Reflection on the Ohio Case Competition

As we’re gearing up toward this year’s International HR Case Competition, take a look back at a Carlson team’s reflections from the Case Competition at Ohio State University last spring!

Learning opportunities
The case competition at Ohio State University impressed me most by the learning opportunities it provided for us. Because on one hand, it brought in the student teams from the top HR programs (including programs at Cornell, UIUC, Rutgers etc), giving us the chance to share with each other learnings and experiences gained in both academic and professional settings. And on the other hand, it invited Pepsi Corp. to give us a real-life HR case (Campus recruiting) to apply the knowledge and skills we acquired at school and also further discover what we still need to improve in our HR knowledge bucket. In short, the case competition is an unforgettable and meaningful 48-hour learning experience!
–Robert Chai

The Team Support
Henry Ford once said “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” Ohio case competition is 24 hours of side by side work on a project with your teammates, having only four hours for sleep. However, such stressful environment tightens a team by providing a sense of mutual support. When you present your project in front of judges and have your team behind your back you realize that being an expert is only one part of the successful professional development. Another component is hidden in the efficient teamwork. I’m very grateful to my team for the great experience that we had together in Ohio!
-Natasha Bulaieva

Building Your Network & Confidence
I had the opportunity to attend the Ohio State Competition two years in a row. I learned so much from the first year that going into the competition my second year I knew what to expect and felt more comfortable in speaking in front of people and being asked questions during the presentation. I too wasn’t the only participant that returned to the competition and so it was great to see familiar faces again and continuing to build my network with other schools, participants and representatives from Pepsico. The icing on the cake to my experience was that I won best presenter of the competition. I wanted to compete in the first place to improve my public speaking and this experience over the two years really showed me that there is a lot of developmental opportunities occurring in addition to learning and fun. I also ended up getting a job offer after the competition from Pepsico. Overall, I will say that my experience has resulted in benefits that I wouldn’t have realized going into the competition.
-Mary Kate Gross

Challenge yourself and gain confidence
I came to the MA-HRIR program right after completing my bachelor’s, and I did not study Human Resources or anything  business related while in undergrad.  So when I got to the program I felt like I was lacking the knowledge necessary to succeed at a high level.  This lack of experience is one of the main reasons I wanted to compete in the Ohio State case competition.  I wanted to challenge myself and experience real Human Resources problems.  By going into the competition before I had really obtained a lot of knowledge in the field, I was a bit overwhelmed but also had the advantage of having a fresh perspective on the issues.  I was able to explore different areas of the problem and organically develop my understanding.  Once my team presented, we got very constructive feedback and praise for how we tackled the issues.  Hearing these words from experienced professionals in the field boosted my confidence significantly and made me believe that I could achieve high levels of success as long as I worked for it.  Now I know going into the future that I can not only fit into the Human Resources field, but also achieve great things from my work.
-Vince Dinolfo