Game of Jobs - A competition that builds futures

The event, co-organised by the University’s Career Centre and The Adecco Group, in partnership with POG, the Human Resources association in Luxembourg, offered the opportunity to students to showcase their learning and networking skills and get prepared to enter the job market. For the second edition of Game of Jobs, participation significantly increased with over 180 competitors taking part, which showed their raised interest and the success of the first year’s edition.

ROUND 1: THE CONQUEST

The first round consisted of a series of fun learning-by-doing and motivating 28 interactive workshops from March to May, where students could learn how to empower their presentation skills, boost their networking and interaction abilities, prepare their CV, develop their e-reputation, enhance their understanding of the job market and prepare themselves for the next steps after graduation. Participants of the workshops were rewarded points based on their participation and the completion of assessments that they were handed.

ROUND 2: THE FINAL BATTLE

The top 30 students were able to access to the final round, that took place on May 23rd, where they had to compete in a series of challenges based on what they had acquired during the workshops. The 1st step consisted of face-to-face interviews with HR professionals from Uni.lu, The Adecco Group, POG and POST. The six best candidates advanced to the second challenge, where they faced each other in a fun gameshow-like quiz. Finally, the top two contestants took part in the final duel, where they presented themselves in front of the jury and the audience. Oksana Domina, who made it to the final mentions that “the quiz was very funny and interesting. As for the duel, it was beneficial to see the other competitor’s speech and how I could improve my public speaking skills”.

Despite that there could only be one winner of the Game of Jobs, all students received a certificate of completion and all participants in the second round were rewarded with a variety of goodies and prizes. Apart from gift items, private make-over sessions with Look@work and participation to The Adecco Group's CEO for One Month Bootcamp, the six finalists were rewarded with different job shadowing and internship opportunities offered by POG and companies affiliated with the British Chamber of Commerce, which highlighted the employability value and career-focused approach of this year’s competition.

After a thoughtful deliberation, the jury appointed Joni Beu, student in Economics coming from Albania, as the winner. Thankful and humble, he declared: “I think everyone is the winner in this competition. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience, I met a lot of people, I did a lot of networking, that’s what the key part is. I can say now that I am ready for the professional life that comes after the university.”

AT THIS GAME, THERE ARE ONLY WINNERS

Participating in the second edition of Game of Jobs had numerous benefits for the contenders indeed. As Sivakumar Bactavatchalou, Head of Career Centre & Entrepreneurship program at the University of Luxembourg declared, “students from different backgrounds and levels of studies joined the competition because this is an incomparable opportunity. This initiative is multi-purpose: empower young generations to get ready for tomorrow and equip them with the required skills, knowledge and ability for them to be successful in their chosen future. As a matter of fact, this competition increases engagement of companies looking for recruiting the students of the University of Luxembourg while supporting the development of the Career centre initiatives.”

The benefits arising from this program are indeed shared by the involved organizations. To The Adecco Group, an actor highly committed to the employment of youths, supporting young talents in their « Way To Work » is essential to prepare the future workplace. “I consider Game of Jobs as a reverse mentoring project. We met many talented students and we have much to learn from them. This is very inspiring.” enthusiastically said Julie Noirhomme, member of the group’s Executive Committee. Alexandre Massol, a POG board member added “As an HR association, it’s important to be positioned in the forefront of developments and maintain a connection with student environments. Our goal is to be able to understand and respond to the needs of the new generation which will become tomorrow’s workforce.”

Game of Jobs will be back next year to challenge students to showcase their talents and abilities and empower themselves for their personal and professional future. The Adecco Group and POG will continue their partnership with the Uni’s Career Centre and both are already preparing new ideas and concepts to develop this exciting and fruitful project.

Communicated by Adecco Group

In partnership with www.pog.lu and www.uni.lu