Wednesday, February 28th, 2012 the QBCC ASAP team presented its first Mocktail Networking/Welcome Back reception. Spearheaded and facilitated by the Career & Employment Specialist Stephen Atkins, the QBCC ASAP students were treated to a two part workshop designed to provide them with an experience which would allow them to learn about presenting themselves and how to conduct themselves during networking events. The first part of the event was presented by the Creative Arts Team (CAT). CAT’s presentation took our students on a self awareness journey and presented scenarios which they could encounter during an interview or networking event and how they may handle themselves.
The second part of the event was a table round-robin exercise that put the students through a series of open-ended questions testing their ability to intelligently and effectively communicate real life situations. We had a panel of six ASAP staff and faculty members facilitating this portion of the event. This proved to be a great segue from what CAT provided during the first part of the event. The students provided feedback to each other as well as the table facilitators giving insight as to how students need to practice to be prepared for situations such as these during actual networking or interviewing sessions.
The overall event proved to be a great success and participating students gave great feedback and asked whether we would do this event again in the future. Based on this feedback, the QBCC ASAP team has added this event to its Fall 2012 schedule of events.