To Graduate Early or Not to Graduate Early?

WEEK 7 (July 25-31)

Week seven of my corporate residency is a crazy one. The entire F414 engine international sales team is in the final push for our proposal submittal. I definitely spend a few 10+ hour days at work, powering through lunch while being essentially locked up in a conference room with a team I have grown close to. One member of this team is part of the CMLP (Contract Management Leadership Program). She also went to Northeastern and is at Lynn on an eight month rotation.

Throughout these hectic final bidding days I do my best to help with non-technical aspects like formatting, editing, taking notes and organizing action items. I also get to have some one-on-one meetings for the first time. People are actually scheduling time to speak to me alone! I love it!

On the personal front, I find out my boyfriend, who currently lives in California, is going to be working in Montreal for an extended period of time beginning in the end of August! The Canadian city is only about 350 miles away. I immediately set about planning my first trip up there. Oddly enough, flights are more than $450 for the 1-hour journey and to train it, I’d have to first go down to New York and then spend 10 hours on the Amtrak. Renting a car will definitely be the way to go.

This week I also get an email from a Project Manager in Northeastern's Marketing and Communications Department asking to have this blog featured on Northeastern University's new social media dashboard. I feel so honored.

I also reach out to my peer mentee, offering to meet her at her earliest convenience for coffee, drinks, whatever. I'm excited to impart all of my, at times, hard-earned MBA insights.

As the September 13th Career Fair quickly approaches I also make a point to reach out to my career advisor for help on my resume.  I quickly get deja-vu from just a few months ago when I was doing this for my corporate residency search. I just want to make sure I can incorporate my accomplishments from GE into my updated resume as well as possible.

I’ve also reached out to the Full-Time MBA academic advisor to discuss the possibility of signing up for a class in the fall. Many of my classmates have elected to do this.  In fact, if I manage to take one class in the Fall and another one during spring, I can graduate a whole two months early!  This is becoming a very tempting option for me.

After my over-time ridden work week I gladly welcome the weekend with dinner and drinks at Samurai on Newbury Street. I partake in some delicious spicy tuna rolls before heading to Punters for more drinks with some classmates.

This weekend I hit up the Cape again, only this time I’m much closer inland. Two friends and I stop at a town called Sandwich (which I immediately love simply for its name). We sunbath, check out the awesome historic boardwalk and the acrobatics of kids diving off of it into the clear water. We have a picnic and grab some delicious ice cream at an ice cream stand called, appropriately enough, Ice Cream Sandwich. How cute.

WEEK 8 (August 1-7)

You can sense the calm in the office air after last week’s hectic rush to submit our proposal. In fact, my boss is on vacation all this week and my other manager is taking Wednesday through Friday off. I am intent on having enough work to do while they are gone.

The week starts out slowly. I take this down time to complete my presentation for the Career Center Director’s visit to GE on Friday. We are supposed to have 10 minute long status report to present to her and other Northeastern Co-ops. I’m happy to use the official GE Powerpoint Presentation  format complete with the famed monogram. I feel so professional.

I also have more time to participate in some GE co-op activities including a ‘lunch and learn’ with a Six Sigma Master Black Belt. We get free lunch (a common occurrence here) and spend an hour hearing about his career progression, years of work at GE and ask him questions.

By Wednesday I’m aching for something to do. Luckily, I’ve set up some points of contact to help me out, many of which are in other departments. One project I’m working on requires me to use some Excel mastery. I teach myself a few new tricks and overall am quite pleased with the cost comparison I complete using v-lookups.

I also have my first mini project management role! I’ll be in charge of organizing a comparison of engine parts and seeing which are owned by the US government and which are GE owned. This will determine which we need licenses for and which we may try to purchase outright. I’m nervous but happy to finally have some autonomy over my work. It will also allow me to get in some face time with individuals outside of my department.

Dinner at Scoozi

That Thursday, after several weeks of communicating via Facebook, I meet up with a friend of mine that I haven't seen in 15 years! I discovered that she has been living an working in Boston for years. We meet up at Scoozi on Newbury Street for a veggie pizza and hours (and years) of catching up.

On Friday I present my 'Report Out' to a group of Northeastern co-ops and their managers.  Even though the Career Center Director had to cancel, it was a great opportunity to see what the others have been up to and voice my goals for the internship and areas I'd like to improve.  After work, I send in my career track confirmation to Northeastern. A formal declaration of your career track (either Finance, Marketing or Supply Chain) is required during corporate residency.

