Student Case Competition
College students from across the state of Florida travelled to Orlando the weekend of October 16th to compete in HR Florida’s annual Student Case Competition, held in conjunction with the Leadership Conference at the Signia by Hilton Bonnet Creek. A total of 8 colleges and universities and 9 teams competed in this year’s event, the highest participation rate to date.
Four undergraduate teams and five graduate teams competed for a prize that includes a $1,000 award for their student chapter and a free registration for each team member to HR Florida’s annual conference in August 2022.
The undergraduate teams represented University of Central Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University and Florida State University. The winner of the undergraduate division was University of Central Florida (for the third straight year!)
The graduate teams consisted of University of West Florida, Rollins College, Florida International University, Nova Southeastern University, and Florida Institute of Technology. The winner of the graduate division was University of West Florida.
The SHRM Student Case Competition involves a case study that teams analyze and then present their case solutions to a panel of judges. Teams were required to prepare a written executive summary and a 15-minute oral presentation. The presentations mirror what a group of professional HR consultants would deliver to a business dealing with the issues addressed in the case. In order to develop and present their case solution, students needed to use integrated HR thinking and knowledge gained through their studies.
This year, students were able to attend sessions being held concurrently at the Leadership Conference when they weren’t presenting their case solution. And a special welcome reception was held the night before for the students and faculty advisors.
A big thank you to our judges: Roger Lear, President of Orlandojobs.com, Dreamma Mendoza, HCM Consultant of Paylocity, and Terri Giuditta, CHRO of Bankers’ Financial Corporation reviewed the undergraduate presentations. The panel reviewing the graduate teams included Heather Vogel, Chief Talent Officer of the Children’s Home Society of Florida, Aimee Clements, Enterprise Marketing Executive, and Khatuna Bezhitashuili, VP of Human Resources of Currency Exchange International. The judges were blown away by the quality of all the team presentations. To quote one of them, “I would hire any of these students for my HR team in a minute!”
Congratulations to the winners, and to all of the teams that competed.