2008 Woodie Awards
Two 'not hired' following break
Andrew Fortier
News | 4/10/08
After a week-long hiatus due to Spring Break, The Associate competition resumed this past week and two Associates were fired. Brian Coulter from Team Synergy and Shelby Cooperman of Team Da Vinci were let go after a compelling boardroom meeting Tuesday in Stephens Hall.
"At the last case study, we felt that both teams did an excellent job," John Tolmie, CEO of St. Joseph Medical Center and this year's Donald Trump, said. "We felt everyone deserved another chance of moving forward".
During the last board meeting before the break, it was decided that two competitors would be let go this week, depending on who won this week's case study.
The Associate is an annual competition held by the College of Business and Economics and modeled after "The Apprentice." Students compete for a job in a series of case studies offered by Baltimore-area businesses. Each week, a competitor is "fired" by that year's "Donald Trump," typically a Baltimore-area executive. The winner of the competition is offered a job.
This week's case study was offered by Target, and focused on staffing strategies and human resources, a marked departure from the marketing case studies that have been offered so far.
Team Da Vinci, led by project manager Heather Hurley, focused their presentation on attempting to change the image of working at Target and beating what they called the "retail myth." Da Vinci proposed promoting the careers to college graduates more aggressively at events like Towson's annual spring festival Tigerfest, and suggested the slogan "Looks Like A Bullseye" to attract graduates into management positions.
Team Synergy, led by project manager Brian Coulter, took a different approach, presenting a more marketing-based strategy that incorporated the use of television advertisements to attract graduates. Synergy also stressed providing more benefits such as scholarships to managers.
In the end, Target representatives chose Team Da Vinci as the winner, citing their long-term plan as the turning point.
The next boardroom meeting will be held in Stephens Hall Room 218 on Tuesday night.
"At the last case study, we felt that both teams did an excellent job," John Tolmie, CEO of St. Joseph Medical Center and this year's Donald Trump, said. "We felt everyone deserved another chance of moving forward".
During the last board meeting before the break, it was decided that two competitors would be let go this week, depending on who won this week's case study.
The Associate is an annual competition held by the College of Business and Economics and modeled after "The Apprentice." Students compete for a job in a series of case studies offered by Baltimore-area businesses. Each week, a competitor is "fired" by that year's "Donald Trump," typically a Baltimore-area executive. The winner of the competition is offered a job.
This week's case study was offered by Target, and focused on staffing strategies and human resources, a marked departure from the marketing case studies that have been offered so far.
Team Da Vinci, led by project manager Heather Hurley, focused their presentation on attempting to change the image of working at Target and beating what they called the "retail myth." Da Vinci proposed promoting the careers to college graduates more aggressively at events like Towson's annual spring festival Tigerfest, and suggested the slogan "Looks Like A Bullseye" to attract graduates into management positions.
Team Synergy, led by project manager Brian Coulter, took a different approach, presenting a more marketing-based strategy that incorporated the use of television advertisements to attract graduates. Synergy also stressed providing more benefits such as scholarships to managers.
In the end, Target representatives chose Team Da Vinci as the winner, citing their long-term plan as the turning point.
The next boardroom meeting will be held in Stephens Hall Room 218 on Tuesday night.
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