The companies | The Experience 2019

The companies | The Experience 2019

Amber van Essen
25 maart 2019
Career

Every dedicated Aenorm reader knows The Experience. Committee chairman Marcel van der Velpen wrote a very enjoyable report on the event last year, which included morning gymnastics, an economic crisis, an amazing view on Amsterdam’s city center and adrenaline rushes during an introduction to trading. In 2017 the event was covered in the magazine, which seemed to be a very competitive edition. You should especially read on however if you haven’t heard of it before, because The Experience might just be the event you have been looking for, and registrations for the 2019 edition open tomorrow!

The Experience is the inhouse career event of the VSAE. Students are offered the opportunity to visit four companies at the company itself and experience what it is like to work there by solving cases. The companies all represent a different sector you could as econometrician typically end up at, which makes the event useful for everyone wondering what direction they would like to take after their studies. By visiting the companies you come in contact with the people, the atmosphere and the actual application of your knowledge.

The participating companies this year are KPMG, KLM, IMC and WTW. These companies will let you experience a career in trading, operations research and for example financial risk management. Next to that you will also get to visit the offices of these firms and imagine yourself there in the (near) future. Some of the names will sound very familiar. Last June second year students got to visit KPMG during the Orientation Days. The afternoon was very educational, informative but also a lot of fun, according to the report published a few days after. Willis Towers Watson can be known by its Head of Retirement Benelux, Hamadi Zaghdoudi, who talked about the importance of deciding what you love to do by trial and error in his interview in December 2018.  

IMC is one of the world’s leading trading firms. They have offices in Amsterdam, Sydney and Chicago and believe in working together with people from many cultures and nationalities on complex challenges. They strive for an open, diverse culture with a team of driven and dynamic people. Trading itself is an exciting profession according to many, but IMC seems to have much more to offer than just plain trading. They work together to make financial markets more efficient. This is a little like KLM, of which we’ll visit the Operations Decision Support (ODS). The mission of KLM ODS is collaborating to improve the operational efficiency of KLM. To that end tools are built for a multitude of departments, affecting long term, medium term and day to day operations. Examples these tools are Sentry, which optimizes the flight schedule by avoiding delays and cancellations. Or Runway, which optimizes the flight schedule by minimizing the impact of a bad weather scenario at Schiphol. It becomes clear that by improving KLM’s operational efficiency you’re also improving the travel experience of all of KLM’s costumers. During The Experience 2019, you will be able the experience what that is like.

On top of visiting these companies, by solving the cases to the best of your abilities, you can win prizes. During this edition, there will be prizes for students who have won the most points overall but also for individuals who stood out the most during the inhouse days. This way, you’ll have a chance to win irrespective of the number of companies you visit, but by visiting more companies you may be able to increase your chances of winning.

We’ll visit WTW on the morning of the 25th of April and KLM the afternoon of the 25th of April. In inhouse day of IMC will be on the morning of the 10th of May and KPMG will be visited on the afternoon of the 13th of May. To attend, you must be selected by the company. Therefore, it is necessary to upload your anonymized CV at the registration, the committee will let you know whether you have been selected. Registrations are per company and open the 26th of March (tomorrow!) at vsae.nl. Stay tuned, because more information on companies and prizes will be posted to the Facebook event page soon!

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