A day full of connections
I was not present at the Caseday myself, so I was curious about the experience this year and decided to ask different students about this big career event.
What is your best memory of the Caseday?
Lucas: “My best memory was meeting my fellow students and talking with them about ambitions and career opportunities”.
Sam: “My best memory was winning the case of the Postcode Loterij. I am always a fanatic, and then it's nice if you win.”
Quinten: “My best memory of the Caseday was by far the opening speaker, Harry Otten, at the beginning of the Caseday. He talked about his upbringing and how his love for meteorology and physics led him to found Meteo Consult, the largest weather company in Europe. It was definitely a good way to start the Caseday”.
What did you think of the opening speaker?
Just like Quinten, the other students also liked the opening speaker. Sam said the following about him: “Harry Otten was a unique speaker, as he told a relevant and fascinating story, complemented by his personal experiences. As a successful entrepreneur, he accomplished different milestones. While discussing certain points in his career, he added some advice, making his talk even more interesting to listen to”. And also Lucas found him very inspiring and thought he gave good advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
The cases - Baker Tilly
Lucas: “Baker Tilly provided a case with a large dataset and assignment. We had to find an optimal scheduling of Baker Tilly's employees over all of their Dutch offices. It proved a steep challenge, as nobody managed to find a complete solution. Baker Tilly's case showed how to tackle large datasets: begin with descriptive statistics, and find solutions from there”.
The cases - Optiver
Lucas: “I liked the Optiver case the best, with a mental math test and a trading game. It was intense, intellectually challenging and competitive which I really liked. The Optiver's game showed clearly what their work as market maker entails, and their test showed the standard the company sets for their (aspiring) employees”.
The cases - Postcode Loterij
Sam: “I was present at two cases: Postcode Lottery Group and Oliver Wyman. First, we had a case about preventing lottery cancellation by, for example, sending gifts to customers to keep them as a subscriber. We had access to a data set which allowed us to forecast the chance of an individual cancelling his subscription. This case gave a true insight into the work of this company, and it shows that behind every gift and advertisement, a careful consideration is made.”
The cases - Oliver Wyman
Sam: “My second case at Oliver Wyman gave a case about the work in the actuarial. Once again, we gathered a great amount of information about the calculation of risk. We had to adjust a sheet of data to add a new source of risk. From correlations between risks till the calculation of the value at risk, we covered the topics that are involved in calculating the true risk. Overall, also this case gave an overview of the work we could expect at this company”.
The cases - Aon
Quinten: I attended the cases of Aon and ITDS. Aon provides the financial industry with software and consulting, and its case was related to actuarial science.
The cases - ITDS
Quinten: “ITDS is a business consultancy firm, and its case closely resembled a consultancy task, including a presentation.”
Quinten liked both cases and also indicated to learn something from both of them: “Ultimately, both companies provided a good insight into what to expect when working for them in the future, which was highly informative. The most memorable thing I learned during the cases was the importance of presenting yourself, especially evident in the case of ITDS. The cases demonstrated that, no matter how brilliant your proposed solution might be, you won't get far without the ability to effectively convey your ideas”.
Did you go to the caseday dinner? What did you think of it?
Lucas and Sam attended the dinner as participants and both liked it a lot. The dinner took place at Loetje and they both liked the opportunity to talk to their fellow students and reflect on the day. The dinner was described as very gezellig.
How would you rate the caseday out of 5 stars? And why?
The average rating of the four students was 4.75 out of 5 stars.
Quinten is very happy with the fact that the day gave him a clear idea on what he may or may not want to pursue as a career, where he highlights the fact that he was glad to have a talk about a possible traineeship with a possible future employer. Sam also couldn’t mention any negative points. Lucas gives compliments to the organization for the great cases, good lunch and dinner. He didn’t give the full points, because there are larger career events for econometrics students available. He must be looking forward to the National Econometricians Day (LED) in February.
Also Isabelle from the committee was very pleased how the event went. Now let’s read about how she experienced the organization of this event.
What was it like organizing the caseday?
Isabelle: “It was a really fun experience. At first we were all very relaxed as it seemed we had a lot of time. We started off strong, but then got a little more stressed towards the end of the summer holidays. Fortunately, we arranged everything in time, and the 6th company signed just after the holidays. As the committee was quite inexperienced, it took some time getting used to calling and mailing with companies, but you get used to this quickly. It is fun to see companies getting more and more informal in their communication with you, up until they start mailing you Sunday night at 10 pm with a 2-sentence misspelled email.”
2023’s Caseday Committee
Were you happy with the results of your organization?
Isabelle: “Yes, very much so! You’re always dependent on the companies who are interested in attending, but I was content with the ones that signed up. KIT as a location is absolutely beautiful and communication with them went smoothly. Putting the goodie bags together in the exam week was a bit of a mess though, the boxes were heavy and not all goodies were delivered. Counting 60 items turned out to be quite difficult for some companies ;)
What did you enjoy most, during the day?
Isabelle: “Seeing everything come together. The location, catering, companies, students, everything is organized in separate parts and on November 1st we finally saw the final result. I loved seeing the students interact with each other and with our guests. Everyone was dressed all fancy and looked incredible”.
If you would be in the committee again next year, what would you improve/change?
Isabelle: “Start earlier with contacting the companies. The earlier you start, the more selective you can be with the companies you contact. The closer you get to the event, the happier you are with any company saying yes, but preferably the committee should try to have 6 different types of companies ((both for EOR, EDS and different masters). Although a new location might be fun to explore, KIT fits the caseday perfectly so I wouldn’t change that, but that is up to the next committee”.
Would the participants join the event again next year?
The participants responded that, although they liked the event, most of them are expecting that they wouldn’t need to visit the caseday again next year. But some would be interested.
To see what participants really expect from cases, I asked them what they would give as a case if they would work for a company present at the Caseday:
Lucas: “An exercise that really puts econometrics students to the test. Something that for example requires mathematical and statistical knowledge, and data analysis and programming skills. A lot of the case day participants that I spoke to prefer a case that is in line with their econometrics skillset”.
Quinten: “The best approach is to make the case resemble day-to-day activities as closely as possible. Students generally dislike ambiguity, and they also want to know how they will be applying their degrees in the future”.
Sam: “The best cases are the ones that give a true insight in the work of the company. Another crucial factor is the level of the case, a case that is too easy or difficult does not work. The cases I find the most interesting contain a significant amount of information, asking to get some kind of advice. However, this is highly dependent on the company itself”.
Lastly, I asked the Caseday participants to describe the event in three words:
Lucas: Informative, inspiring and connecting.
Quinten: Inspiring, informative and connections
Sam: Insightful, entertaining, and educational
