Two young women with ties to Humboldt made their mark at the 2014 JDC West competition, including taking home top honours in the human resources component and playing an instrumental role in organizing the event.
Since its inception in 1989, the Jeux du Commerce (JDC), or "Commerce Games", has brought together students from business schools across Canada to compete in everything from debate to finance and marketing. This year's event was held Jan. 17-19 in Regina and featured about 650 students from 12 business schools across western Canada.
Amanda Johnson and Amy Deibert, both Humboldt natives, played their part - Johnson served as vice-president of human resources on the organizing committee, while Deibert was part of the winning human resources team from the University of Regina.
Deibert and her teammates were given three hours to analyze a business case study, identify the important human resources factors, and then prepare a 20-minute presentation to explain their position. Finally there was a five-minute question and answer session with a panel of corporate executives who served as judges.
It was the culmination of a process that began in September, when the team was put together, and continued with training sessions every Friday. As the veteran of the team - it was Deibert's fourth year being involved with JDC West - she knew what to expect when it came time for the competition, though it's never easy to predict how you've done.
"It's so hard to tell if you do well," Deibert said by phone from Regina, where she is currently working with the provincial government's Public Service Commission. She graduated from the University of Regina in December with a degree in business administration.
"The results can sometimes be subjective based on the judges and their areas of expertise."
With months of training and a solid presentation behind them, Deibert and her team were feeling good, but that changed when the judges gave all of the teams some feedback before announcing the winners.
"We felt a bit shaken after the feedback, like we didn't have enough cost analysis or numbers in our presentation. We were a bit upset with ourselves," Deibert said.
"When they announced the third and second place finishers and it wasn't us, we thought there was no way we would finish first."
Nevertheless, they did, beating out teams from the universities of Alberta and Calgary to take home top prize. It was a feather in the cap for the team from the University of Regina, which took home the top overall prize.
There was also a charitable element to the competition - Deibert and her team raised $42,000 for Hope's Home, a medical daycare in Regina that caters to children with medical issues who might have trouble adapting to a regular daycare environment.
Although most of the attention was focused on the competitors, a titanic amount of work was done behind the scenes to organize the event. Amanda Johnson, as the vice-president of human resources, was responsible for recruiting and training 200 volunteers that would ensure everything ran smoothly.
A fourth year accounting student at the University of Regina, Johnson had never been involved with JDC West before when she was asked by a friend to join the organizing committee.
"It was a big learning curve at first," said Johnson, who is currently on a work term with accounting firm MNP in Regina. "I came on in August but it still felt like a full year of work because I had to catch up to everyone else."
Johnson is hoping to participate in next year's JDC West competition, scheduled for January 2015 in Victoria, B.C. The event isn't just an opportunity to compete, but can also serve as an essential tool for professional growth.
"It allows you to network with people from across Canada," Johnson said, "and in business networking is the most important thing."
Having graduated and now in the early stages of her career, Deibert's days with the JDC competition are behind her now. It's not easy to accept for someone who spent much of her four years in university preparing for the competition.
"I'm in withdrawal right now," Deibert said with a rueful laugh. "You become a family with the other students from your school. You learn so much and it's so much fun. It develops you as a person.
"It made a huge impact on my life."