I also receive a notification of the option for a January corporate residency from our Career Center Director. A January corporate residency would essentially entail signing up for a second 6-month internship rotation. While first choice for these residencies goes to those who were not able to land a corporate residency the first time around, everyone has the the opportunity to get additional work experience if they so desire.

This weekend is pretty slow.  However, I do make a big decision: I sign up for Market Research with the new goal of graduating early! Class will be help every Thursday night from 7:30-9:30pm starting the week after Labor Day and ending right before my last day at GE Aviation in December. I'm a bit nervous because, while class may only be two hours long, I know very well that it's the time outside of class that is the most demanding. I hope I can juggle it all!

Summer Fun on the Cape and Revere Beach

Week 5 (July 11-17)

Week five at my corporate residency is consumed with a major international proposal I'm working on for the F414 engine line and in the middle of this hectic environment I'm finally getting some tasks of my own. During a five-day meeting that lasts more than 10 hours each day I am in charge of managing the proposal's action item matrix, I get to interface with international GE employees who have traveled to Lynn to help prepare the bid and even hob-knob with executives from our Aviation headquarters in Evendale, Ohio.  

As if the excitement of this large-scale sales effort wasn't enough to keep my attention, I also manage to squeeze in a few tours of our various manufacturing plants at Lynn. It's so neat to see all of the different engine lines I've been helping to sell in various stages of assembly and testing. It also helps me place visuals with part names and better understand the make-up of this highly technical product. 

In between plant tours and proposals I’ve been tasked with writing up an executive summary for an international marketing license application (known as a DSP-5) that would allow us to speak to potential clients about our engines in sales pitches and bids. While it’s a small job, I’m happy to have some autonomy over an aspect of this large operation.

Also this week I get a chance to meet up with my Executive mentor at The Fours near North Station. This is the first time I’ve seen him since returning from my travels overseas and starting my corporate residency so we have much to catch up on. He is, as always, very attentive and interested in helping me digest my new role and plan for the future (including the looming full-time career fair in September!).  He even informs me that he will be a guest speaker during an MBA class this Fall. I jokingly tell him I will find a way to sneak into the class and ask him tough questions.

After my crazy week logging major overtime I’m rewarded with a weekend visit from my best friend and roommate from college. I haven’t seen her since orientation when I was consumed with my hectic schedule so I’m looking forward to relaxing and enjoying my time with her.  I meet her at Back Bay Station after work and we immediately set about getting some drinks at Parish Café on the corner of my block.

Provincetown, MA

We spend Saturday in Provincetown at the very tip of the Cape. We take the 90-minute high-speed ferry at 8:00 am and enjoy a day of great food at Cafe Heaven, shopping in upscale boutiques and stunning beach views.

Sunday we’re up early for a tour of the Harpoon Brewery. For those of you who read this blog regularly you may remember I went to the Sam Adams Brewery Tour back in October. The Harpoon Brewery tour proved far superior. Guests are pretty much allowed unlimited beer in any flavor variety they so desire; all for only $5.

Admittedly a bit tipsy before noon my friend and I follow up our tour by heading to the North End for lobster tails and cannolis at Mike’s Pastry. Delish! This is, of course, just the precursor to our lunch at the newly opened Five Napkin Burger (arguably the best burger in town) and Newbury Street shopping. That night it’s a showing of the final installment of the Harry Potter series (yes, I am that nerdy).

 WEEK 6 (July 18-24)

This week is all about small wins. First, I begin setting up my work pipeline. For instance, I will be involved in coordinating and obtaining developmental TAA licenses which will allow GE Aviation to provide technical insight and support to customers.  To do this I will have to coordinate with some governmental authorities. These licenses are crucial in transferring GE’s technical knowledge to our clients.

Another small win was that I learned how to maneuver our complicated calendar system as I scheduled meetings, reserved some coveted conference room space and coordinated attendees. Plus, I did this to help save a team member some time as he was swamped with work for the international proposal. Finally I’m feeling useful!

I also began to work autonomously.  I was in charge of updating our proposal action item list that was then sent out to all team members, I checked in which each action item owner to verify the status of their task, help them gather necessary information and made sure everyone was on track for a timely proposal submittal.

I also was able to flex some of my Journalism muscles, being charged with the task of editing a descriptive engine write-up and coordinating the corresponding meeting to discuss said revisions.

