A Boston Business Journal MBA All-Star? Who? Me?

Week 13 (September 5 -11)

Welcome Full-Time MBA Class of 2013! Today is the first day of their orientation for the first-years. I wish them the best of luck on this exciting and rewarding new journey.

After spending my Monday Labor Day holiday back home in California, it’s back to work on Tuesday and it’s a pretty exciting week if I do say so.

I start off with my new mini-assignment: composing letters that will be sent to international clients requesting their signatures on DSP-83 forms which are required for GE Aviation to apply for marketing licenses with the U.S. Government. I complete the two necessary letters and send them off to the GE representatives stationed in the two foreign countries. What's great is that I’ve already met one of the reps during his visit to Lynn to assist with a multi-billion dollar proposal we were working on for his country.

I also make sure to get some face time in with the boss today since he’ll be out at Tailhook, a Navy trade show in Reno Thursday and Friday. We do a mid-term check and discuss some tasks I can complete while he’s out.

Wednesday is GE Aviation’s annual Military Systems Operations outing to Cedardale in Groveland, Massachusetts. Not only do I get a day off from work, but I get to rub shoulders with some bigwigs including sales and marketing executives from our Aviation headquarters! While we did get rained on for the day, in a way it worked out because it forced our entire group of several hundred to get up close and personal in the single indoor space at the facility. I enjoy a delicious BBQ lunch (in case you haven’t noticed, GE feeds us well) and I spend the day mingling and re-affirming my relationships throughout the group.

Thursday is a busy day. I really feel like things are starting to pick up in the office and I love it!

I get feedback from my boss on the DSP-83 signature request letters I put together, make edits to them, put them on official GE letterhead and e-mail them out.

After many e-mails, instant messages and calls I finally get in contact with an individual I need help from for the leasing of engine parts project I’m helping to orchestrate. The deadline for this project has been pushed out several months but I still need information on several test parts. I track down two people who might be able to help me and ask for help in the best way I can (I’m still a bit confused on exactly WHAT it is I’m supposed to gathering). But the experience has been a good one for me in dealing with ambiguity; something the journalist in me doesn’t deal well with. I’m used to asking a ton of questions, verifying all sources, getting exact spelling and quotes for a story but I’m quickly learning that business doesn’t always work that way.You often have to go with limited information and just make the best of it.

Thursday afternoon I also attend a weekly Project Manager (PM) Council meeting for what I hope will be a new string of work assignments.

Even though my boss is out at Tailhook today and Friday he is kind enough to send me several work items, including a fun research task of learning all about the governments and politics of four foreign countries for use in marketing campaigns.  I spend several hours scouring the web for as much information as I can find.

That night is also my first Market Research class! It’s kind of fun to be back on campus and, in fact, about 75% of my class that night are members of the Class of 2012. How fun! The course seems like it will be great. We’ll be learning how to use SPSS (a statistical analysis software used for market research) and will be working with a company of our choosing to conduct a marketing research project for them. I love that we’re getting applicable skills, plus the relaxed vibe of a night class is a welcome relief from the high-stress first-year classes.

My friend and I decide to be I a group together for the course and already have volunteered to present the first market research methodology project next week on Netnography (the study of online communities like blogs and Facebook for marketing research purposes).

Saturday I’m up early and hit the gym before it’s back to campus for the student organization fair for the first-years. I’m there representing the Graduate Marketing Club. We get a moderate turn out but I do get to meet two of the future MBA student bloggers. I’m so excited for them!

Later that night I go over to the Fenway area to a friend’s house for a homemade dinner of pork chops, sweet potatoes and asparagus (which, admittedly, I wasn’t much help in cooking but great at eating). We watch movies, lounge and have a relaxing night in.

On Sunday I work on my Netnography presentation for next week’s Market Research class (What? Homework? Again?) and run several errands.

Week 14 (September 12-18)

Monday morning starts out with an international call (my favorite kind!) to discuss the letter I had sent out last week for the DSP-83 signatures. We discuss the technical and logistical issues behind the forms and what message signing a marketing license too early might send to our prospective client.

