Beta Alpha Psi’s recent networking event, held on Jan. 23 in O’Keefe Commons, was a standard career fair but with a rather unlikely twist. It managed to combine business with pleasure by featuring booths that housed not only representatives from major companies, but also an array of carnival games.

“This is a professional networking event in a fun, very receptive, very interactive environment,” Jimmy Cattani, GSB ’14, Beta Alpha Psi’s reporting secretary, said. “We are getting to know professionals on a much more personal level.”

For the event, O’Keefe Commons was decorated to resemble a carnival, complete with music and cotton candy, hot dog and popcorn stands. Students visited the various booths to talk to representatives from prominent accounting and IT firms as well as banks such as Morgan Stanley, PFK O’Connor Davies and JP Morgan Chase. Fourteen companies were represented in total, and each of their booths featured a game like Tip-a-Troll, Tin Pan Alley, Potty Toss or Crazy Hat.

“We wanted something different,” Tara Naughton, faculty advisor of Beta Alpha Psi, said. Career fairs often create a lot of pressure, and as Naughton pointed out, a lot of that has to do with the fact that they tend to be overly formal, which makes students feel uncomfortable. The main goal behind the carnival theme was to break the ice and to make the conversations between students and representatives a little less forced and awkward.

At “Networking 1-2-3,” students did not have to worry excessively about selling themselves to employers. They did not bring résumés, and instead were able to focus on making connections and learning about different career options.  As far as student responses went, the innovations that the event introduced seemed to be very effective.

“You’re getting exposed to a lot of different companies at once in a non-formal setting,” attendee Katie Buckle, GSB ‘16, said. “It’s less pressure, less stress.”

The positive reception has encouraged Beta Alpha Psi to consider making the new event into a tradition. The club is currently planning to bring networking back next year, and will perhaps even try to expand it.