OU Creates Esports Job Fair

The University of Oklahoma Esports Club has created a new kind of career fair, putting visitors in a 3D virtual world. 

The interactive experience will last five days and allow users to move around and meet people as if they were there in-person. 

"Take a conference in the traditional sense, in the physical form, copy and paste it in a 3D environment,” OU Esports Club Lead Advisor Michael Aguilar said. “And we only have to remove the elements of smell, touch and taste.”

The university's club teamed up with a company called Gamerjibe to make this virtual gathering possible.

Aguilar said meeting people virtually is becoming more valuable. He thinks Gamerjibe's platform is something people should consider if they are trying to connect with high-tech millennials or Generation Z.

He said this unique gathering concept was originally developed for gamers to have a virtual space for meetings and gatherings. But that changed when COVID-19 arrived statewide.

"Then they changed the platform to make it very broad in the sense of just being an additional platform with a very unique spin on how to do any gathering," Aguilar said.

The OU advisor compared interacting on the platform to an adventure game, but said careers in Esports are not just limited to playing the games.

"We also see the same jobs we have in traditional journalism, professional writing," Aguilar said. “Then we have marketers, advertising, law, education in general and everything in between.”

Aguilar said they want the career fair to cater to their student and alumni community, but it’s open on a global scale. 

The event starts Monday, May 18 and runs through Friday, May 22. The main job fair portion will be held Wednesday, May 20.

For more information, head to the event's web page and sign up through the LinkedIn event link.