Casey Hogeboom BS’20

Name: Casey Hogeboom
From: Davidson, NC
Course of Study: Business Administration, Supply Chain & Operations Concentration
Year: Senior
Graduation: May 2020

Why did you choose NC State?

I applied to seven schools, and I was really narrowing it down based on what the academics were like at each school. I knew I wanted to do business, and NC State offered me the most in that regard, since I was able to get accepted directly into the college of management, unlike other schools that don’t allow you to apply for and declare your major until later on. So I think NC State offered a unique advantage in that I was already accepted into business, and I could just pick my concentration later on down the road. And it’s just such a great academic school, so that was obviously a big plus.

Did you know you wanted to study supply chain when you applied? 

I did not. I actually thought that I wanted to do marketing. I took multiple marketing classes in high school, and I also competed in DECA, and I won a couple competitions with that, so I originally thought that was the path I was going to go down. So I came into NC State knowing I wanted to do business, and I had this mindset that I was going to do marketing, but then as I kept taking some classes, I opened my eyes a little bit more to the other concentrations.

The big moment for me was when I went to the career fair. It really opened my eyes to what marketing would be like in the real world, and I talked to a lot of different professionals and what they were looking for, and it showed me that marketing wasn’t exactly where my skills would fit best. I started doing some digging into the other concentrations, and I found that supply chain was more of an up-and-coming field, and it aligned a lot with my skills and interests. I decided to take the intro to supply chain class and really enjoyed it, so I moved forward with accepting supply chain as my concentration. And now that I’m in it and I’ve had real-world experience in it, I definitely know it was the right choice.

You were one of five students to receive the Caterpillar Supply Chain Scholarship for this year, which supports juniors and seniors who have declared Supply Chain Management as a concentration. How did you go about receiving the scholarship?

I applied for the general NC State scholarships that the school sends out every year, and filled in all of my information, including that I was a supply chain student and my relevant experience. They passed my information along for other scholarship opportunities, and I ended up receiving the supply chain scholarship earlier this summer. I was selected based on my academic qualifications as well as my experiences with supply chain and other extracurricular activities — it was a lot about being a well-rounded student.

What do you like most about the supply chain program at NC State?

The thing I always brag about for the supply chain program is that all of my teachers have worked at a very large organization in supply chain, so everything I learn from them is applicable to my experiences outside the classroom. I think that’s really important in college — that you’re not going to class and learning something you’re never going to use again. Every time I walk into a supply chain class, I know that what I’m learning is something my teachers have used in their jobs and is something I can use further down the road when I have a full-time job. So that’s the main thing I tell other students. I’m also an NC State University ambassador, and I give tours, so that’s one of the things I mention a lot about Poole College and the supply chain program.

You just completed a summer internship. Can you describe your experience? 

I worked in supply management as a purchasing intern for John Deere-Hitachi, which is a joint venture that allows John Deere and Hitachi to leverage each other’s strengths in manufacturing excavators at their facility in Kernersville, NC.

In my role, I worked as a buyer with a supplier, which involved checking all of their parts every day to ensure that there weren’t any constraints being caused to the assembly line or the production line. If there were any, I would report those in our production meetings.

I also worked on a steel plate project, for which I was able to match SAP inventory with floor inventory, which was not matching up when I first started. The mismatch had been causing problems since they weren’t able to order steel based on what the SAP program was reporting — they were having to go out and count the floor inventory every day, which of course was costing a lot of extra time and money. We were able to match up the system, so now they can properly manage the inventory using the SAP system and manage orders without having to manually count inventory.

The internship really offered me a lot of hands-on experience within supply chain, especially since I was heavily involved with purchasing — I really enjoyed that because I actually took a purchasing class last semester, so it really went hand-in-hand.

Read more about Casey’s summer internship here

How did you go about acquiring your internship?

I went to the college’s supply chain recruiting event, and I had my eye on a couple different companies that I wanted to talk to, and I noticed [John Deere-Hitachi’s] HR representatives were very friendly and inviting. I talked to them and learned about them as a company, and I was very interested in the supply chain manufacturing aspect of what they did. I applied to the position online, and then saw them the next day at the Poole College Career Fair and talked to them again, and I just continued to follow up and ended up interviewing and receiving an offer for the job in December.

Are you involved with the NC State Supply Chain Club?

Yes. They have meetings every couple of weeks, and I try to go to as many as possible. It really helped me sophomore year when I was trying to figure out what concentration I wanted to do. It was really helpful because they would have a lot of professionals come in and talk about what they did and why they chose supply chain, and then from there I was able to make more connections and find out about the Supply Chain Recruiting Event. So I do as much as I can with them.

What other extracurricular activities are you involved with?

I currently serve as the director of recruitment on the Panhellenic Executive Board at NC State. Panhellenic is the largest women’s organization at NC State that presides over all of the sororities at the university, so I’m in charge of logistics and executing all of the events leading up to and during recruitment, as well as helping to create schedules and managing where people need to be, at what location and at what time — I also work with vendors to arrange catering contracts and things like that. So it’s been a very awesome real-world experience, getting to work for an organization I love and getting to do things that are very supply chain and logistics-oriented.

I also serve as an NC State University ambassador, as I mentioned, and am very involved with my own sorority, as well.

What are your plans for after graduation?

I’m currently just keeping an open mind. I plan to continue going to all the career fairs to better determine where exactly I want to go. I’m really open to wherever supply chain will take me, but I definitely want to be able to use my past experiences in whatever it is I end up doing.

Connect with Casey on LinkedIn