I follow this up with a meeting with one of the gentleman running the PM Council. He has graciously provided my fellow MBA co-op and I an hour of his time to give us an overview of what the PM Council does, its goals, and go over any questions we have. I really appreciate his top-level presentation of the council and it helps me better understand what my role in it might be.

Tuesday is the big day: the Career Fair. But as if that wasn’t exciting/nerve-wracking enough in its own rite, I wake up that morning to an e-mail from the Boston Business Journal asking me to be part of their annual MBA All-Stars issue! The issue profiles outstanding MBA students in the area. I honestly start shaking and am sure it must be a mistake. Me? An All-Star? I don’t think so…. But that doesn’t mean I’m not thrilled, honored, overwhelmed, all of the above. I quickly write back to the reporter and begin trying to set up my interview and photo session (that’s right; photo session!).

On that amazing high I head to the Career Fair where I find out how I got that Boston Business Journal spot. It turns out I was nominated by the administration at Northeastern’s College of Business and my former boss. This makes me feel so good and I’m just ecstatic. I make a point to send them all thank-you notes.

Now it’s into the ring. I circle the Career Fair tables and make a point to reconnect with employers I’ve met during the past year at networking events, executive luncheons or even from my co-op interviews. While most seem to be offering full-time employment or second corporate residencies (an option that is becoming increasingly popular with students) it still serves as a great opportunity to get my name and newly enriched resume out there again.

That afternoon I have a phone date with an employer I interviewed with during my corporate residency search and someone I had reconnected with through my networking efforts (it works, I’m telling you!). The conversation went quite well and I was glad to let her know how I’ve taken some of her suggestions to heart during the past six months.

Wednesday it’s back to the office and some major matrix making. The matrix is for the same project I’m working on to procuring parts for except now I’m trying to track down (through the tedious process of going through about 30 licenses) where each part is actually produced. I create a lovely Excel document divided by country and then license number so now, the project manager can quickly located which country to call if he needs to obtain a part.

I also continue to plug along with my less successful part of that project. I try and come up with a status report for the project manager but that’s hard when people don’t respond to your calls, answer your e-mails or help you understand what it is you’re actually doing. I’m nervous that I won’t be able to pull this all together. In the end I manage a pretty darn good status report and the process itself helps me wrap my head around the parameters of the task.

Our team also has a last go at some edits to that huge international proposal we put together last month. September 26^th is the final due date so these should be the last of the changes. Phew! What a amazing team effort this proposal was.

I also got approval from boss today to enroll in a three-day ‘Finance for Non-Financial Professionals’ course through GE. I’m nervous but excited about (if you recall Finance was not my best subject). I think this class will provide a great opportunity to keep those concepts I learned in my first year fresh.

This weekend is pretty awesome. I start out my Saturday with a gym session before meeting some girlfriends from school for lunch at The Beehive. It was pretty amazing. And of course, I must now tell you what I ate: I started out with an appetizer of Moroccan spiced lamb stuffed in phyllo dough ‘cigars’ with a sun-dried tomato dip and some beignets with jam. My entrée was an amazing breakfast poutine of frites, fried eggs, gravy and all-around delciousness

I follow up that great start to a morning with some shopping with my friends, a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks and general revelry at the early signs of the seasons turning.

But I wasn’t all indulgent. I also registered for a charity walk for Hasbro’s Childrens Hospital in Rhode Island at the prompting of a fellow MBA co-oping at Hasbro. I have the goal of raising $250 in the week before the race. Let’s see what I can do! 

Mad apple-picking skills - Photo courtesy of Mary Alice Hewitt

 Sunday marks my official start of Fall because I head up north to New Hampshire for apple picking at Applecrest Farm Orchard. And of course, it wouldn’t be apple picking without indulging in apple cider donuts (how I love thee!), fresh mulled cider and other such fall foods.

When my friend and I make it back to the city we meet up with another classmate at Dillon's for drinks and appetizers and generally fabulous end to an equally wonderful weekend.

*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of GE Aviation, Northeastern University, their employees or affiliates.