On the school front our class received notification of the Full-Time MBA Career Fair on September 13^th. I can’t believe how soon that is! This required event in on a Tuesday so I’ll have to miss work. Each student is required to have their most recent resumes uploaded to the eRecruiting website by August 12^th for distribution to employers in a resume book. I hope I have enough substantial work experience by then to really stand out. I feel like I’ve just stared at GE! Jobs for the Career Fair will be posted on August 23^rd.

I’ve also been assigned my peer mentor and I'm so excited to meet her! I really hope that I can be as good of a mentor to her as mine was to me. I initiate our first dialogue and offer to meet up for coffee whenever she gets into Boston.

My week rounds out with a weekend of some major sunbathing at Revere Beach.  My friend and I take in the nearby sandy shores before stopping for lunch at Kelly’s Roast Beef and Kell’s Kreme for ice cream. Yum! It’s really starting to feel like summer now.

Fourth of July in Boston

4th of July on the Esplanade

 Week 3

This week at work centers around the looming union strike decision. Human Resources holds numerous meetings to detail what interns should do if a strike occurs. We are instructed to avoid driving to work, disguise our badges on the commuter rail and more. Crazy! While I really hope that there isn't a strike (who would want to spend the first weeks on co-op not able to come into work?) it was fascinating to see some of the issues large corporations encounter daily. GE is definitely in a different ball game than my previous workplace of 12 employees!

Besides getting a first-hand look into labor union disputes, I am also diligently working on completing my required online tutorials and mandatory processing documents. Now that I finally have a computer, phone, desk and chair all of this is much easier to accomplish. Throughout the whole GE orientation process it has been really nice to have a fellow Northeastern MBA co-op to share a cube with. We are definitely helping each other maneuver the often complicated GE internal site!

Revere Beach

The rest of the week is spent on administrative tasks and my heavily laden meeting schedule. That's why this week's co-op lunch at Kelly's Roast Beef on Revere Beach is the perfect end to my third week. I'm particularly excited about my jaunt to Kelly's because it will be the first east coast 'beach' I've seen since moving here. Surprisingly, the Revere beach is much nicer than I anticipated (no California beach, but still). All the interns grab their lunch from the walk-up counter and plop down on outside tables and chairs to enjoy the weather and sea breeze. My roast beef sandwich is arguably the best I've ever had!

As if one fun outing wasn't enough, after my long week of online training at work, it's off to Dillon's on Newbury Street to meet up with school friends for drinks and appetizers. While I really enjoy the company and my spinach and artichoke dip, I don't stay long because I have to head home and get ready for my boyfriend's arrival tomorrow morning!

I wake up bright-and-early Saturday to meet Nick at the airport. I'm so excited for his Fourth of July visit and am determined to take in all that this historic city has to offer. After picking up the boyfriend, what's the first thing we do? Hit up his favorite food joint: Boston Shawarma. I sometimes wonder what he misses more: me or those lamb kebabs!

Sad serving sizes at Coppa

After our unconventional breakfast, Nick and I take advantage of the two free Museum of Science tickets a classmate working at W.R. Grace got me. I haven’t been to the museum since I was 12 and came to Boston on a field trip from California. Oddly enough, it is just as I remember it. We even take in their lightning show where they recreate lighting indoors! How fun. That night Nick and I hit up Coppa on Shawmut Ave. for some fancy meat and cheese platters. Unfortunately, I'm underwhelmed at the small portion sizes and lofty prices. 

Sunday morning we start our day with brunch at Tremont 647 with my friend and her husband. This is the first time Nick has hung out with my Boston friends so it was a real treat. After our fill of homemade strawberry key lime poptarts, we partake in a Boston Duck tour. Despite being a bit overcast it is still very fun as we get our fill of Boston history facts (just in time for the 4th of July!).

Plenty of people in front of The Old State House

Happy Fourth of July! I am determined to make the most of my time in such a historic city. Nick and I get up early to watch the reading of the Declaration of Independence from The Old State House. The space around the building is packed with people in their best red-white-and-blues. Bands play festive music and children wave mini American flags. We spend the rest of the afternoon strolling around Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market before heading home to rest before the firework show tonight.

In front of the Old State House

The big finale of the day is taking in the firework spectacular from the Esplanade (right on the Charles River). Each year the Boston Pops and other famous bands play music from the hatch shell and they launch fireworks off of a barge in the middle of the river. The water is packed with people celebrating on boats, rowing up in their kayaks and some even in inner tubes to watch the display.

Nick and I munch on hot dogs and soda and take in the pleasant weather and superb people watching before closing the night staring into the sky at brilliant pyrotechnics.

