Big Traveling Map. The event covered a variety of topics including a Missouri trivia challenge, graduate school opportunities and unlocking and exploring a new world of job opportunities.

The goal of the event was to reach out to students and make them aware of what Career Services is and what it can do for them. One of the ways used to engage with students was the use of a “Big Traveling Map” in a Missouri trivia challenge game. Students stood on a 15-by-15-foot map with small flags representing grad schools in Missouri as Andy Tilmon, Coordinator of Career Planning, read out trivia questions. The person to find the flag on the map and ring the bell won the challenge and a prize. The object of the game was to inform students of graduate school choices in Missouri. Tilmon said this was the first time they had done something like this and are always looking for new creative ways to interact with and educate students.

“We are a resource that you can use when you are thinking about grad school or getting prepared for the world of work,” Tilmon said.

Students can go to Career Services for a variety of things. To name a few: job search, how to make cover letters and resumes, mock interviews and how to prepare for graduate school or work. One of the programs held at the event talked about job opportunities and the degrees that are connected to them.

“There are opportunities even in those industries that we might not think of as a standard major,” Tilmon said.

Within Career Services, counselors are on staff to help a student who hasn’t declared a major or is wanting to switch majors. They also have an employer relations specialist who connects students to jobs using their own website, redhawkjobs.com.