Students at the University of Prince Edward Island showed off their HR skills by winning the 2002 Canadian University Tournament in Human Resources (Excalibur). This is the second time UPEI has taken home the top award and they received three thousand dollars in prize money, a Certificate of Merit and subscriptions to Canadian HR Reporter.
Excalibur is an annual competition — organized by the Quebec Association of Human Resource Professionals and sponsored by several large corporations — that quizzes students on real-life HR situations.
“Competitions such as this puts HR in the limelight,” said Don MacCormac, UPEI professor of business administration and team coach. “The Excalibur forces students to pay more attention to HR concepts, instead of just studying subjects.”
At the 15th annual competition, held in Montreal, students were provided with a case study in which they had 90 minutes to prepare a solution to a problem. The teams had to present these recommendations, in English or French, to a panel of company executives, human resource professionals and professors in a 20-minute time frame. This was followed by a 10-minute period of questions from the judges. Teams from 16 Canadian universities, representing Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia and the Maritimes, attended the competition held in late March.
Melissa Harwood is soon to be a graduate of the business program at UPEI and is also a rookie on the Excalibur team. She said there are many benefits in competing, especially since she wants to pursue a career in HR.
“It gave me a glimpse of what it would be like working in HR and it’s a great networking experience, just speaking to the people in the field,” she said. “I think it lets the public know that HR is growing...it promotes future leaders in the HR profession and gives us an opportunity to be seen.”
Local HR firms in P.E.I are paying attention. Not only has the UPEI team found a major sponsor to cover most of its expenses, but several companies have hired Excalibur alumni to work in their HR departments.
“Three members from our team in 2000 are all working in the field now. A lot of organizations are beefing up their HR staff so there is a demand that wasn’t there a few years ago,” said MacCormac.
Excalibur is an annual competition — organized by the Quebec Association of Human Resource Professionals and sponsored by several large corporations — that quizzes students on real-life HR situations.
“Competitions such as this puts HR in the limelight,” said Don MacCormac, UPEI professor of business administration and team coach. “The Excalibur forces students to pay more attention to HR concepts, instead of just studying subjects.”
At the 15th annual competition, held in Montreal, students were provided with a case study in which they had 90 minutes to prepare a solution to a problem. The teams had to present these recommendations, in English or French, to a panel of company executives, human resource professionals and professors in a 20-minute time frame. This was followed by a 10-minute period of questions from the judges. Teams from 16 Canadian universities, representing Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia and the Maritimes, attended the competition held in late March.
Melissa Harwood is soon to be a graduate of the business program at UPEI and is also a rookie on the Excalibur team. She said there are many benefits in competing, especially since she wants to pursue a career in HR.
“It gave me a glimpse of what it would be like working in HR and it’s a great networking experience, just speaking to the people in the field,” she said. “I think it lets the public know that HR is growing...it promotes future leaders in the HR profession and gives us an opportunity to be seen.”
Local HR firms in P.E.I are paying attention. Not only has the UPEI team found a major sponsor to cover most of its expenses, but several companies have hired Excalibur alumni to work in their HR departments.
“Three members from our team in 2000 are all working in the field now. A lot of organizations are beefing up their HR staff so there is a demand that wasn’t there a few years ago,” said MacCormac.