I’m sad walking home that night through the ocean of people stopping traffic on Massachusetts Avenue because Nick is leaving early tomorrow, but I relish the opportunity to have experienced this holiday in the  best way I can imagine.

Week 4

After having Monday off I’m back to work and what a tough transition it is. I barely got any sleep last night after getting home late from the fireworks show and seeing Nick off early this morning. What's more, since co-ops don't get paid holidays, I'm going to have to make up the eight hours from the 4th of July by working overtime all this week.

Luckily, I have some new tasks to fill those extra hour behind my desk. For example, I begin learning how to transfer international marketing licenses and create their corresponding compliance plans. What does this mean, you ask? Well, for any company to market or even discuss a product such as military engines internationally, we have to obtain licenses from the Government. I complete the license transfers and compliance plans for nine different countries. It’s a great way to see how far-reaching the engine line I’m working on is and how many nations use our technology around the world.

I’ve also been in on several meetings to discuss the formats for our large, impending proposal. Formats are not what one would initially think. They are not the design of a page or layout of text, as I naively believed, but rather formats refer to different sections of requirements (mostly highly technical) that we must fill out regarding the engine.

I also continue to plug away at the 30+ mandatory employee tutorials on our internal GE website. I cover everything from trade compliance and intellectual property protection to workplace safety and harassment prevention.

Despite these new ventures, things are still a bit slow at work so in an effort to drum up assignments for myself I send out an email to everyone whom I've met thus far at GE. And guess what? It worked! Before close of business that day I have two new assignments. While they are small (mostly Microsoft Word and Excel formatting and putting together format packages for our meeting) it’s something and I’m proud of myself for going out and earning my keep.

That Thursday after work I meet up with my Corporate Residency Learning Team for our preliminary meeting with our professor to discuss our progress at work. We all convene at Uno Chicago Grill on Huntington Avenue, just a short walk from campus. It was actually quite fun! Our professor bought the whole group drinks and we all enjoyed dinner together. It was especially nice to hear about my classmates experience at GE and our classmate working at LogMeIn. Everyone seems pretty pleased with their roles. In fact, some of them have already given presentations to executives or completed their Six Sigma Green Belt training. Impressive!

That weekend I enjoy some free time after my exhausting week of overtime. However, between naps and doing laundry I do manage to book tickets home to California for Labor Day! While it's a long way to travel for a few days I'm excited to go home and see the boyfriend and family. Nick and I also book our flights to Florida for Thanksgiving. I haven't been to Florida since I was a little kid and I'm very excited to spend the holiday with Nick and his family.

The Beginning: My first two weeks at GE Aviation

The Breakers, RI (only slightly larger than my apartment)

 After a more than a year of wondering, planning and preparing, the big day is here! I finally start my corporate residency.

Week 1

I'm up early Monday, June 13th to meet a fellow Northeastern MBA for a carpool out to Lynn to begin our first day at GE Aviation. I still can't believe I snagged a co-op at such a large, esteemed company. I just hope I can live up to their expectations. They are, after all, the American model of Six Sigma and business leadership programs.

Luckily the first day starts out slow with badgeing (how official) and a co-op orientation until noon. After hearing about all the opportunities available to the nearly 150 co-ops here at GE and filling out mounds of paperwork, my fellow Northeastern classmates and I are picked up by our respective bosses for lunch catered by GE Aviation's own on-site cafeteria. Hey, I could get used to this.

The rest of the day is filled with mingling and getting to meet my boss for the first time. I check out my cube, which I share with another Northeastern MBA co-op, and go about getting a laptop and ordering some furniture. With so many interns at GE it could be a while before I get a desk, chair or even a computer.

The rest of the week I learn how to ride the commuter rail to work (I actually love the commute). GE even has its own, exclusive commuter rail stop. I feel like it'll be nice to have those commutes to read, sip my morning Dunkin' coffee and wake up.

Work-wise, I spend most of week one learning about all of the opportunities available to GE co-ops. The company offers courses you can take for free - including online courses from other GE companies such as NBC Universal and GE Capital. I also explore the EID website (GE's term for co-ops). They hold weekly Friday lunches, after work beach volleyball, volunteer opportunities, plant tours, speaker series and more! I don't think I could possibly participate in all of these offerings even if I tried. How neat.

In addition to those activities available exclusively to co-ops, GE Aviation has an on-site gym, cafeteria and medical center open to all 3,600 on-site employees. This place is a verifiable compound.

