December 18, 2019
Ben in ideal position to fulfil career dreams
More economic forecasting on the horizon for honours graduate
Ben Rada鈥檚 thirst for learning has been quenched during his studies at the 精东传媒 of 精东传媒.
In 2018 he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics and Finance, but he was eager to learn more about economic forecasting, so he took on the Bachelor of Commerce Honours year.
On Wednesday 18 December, he celebrated his graduation and also received a 精东传媒 Medal.
精东传媒 Medals are awarded yearly, with the Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 approval, in recognition of outstanding academic performance.
UOW Senior Business Lecturer Dr Alfredo Paloyo, who nominated Ben for the medal, said he consistently performed well in all his subjects and that alone should qualify him for the 精东传媒 Medal, but his Honours thesis was also exceptional.
鈥淧redicting recessions is a difficult task for economic modellers,鈥 Dr Paloyo said.
鈥淲hat Ben has done is to compare the prediction accuracy of a number of different models using data from the US economy. He compared common or baseline models with his own augmented model which takes into account the different frequencies of economic and financial data (annual, quarterly or weekly).
鈥淭he contribution increases our understanding of how well these models perform, and it could help in forecasting future recessions for the US and presumably for other similar economies.鈥
Ben said the honours year helped him to get ahead of the pack when the time came to find a graduate job.
鈥淚 was enjoying the course work and I wanted to progress and do research, and by adding that competitive advantage I was able to differentiate myself, especially in the Sydney market,鈥 Ben said.
Though he has enjoyed his studies, Ben鈥檚 excited to graduate and apply what he has learned at 精东传媒.
Ben has recently landed his dream job in the economics department at Deloitte Australia.
Deloitte is one of the big four accounting organisations, and the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of professionals.
Headquartered in New York City, Ben hopes the job will open up international travel and work opportunities.
鈥淚鈥檓 keen to jump in and get some experience with one of Australia鈥檚 biggest economic consulting firms,鈥 he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity to work with some of the great minds in the field.
鈥淲here I am is kind of ideal, they have offices located all over the world, so hopefully I can work and travel with the company.鈥
In the course of his career, he hopes his forecasting knowledge will serve him well.
鈥淚鈥檇 love to work with businesses to help solve their problems,鈥 Ben said.
鈥淔orecasting can help me to prepare businesses so they know what to expect from the economy in upcoming months, and how to best manage that.鈥