In addition to wrapping my head around the enormity that is GE, I spend a good amount of time trying to learn what employees loving refer to as 'GE alphabet soup'. What are they talking about, you ask? Well, it's things like LTTD, FADEC, TSTP, AIT or, acronym overload. I've started my own dictionary on the side just to keep track.

While I knew going into this residency that there would be a steep learning curve at GE I am still surprised at the technicality involved in each meeting I attend my first week. I definitely have a lot to learn. However, I feel lucky to have come into GE at this time in particular. We're working on what I'm told is a very complex international proposal. I'm sure that I'll be exposed to every detail of putting together a bid, for better or worse! In fact, I've already been on conference calls with international GE representatives, executives from our Evendale, Ohio corporate offices and more.

In addition to helping out with this large proposal I'm told that I will simultaneously be working on getting marketing licenses (DSP5s), compliance plans and more for international bidding and customer support purposes.

After an overwhelming first week it's time for some relaxation on the weekend. Not only do I sleep in and get into the mindset of my new, homework-free lifestyle, but I also help a friend find a new apartment. We head out to Somerville, Massachusetts which I've never been to. She snags an awesome studio. After submitting her application we head to the Cambridge Galleria for some shopping and catching up. I haven't seen her since our India trip in May!

Week 2

My second week at GE Aviation is all about training modules, paperwork and completing my GE co-op requirements (which are in addition to those put forth by Northeastern).

I set about filling out GE's process workflow. The process workflow is required for all interns at GE and is basically a fancy term for a list of manager-approved goals I will be responsible for completing before my time here ends. This process workflow includes preliminary meetings with my manager to discuss mutually beneficial goals, a midterm review and a final review before processing out. In fact, I'm told that the results of my reviews will have a substantial impact on any future hiring decisions.

However, the process workflow is just one element of GE's well-established intern program; something I really appreciated in the nervousness of my first couple of weeks. I imagine that in most large companies an intern could get lost and never actually get a chance to sit down with their manager and discuss both parties' goals. But at GE, this type of dedication to a successful internship is required.

Another interesting element about working at GE is the peak into Corporate America that I get. The Northeastern co-ops arrive in midst of GE Aviation's company-wide contract negotiations with their unions. Apparently the unions negotiate a new contract every four years, and 2011 is one of those years. From what I hear the Lynn site has traditionally been a dissenter in the votes and Human Resources has already scheduled meetings to discuss plans of action should there be a strike. In fact, two of our corporate residents have been offered the opportunity to work through the weekend to help with shipments should the unions decide to strike. Crazy! I really hope that a strike doesn't interrupt my brief six months here.

On the more positive side of working for a large company, I have signed up for one of GE's many free classes: a Green Belt Six Sigma certification course! I'm so excited. The class runs for four days in October. After the classroom instruction portion is complete I must pass a test and then complete a 12-step project that will implement Lean Six Sigma practices in my department. This will be a great tool to have and I don't think it will hurt the ol' resume either.

As you can see, one could be kept perfectly busy with their residency obligations alone but keep in mind that in addition to your job responsibilities, you still have Northeastern MBA action items to complete. One of these is a periodic meeting with your Corporate Residency Learning Team (CoRE LT). My CoRe team is made up of 5 GE corporate residents and a classmate working at LogMeIn. We will be meeting about three times during the next six months with one of our professors to discuss our Living Document goals, accomplishments and to support each other. We set up our first meeting for July 7th at a restaurant near campus. I'm a littler nervous about having accomplished enough by then to have something substantial to talk about. We'll see how that goes...

On Friday of week 2, our co-op lunch is held at the ever-gaudy Prince Pizza in Saugus; its replica  Leaning Tower of Pisa signalling from the roof that mediocre pizza can be found inside. Classy! But, I admit, it is fun to hang out with so many of the co-ops, here where they came from and what they are doing at GE. Most are undergraduate interns, some coming as from as far as the University of Miami and Michigan State!

That night I meet up with a friend interning at Hasbro, for dinner and drinks at 21st Amendment where I get the amazing 21st burger. Yum! After, we both make our way to Crossroads; a bar where several classmates are meeting up for our regular Friday night drinks. It's great to catch up with everyone and finally have some work stories of my own to share.

View of Ocean from the Breakers, RI

That Sunday I'm excited to do some New England tourist sight-seeing! I head to Newport, Rhode Island with a friend interning at Hasbro to tour the legendary mansions. The Breakers and Marble House were stunning in their opulence, Newport was adorable and I can't wait to go back and explore some more (I got the 5-house pass). All of this site-seeing is getting me excited for my first summer in Boston with no homework to weigh me down.